How old is old enough for extreme sports? A spin around a number of sports activities revealed there’s no magic age. In most cases, it’s a judgment call that a person can look after themselves safely and competently.
Karting is a sport notorious for breeding their racers young. But how young? Chris Pullman, senior operations consultant at the track in Kent where both Lewis Hamilton and current F1 champ Jenson Button honed their skills, is keen to get kids involved from a young age.
‘Racers as young as four are welcome,’ he says. ‘Obviously, we don’t stick them on the petrol karts but they can ride on our electric karts around our Kids Mini GP Circuit and they love it.
‘Then from six onwards, youngsters can get involved in the Bambino School. This prepares them for the faster karts by teaching them important skills such as pedal control, steering, control of the kart and safety awareness.
Two Young Karters Ready to Race
‘Traditionally, the earliest children could start racing was at eight. But, as they mature quicker these days, we feel there is a great opportunity for them to learn the basics of driving to prepare them for full racing at eight years of age.’
To race competitively in the UK, eight is the age to be but with the continued success of British drivers in the F1 championship, it’s understandable why kids from as young as four are keen to get behind the wheel.
Sports like skydiving and clay pigeon shooting do come with certain restrictions. To sky dive you need to be at least 16-years-old but parental consent is essential. Once you reach 18, however, you’re free to jump out of as many airplanes as you deem fit and mummy and daddy can’t do a thing about it.
In order to shoot at clay pigeons, while nothing is set in stone, Mike Williams from the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association feels that height is actually more important than age.
Callum McMillan(13yrs) – Started clay pigeon shooting at 7yrs and is one of the most promising shooters in the country.
‘Generally speaking, we don’t allow anyone under the age of eight to shoot,’ he says, ‘as they need to be able to support the gun safely. We have a Colts section and that is for children under the age of 16. The next step up from that is the juniors, and that is for competitors between the age of 16 and 21.’
Zorbing is an extreme sport that is increasing in popularity. Seven is the magic age for this one but even then, youngsters are often restricted to hydro-zorbing – this only receives a three-star rating and is apparently a far cry from harness zorbing, which has been given a five-star extreme rating. You need to reach the grand old age of 11 before you can take part in that.
In terms of paintball, Steve Bull, chairman of the UK Paintball Sites Federation, says: ‘Most sites insure young people from age 12 upwards or require you to be in year seven in school, although a small percentage of sites will require you to be 14 or even 16.’ But eager young guns can get a taste of the action with laser quest. As this uses light rather than paintballs, the starting age drops to six – and even younger on some sites.
While there isn’t a strict age to let kids loose on most of these sports, parental consent is always required.
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How refreshing to see young people doing what we deem “dangerous sports”. I think the most dangerous thing we allow our children to do is to travell in a car, but we freely let them to do that.
My son has raced moto bikes since the age of 4, he is 13 and has already done 3 tandem sky dives (in slovenia where there are not the same restrictions here) he has done many rock climbs with us, as we are rock climbers, and if an opportunity comes along for him to experience something with a controlled risk, or as much control as can be implemented in doing exciting things, we would be happy for him to do it. Some parents may scorn and say how irresponsible to allow your child to do these things. We think how lucky he is to experience things that we were not able to, untill we were alot older than he is.
Long may young people continue to experience the thrill of adrenalin sports, and long may parents encourage their children to “have a go”.
You make some interesting points about the level of risk that children are exposed to. Clearly it is a parents role to consider the safety of the child above all else. But that doesn’t mean wrapping them in cotton wool. Life and learning all involve risk – stepping out of a comfort zone, trying new things, being on the edge. If we protect our kids from this, we are in fact imprisioning them. Rock climbing, no doubt encourages children to manage risk in a controlled manner. Brian