Action Sports

Over the past forty years, action sports (e.g. surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX) have grown from local grassroots, do-it-yourself activities to a global phenomenon that is increasingly garnering the attention of mainstream society, the mass media, transnational corporations and traditional sports organisations. The Australian Sport Commission (2013) described the rise of lifestyle and action sports as one of the five “mega trends” in the way sport participation is changing in the of the 21^st Century. Other nations and organisations around the world are also recognising the growing importance of action sports in (re)defining the sporting landscape.

University of Waikato staff are at the forefront of the research that is mapping these important trends. Our research focuses on action sport cultures and lifestyles, as well as action sport media, industry, events, and connections with broader popular culture.  Our staff and students engage with the latest theories and methods to explore the social, economic and cultural significance of action sports in global and local contexts. Some of our staff have worked with the International Olympic Committee with their research informing the recent Olympic inclusion of surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing into the Tokyo 2020, and the possible inclusion of other action sports into future Olympics. Others are focused on working with local groups and organisations in New Zealand and around the world to create inclusive sporting spaces with benefits to communities. In doing so, our staff and students are driven to do research with real social impact.

We offer:

• World leading postgraduate research opportunities
• Action sport research and consultancy services
• Opportunities for student engagement from undergraduate to doctoral level
• We have hosted visiting researchers and PhD students, recently from Brazil, the UK, and Ireland.

Collectively we have published over 70 articles, chapters and books that define the field over the past decade.

• To the Extreme: Alternative sports, inside and out. (2003)
• Understanding Lifestyle sports: Consumption, identity and difference (2004)
• Berkshire Encyclopaedia of Extreme Sport (2007)
• Snowboarding Bodies in theory and practice (2011)
• The consumption and representation of lifestyle sports (2012)
• The Cultural Politics of Lifestyle Sports (2013)
• Transnational mobilities in action sport cultures (2014)
  Women in action sport cultures: Identity, politics and experience (2016)

• Action Sport in the Red Zone Funded by Marsden
• Action sport and the Olympic movement Funded by an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Advanced Research Programme Grant:
• Action Sports and the Olympic Games Symposium (16 October, 2018)

For the range of recent publications see our staff profiles.