Powerbocking VS Competition essay (WARNING: very long post!)

[Dawesome]

This essay was something I did for my third year in university, its a philisophical look at competitions relationship with Powerbocking, and what I have evaluated it to be at this curent moment in time. This essays constructs only no view of the argument and I am sure there will be people who disagree with sections of the essay.

So hope you enjoy the read and hope even mroe so you can agree/disagree with anything I put.

Also thanks again for everyone who I have quoted/citated from these forums, I reference you guys during the essay

Intro here!
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1.0 Introduction
This essay critically evaluates the role of competition within an extreme sports setting. The sport that will represent the subculture and setting that the role of competition will be investigated into is the sport of Powerbocking. Powerbocking is an activity that is only a few years into its development as a sport, and at current the main focus for the participants is upon their own personal enjoyment. This base value for why people partake in the sport is argued against the values that competitive activities instill. Many extreme sports have faced the dilemma between developing into a more mainstream competitive sport or becoming its own little niche’ in sports as a whole, Powerbocking is a sport that will have to face this same choice eventually. Competition describes for an activity to have external factors dictating personal enjoyment, factors such as ability level and conformity to a norm, things that Powerbocking does not have. This essay also critically evaluates the necessary requirements of competition within sports; and how at this current time that is not possible in Powerbocking nor is it likely to happen in the near future.

[Dawesome]

2.0 How the sport came about
Powerbocking or just Bocking is a fairly new sport and has a small subculture surrounding it that is growing in participant size on a daily basis. The sport evolved when a german man called alexander Boeck patented his design for a pair of stilts with "leaf style springs" on the back of them to allow people to be able to experience the same type of leaping motion as a trampoline. It was designed for recreational use and envisaged by him that it may be used in a sporting context; that of which has become true. There are now over 30 different manufacturers producing a type of these jumping stilts under the patent of Mr. Boeck. The sport has been called Powerbocking after the patent holder as a sign of respect the subsequent subculture has given him.

The first users of the stilt truly came about 6 years ago in the form of circus performers and entertainers as these stilts offered the chance to incorporate two of the types of entertainment they offer; stilt walking and acrobatics. The most famous of all the performers for using these stilts are a pair of Swedish brothers under the pseudonym 'Swebounce', who have been using them for over 6 years now. They use these stilts as their main form of income and are highly admired within the Bocking subculture. Many groups have developed since this, including a UK team called 'UK B-Bounce' (of which this author is apart of) and have become famous throughout the UK from these stilts.

2.1 Reasons people partake in the activity
As with most sporting activities people take part in, the main reason people do this activity is for the enjoyment aspect (English-tailor, 2007). Other reasons people have mentioned for taking part in the activity is health benefits, uniqueness of the sport, ease of using the equipment, large range of options in how they can be used etc. One Bocker goes as far as stating the “possibilities are endless” (TFD, 2007) when discussing what can be done on the stilts. The activity offers three aspects that the majority of extreme sports maintain; freedom, identity and internal enjoyment. The stilts are strapped to the users’ legs and are designed to work on any hard surface (i.e. roads, paths, sports halls, parks etc), which does not limit people to any one type of environment. The initial purchasing of the stilts themselves are the only monetary cost that the sport has, although pads are highly recommended they are not necessary and so the sport is relatively cheap to sustain. A vast majority of sports will necessitate a court/pitch or some form of designated area for them to be played, this freedom of being able to do the sport without the restrictions of these settings means that it is a very accessible sport and is down to the user and their own imagination and values for how the stilts can be used. This is explained by one member called ‘‘esco’ (2007), stating how he likes to just do as many different things as he can on the stilts, he gets enjoyment from just being able to think up new things that may be possible on them and having a go at it. The sport has developed a small subculture of users that are connected through their enjoyment of the product itself. The internet is host to their main form of communication as this subculture has members covering currently four of the six continents. The subculture itself has shown signs that are common to many sporting subcultures, with things like specialised lingo and terms for tricks and equipment, generalised attitudes towards the larger society they belong to and a host of mores with which the members abide to. This subculture offers a unique identity for people to access, allowing for a range of people from different backgrounds to socialise, developing a setting for massive inclusion no matter of gender, age, ethnicity, socio-economic status, religion etc.

The enjoyment from the stilts comes in the form of extreme thrills. Although strength of the stilts' springs can vary they offer the opportunity for the user to jump over 2 meters in height for as long as they can keep producing the correct force in the stilts, and to accelerate over 25 miles an hour by running in them. These are extremes when compared to the average height a person can jump and average speed a person run without these, and the ability to offer these experiences gives people a sense of excitement derived from the danger aspect of them. This thrill seeking is a form of excitement usually associated with extreme sports, a category that the sport of Powerbocking seems to fit.

[Dawesome]

3.0 Freedom
Freedom has been stated as one of the main reasons for people to take part in the sport of Bocking and is common to most extreme sports according to Kay and Laberge, (2003), when they talk about freedom and how it is one of the defining factors of linking the wide range of extreme sports together. Freedom is ambiguous in definition, freedom can be seen as having complete choice for what a person may want to do but nearly always there will be some form of constraints of limits on a person. It can be argued that a child in a nursery has freedom to do what they want, but only within the confines of the nursery and the objects the child can interact with. A person may have freedom to go and dine at one of London’s top restaurants, but money, transport, and being able to book a table cause restrictions to the vast majority of people. So we can assume that freedom is relative to the situation and context that a person is acting within. In the sport context freedom is the ability to partake in the sporting activity whenever and wherever the person is, requiring as few external factors as possible; e.g. A ‘freerider’ of snowboarding will still need some basics in the form of snow, a slope and a snowboard to be able to do their sport, but nothing more. This fits with Powerbocking, as stated before all a person needs is the stilts and some form of surface with grip to bock on and they can do it. Powerbocking in the few years it has become more accessible and used by the average person has already been done in a wide variety of places including skate parks, sports halls, fields, roads, gymnasiums, hills, and even a beach. There are obviously preferred places to do the activity, (most Bockers will choose a chance to practice in a gymnasium over a sandy beach any day) but even still the limits of the activity are ever being pushed back in terms of freedom of where to do the activity. Another aspect of freedom is how the participant uses the stilts for their own enjoyment. ‘Lewis’ (2007) a Bocker stated on the main forums that the subculture communicates through that:

‘When I get on my bocks I like just jumping and having a laugh I love it when we go down the bay and just bock about and have a laugh’

This attitude is shared by many people for why they took up Bocking and why they continue to Bock. The sport has no defined characteristics in what you have to do on them and no skill base for people to progress through other than to watch other people and try to learn what they are doing. This means it’s very individual still and allows for people to be imaginative and unique in how they are used. There is a clear link to other extreme sports in the preference to be able to do what being named ‘styles’ while jumping (Aesthetic movements and body shapes performed in the air reminiscent of other extreme sports such as inline skating and skateboarding) and what seems to be the big aim for many Bockers; a ‘flip’. Flips are a range of somersaults performed while on the stilts, varying in difficulty and the ability to link multiple of these together is well respected within the sport (Stuntman, 2007).

3.1 Sub-cultural Identity
Many extreme sports have developed a sub-cultural identity that determines how the participants communicate and how they ‘fit’ into the larger culture. Borden (2001) believes these sub-cultures of extreme sports are difficult to define within the larger culture, he explains that with skateboarding it is due to their depiction of how the natural landscape is used, something that Bocking as a subculture would also agree with. In windsurfing there are many facets to the subculture, and Wheaton (2003) addresses many differences between insiders and outsiders to the culture, and how the levels of adoration within these two groups are defined. She explains that the subculture is determined by commitment more than anything, and this can be related to snowboarding and its freeriders commitment to the activity and the old school riders in surfing. All of these identities are unique to the sport and have their own mores and ethics for how things are conducted, within Bocking this is no different, with many values that have developed by the subculture to identify respect or rules within the sport. In Bocking, like windsurfing, there is a large amount of respect for people with a “go for it” attitude (Wheaton, 2003: p83) an attitude that surpasses age and ethnicity, two of the most prolific barriers in sports. Two of the most respected Bockers in the UK are ‘Stevie’ and ‘Brucie’, both part of the UK B-Bounce team. Neither of them is affected by what might limit them in other sports; ‘Stevie’ being over 50 and ‘Brucie’ being black, a sign that Bocking holds little value for the larger culture’s opinion on barriers. In Bocking respect and status within the sub-culture is also determined by ability as well as originality, as people like UK B-Bounce and Swe-Bounce are highly respected for their extreme moves and abilities on the stilts, along with people such as ‘Evil-Mark’ and ‘Dawesome’ who developed their own version of basketball on Bocks nicknamed PowerBall and ‘BmthBloke’ who is renowned for his unique stilt modifications and not of his actual ability on the stilts.

Gender discrimination is also discouraged under the Bocking mores as although the vast majority of Bockers are male, the female contingent has an equal chance of respect and adoration within the sub-culture as gender doesn’t affect the respect values of Bockers. ‘Becky’ one of the female Bockers describes how her life has started to revolve around the sport, due to the respect she gained with her ability (Becky, 2007).

3.2 Internal Enjoyment
Bocking, like most extreme sports, is not team based and is an individualised activity. Activities that are individualised, in the way Bocking is, have a unique sense of enjoyment that many team based sports and competitive sports miss; that of a real focus on personal internal enjoyment. This type of enjoyment is based purely within oneself and their own perceptions, regardless of external factors. But counter to this is another form of enjoyment many Bockers have addressed is a reason why they like doing it, and that is the enjoyment of being centre of attention. The adult stilts footplate stands roughly 18 inches of the ground, and this is enough to make even the average person noticeably taller than everyone else, this height in itself attracts attention, just like any other form of extreme visual difference might. The stilts as previously stated also have enough force to produce a jumping height of over two metres and a leaping distance people have recorded to be over nine metres, added with the ability to run over 25 miles per hour makes the ability to identify someone on the stilts very high, as they will be doing things above and beyond the capabilities of the average human person already standing 18 inches above their normal height. One Bocker described an experience of how merely running along a pavement ended in a car crashing into a back of the bus as they both watched him run (Paul-Self, 2007). John Stuart Mill highly regarded the experiential focus of human beings and believed that the things that we as humans enjoy the most (i.e. our leisure activities) are the most influential things in out life (Skorupski, 1991). Using this philosophy we can see that the activity of Powerbocking is an important part of a Bocker’s life as it influences them in a greater way than most other things will do. The enjoyment and pleasure they gain form the experience of the sport is of a higher value to them than most other aspects of their experienced life, and therefore this enjoyment should be regarded with a greatest form of respect. If competition is to effect this enjoyment in some way, Bentham would determine competition to be more detrimental to the sport than it could ever be helpful as he, being one of the main figures of the hedonistic movement, would view enjoyment as the reasoning behind even the activities existence (Russel, 1996).

[Dawesome]

4.0 Competition's anti-Bocking Values
Competition in sports is about pitting two or more people in an activity together to find out who is the best within the rules that the competition sets out. A competition relies on a form of being able to judge which competitor is the best, these may be covered in the rules i.e. who scores the most points in basketball, or they can be judged by a group of specialised judges who compare the competitors to a perfect model i.e. gymnastics and skateboarding vert's aesthetic judging (Sabin, 2001). Nonetheless the overall aim of competition is to find a winner, the best participant compared to the others, something that goes against the reasons why people take up Bocking. Wheaton (2003), states that competition does not fit within the extreme sport of windsurfing as it counters the sports freedom. Immanuel Kant would agree with the problems competition infers to extreme sports concept of freedom, as he believed there was nothing worse than one man’s freedom being affected by another man’s will (Moore, 2003). Bocking is about personal enjoyment and satisfaction, the people who take it up at the current time tend to be one of very few in their area, and there is little competition there just due to the number of people taking part, they tend to be more concerned with just enjoying themselves and the sport. On a larger scale, within the subculture as a whole people are still learning and there are new people joining in every week, and due to how new the sport is (most people not having owned a pair of stilts for more than 6 months) means that everyone is still learning and the focus is kept on the learning of the basics. Competition puts into this a form of elitism, a form of trying to segregate people into categories of ability, this would also interrupt the camaraderie of the subculture, and would be harmful for the sports future if people have to compete and be successful to fit into the subculture.

Another problem with trying to make Powerbocking competitive is in the judging of it. As previously stated the freedom to do what the user wants while on the stilts is one of the main aspects of the sport, there are no restrictions or rules, and people do what they personally want to do. By creating a list of rules or regulations then this will create bias to certain types of people. For example for a high jump competition it may decided that the jump must be made over a marker to register height of the jump, which would be great for people who enjoy to do this, but unfair on the people who just enjoy jumping as high as they can without any controlled direction or thing to jump over, and would be an unjust representation of ability if those who only jump up, rather than over something, are jumping quite clearly a lot higher. There are more problems to due to the different strengths of the springs and different quality of the stilts, as weaker springs give less height than heavier springs and the better quality springs will also produce more height; all this is not including the weight of the person. There are some users who weigh less than 70kg and should therefore be using the weakest pair of adult springs (the 50kg - 70kg springs) but use over 100kg springs as they have the ability to push these springs to the limit. Thus because of how much lighter they are to what the user of those types of springs should be, they can actually get higher again. Rules like this do not fit fairly in a sport with such a range of styles and variables. To exclude all those variances would be unethical according to the value of equality the subculture respects so highly, and if competition was brought in like this it wouldn't be accepted by the subculture. The subculture has worked hard to make sure everyone who comes into the sport and interacts with them understands it is all about personal enjoyment and doing what you want. People, who come in with the attitude of being the best, putting themselves above others and judging people on what they think is better ability, are not generally accepted. The subculture inspires a respect for everyone no matter what they do for fun, and people with differing attitudes tend to understand and learn to respect this, an attitude which people enjoy about the sports subculture (Urbantricker, 2007). A competitive structure within the sport therefore would be against the enjoyment people get from the subculture as it would be against their ethos.

If we take judging the competition as other extreme sports are, by aesthetically judging, we again see problems within Powerbocking. The sport is very new and so the different uses of the stilts means there is huge amount of development every week with what they can be used to do. One aspect that is common for the majority of uses is what has been termed 'styles'; movements and positions performed/held in the air during a jump. There are many different ‘styles’, most of them are inspired by other extreme sports and all can be done in a variety of ways; on the spot, while jumping forward (kanga jumping), while rotating, while leaping/jumping over objects etc. This would suggest there are a set of skills that could be judged with aesthetic values and used to have a competition. The problem is who would judge the skills? In other sports like snowboarding and skateboarding they are judged by ex professionals with many years of personal experience in the sport, and the vast majority of tricks have been perfected over the years into a recognised level of how to be perfectly done. Powerbocking lacks both these elements, there is nobody that could judge these styles as there is no one that has been doing them for many years and has a good idea of how they best can be performed. There is also only a few months of development for even the earliest styles done, and so their development into what is considered the most aesthetically pleasing position is still to be perfected. Also more styles are still being developed each day so usually have only being completed by a very select few people.

The enjoyment people get out of Bocking is internal, they enjoy their own personal elements of the sport and out of all the main reasons stated for why they enjoy the sport, not one of the main reasons was competitive in nature. Personal satisfaction is something that competition does not have as its main value, competition works more on external satisfaction with enjoyment coming from non personal factors like social adoration for being a winner and enjoying knowing other people aren’t as good as you. All of which rely on external factors that do not make up why Bockers choose to do what they do.

[Dawesome]

5.0 Conclusion
People enjoy Powerbocking for many reasons, the individuality of the sport, the freedom the sport offers and the subculture of just enjoying the activity through the users own ideals and wants. Competitive sports necessitate that rules, regulations, and a hierarchy of ability be understood for them to be competitive. Competitive sports normalise all aspects into one set way of doing things, and try to develop the sport through competitive elements. Therefore Powerbocking with its emphasis on freedom and individuality does not fit well with competition and its normalising ideals. Powerbocking is a sport still in its early stages, it has only really developed into a consumer sport in the last year and a half and there are very few people partaking in the sport at the current time. As the popularity increases the sport will be more and more subject to categorisation, linking it to other sports. At the moment the sport is leaning heavily towards the freedom and individuality that many extreme sports are rooted from, such as skateboarding and surfing. But as history has shown with these other sports, there will inevitably be a time when part of the sports participants will start mainstreaming the activity according to what the overarching culture decides. Humphreys (2003) describes how many of snowboarders don’t care much for the new competition elements of their sport after being included in the Olympics, and that they don’t count the Olympic athletes as part of their subculture. He goes onto explain that the sports popularity is being used to advertise this side of the sport and ultimately being used by someone to make some money out if it, something that the original subculture do not agree with. Many sports such as surfing and climbing before this have tried hard to resist this slow slide into mainstream sport, and still have pockets of athletes refusing to fall into this group, but with ESPN’s success with the X-games and the world wide marketing of “extreme”, Powerbocking will have to fight hard to resist this. At the current moment in time though, the major subculture around the sport is firmly apposed to this mainstreaming and competition as it opposes the freedom and reasons why people enjoy the sport. ‘Locky’ one of the most well respected Bockers in the sport, due to his enthusiasm within the sport and his keenness into how it is developing, argues against competition. He sums up the anti-competitive nature that exists in Bocking with a response to one member getting competitive: “Get over yourselves guys, it’s about having fun not a d*ck competition” (Locky, 2007).

[Dawesome]

6.0 Reference
Becky. (2007). Reasons for Bocking? PoweriserPages.com [online], [cited 25-05-07] Available from URL: http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/empty-t2263.0.html

Borden, I. (2001). Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body. Oxford: Berg

‘esco. (2007). What do you do when you Bock?. PoweriserPages.com [online], [cited 25-05-07] Available from URL: http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/anything_else_powerisers/what_do_you_do_when_you_bock-t2280.0.html;new

English-Tailor. (2007). Reasons for Bocking? PoweriserPages.com [online], [cited 25-05-07] Available from URL: http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/empty-t2263.0.html

Humphreys, D. (2003). Selling Out Snowboarding: The Alternative Response to Commercial Co-optation.  In: To the Extreme: alternative sports, inside and out (edited by R.E. Rinehart and S. Sydnor), pp 406-424. Albany: State University of New York Press

Kay, J. and Laberge, S. (2003). Oh Say Can You Ski?. In: To the Extreme: alternative sports, inside and out (edited by R.E. Rinehart and S. Sydnor), pp 381-394. Albany: State University of New York Press

Lewis. (2007). What do you do when you Bock?. PoweriserPages.com [online], [cited 25-05-07] Available from URL: http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/what_do_you_do_when_you_bock-t2280.0.html;msg33900;topicseen#new

Locky. (2007). Stevie and B-Bounce on Swedish TV. PoweriserPages.com [online], [cited 25-05-07] Available from URL: http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/stevie_and_bbounce_on_swedish_tv-t2014.15.html

Moore, A.W. (2003). Noble in reason, infinite in faculty: themes and variations in Kant’s moral and religious philosophy. London: Routledge

Paul-Self. (2007). Angry Driver =). PoweriserPages.com [online], [cited 23-05-07] Available from URL: http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/empty-t1372.0.html

Russel, B. (1996). History of Western Philosophy. London: Routledge

Sabin, V. (2001). School Gymnastics: A teaching manual Volume 2 Key Stages 3 and 4 (11-16 years). Northampton: Val Sabin Publications

Skorupski, J. (1991). John Stuart Mill. London: Routledge

Stuntman. (2007). Riser Rankings / Gradings / Belts. PoweriserPages.com [online], [cited 23-05-07] Available from URL: http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/riser_rankings_gradings_belts-t1104.15.html

TFD. (2007). What do you do when you Bock? PoweriserPages.com [online], [cited 23-05-07] Available from URL: http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/what_do_you_do_when_you_bock-t2280.0.html;msg33933;topicseen#new

Urbantricker. (2007). The Forum. PoweriserPages.com [online], [cited 23-05-07] Available from URL: http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/empty-t1849.0.html

Wheaton, B. (2003). Windsurfing: A subculture of commitment. In: To the Extreme: alternative sports, inside and out (edited by R.E. Rinehart and S. Sydnor), pp 75-94. Albany: State University of New York Press

[Locky]

‘Locky’ one of the most well respected Bockers in the sport, due to his enthusiasm within the sport and his keenness into how it is developing, argues against competition. He sums up the anti-competitive nature that exists in Bocking with a response to one member getting competitive: “Get over yourselves guys, it’s about having fun not a d*ck competition” (Locky, 2007).

Never a more true word has been spoken

Absolutely outstanding paper Paul. Brilliant stuff!

[tfd]

i am definatly going to read this paper paul, but for now i've got cars to fix, new stilts to buy but u were right dude lol
t'is a very long post
tfd...

[Lukey]

Have copied the text to word and will read during my lunch hour.

Was going to say "For your references havent you used any books?" but I cant see many out there, in fact, this could be the first!

That or my diary!

[Sprog]

I've read the first couple of posts (I'm on section 4.0 at the moment) and it's a great paper Dawesome
I like the fact that you've actually gcome on here and asked bockers of their opinoins and then linked back to this, and given them due credit.
I'll finish it off after some more revision, I'm really liking it though

[tundrah]

I've just read it all, it's a good job my magnager is off site today.  It's very well written and I agree with all of your points except the fact that Locky is respected.......  What a load of piffle, I do respect him for not falling asleep going to Bradford though.



P.S.  I love you really Locky. 

[Locky]

LMAO, that why i put it in bold in the quote, in case paul had made an error.

[lewis]

nice long post il read later though gotta go out
sounds and looks intersesting

[Athoul]

Took a good 20 minutes to read it all, but it was definatly worth it.

Well done dawesome you summed it all up really well. 

Locky, Respected....

[MCTom]

Very nice post   And whilst I would like to see some form of competition in the sport I do agree with most of it.  After all, skateboarding can be very competition oriented, but at the same time you see plenty of people just going out and having fun, or breaking the rules of what "conventional skateboarding" is, (e.g. Danny Wade)