ABSTRACT
This chapter explores extreme sport participation as a search for sense of freedom. It explores a phenomenological perspective on the meaning of freedom. A fundamental feature of the extreme sport experience is the absence of constraints apparent in normative socio-cultural life. Extreme sports are the essence of a free lifestyle, not just freedom from the restrictions of sporting norms and competitive rules. In this case being free signifies freedom from the constraints of a wider socio-cultural context including norms around gender and ageing. The sense of freedom described is often associated with a state of complete relaxation and mental release of thoughts that were extraneous to the immediate present. Extreme sports provide an opportunity for freedom from gender-based expectations. Freedom for the extreme sports participant is more than an active and deliberate attempt to unknot the socio-cultural restraints; it is also an active and deliberate attempt to experience physical freedom.
