Hi everyone! I am Kris, an international multimedia journalism student at Newcastle University. This is my blog: Amazing Race, a brilliant blog that will focus on extreme sports around Newcastle, including skateboarding, rock climbing, parkour, mountain biking and all kinds of thrilling sports!
Why I call it Amazing Race? Because extreme sports is a process in which human beings constantly challenge their physical limits in a cruel environment.
As an investigate journalist, I will find many talented sportsman and women who are professional in these area, and they can share their experience and stories to you!
If you love adventure and challenge or if you are interested in these sports, but you do not know how to start or just want to know their stories, you can follow my blog, twitter or Instagram! You can get anything you want to know from my channel!
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
A student fantasizing about buying £20,000 private aircraft seats, a mother feels depressed because her daughter can not go home, a group of desperate parents to the Chinese government for help.
The coronavirus outbreak has left one million Chinese students across the world stranded in empty dormitories and horrific towns around the world. According to statistics, 120,000 young people are studying in British universities, and Newcastle has nearly 3,000, some of whom have been on the flight to home at the beginning of the outbreak in Europe, while many more have stayed in Newcastle for various reasons. Almost all flights to and from China have been canceled as Beijing tries to prevent infected passengers from reigniting the outbreak there – a recovery that China has made thanks to a strict lockdown strategy. Many people have had their tickets cancelled, and they have bought them again, only to have them cancelled.
A few years ago there was a hugely successful Chinese film, Wolf Warrior, in which Chinese soldiers protect the Chinese people from overseas threats. “A Chinese passport can take you to more places and can take you home in an emergency,” the film says. As in the movie, the Chinese government is trying to address the plight of foreign students who are unable to return home. The Chinese government has distributed about 500,000 “health kits” to 59 embassies in more than 20 countries, including masks, medicines and hand wipes, to Chinese students studying in the country. In the UK, the “health kit” comes with a card that says “the motherland is always the strongest support for our overseas compatriots”. Yu Xuewei, a student at Newcastle university, felt a sudden drop of nerves after more than a month of anxiety when she took the health kit from the staff. “Suddenly, what’s the hurry? You see, the motherland is behind us.” She said.
Cards in health kits. Photo by Yifan Lu
Yu is one of thousands of Chinese students who cannot go home. She is a postgraduate student in environmental studies at Newcastle university. In the early days of the epidemic, she was hesitant to leave the UK. She was urged by her worried parents, and thousands of positive cases were rising rapidly every day. On the other hand, she did not want to end her study abroad career in such a short time. “If I had left at that time, I might not have been able to come back this year,” Yu said. “I was reluctant to leave my friends here and wanted to see more of Britain.” Yu Xuewei, who only came to the UK last September, missed the best opportunity to return home in her hesitation. She bought two tickets, but they were cancelled and she stayed in Newcastle.
On March 23rd, Boris Johnson, the prime minister, told people to stay at home in a televised evening address and gave the police the power to enforce the rule. It is also the strictest restriction imposed in Britain since the end of the second world war. Yu, like more than 60 million people in the UK, began to live in isolation at home. “I’m worried. Why don’t people in the UK wear face masks?” Watching the rising numbers of positive cases on her mobile phone every day, Yu is filled with anxiety and anxiety. From 30,000 confirmed cases to nearly 200,000, Yu has to be fully armed every time she goes out to buy daily necessities: gloves, a face mask and goggles. “I don’t know what meaningful thing I can do.” She did not know when the days would end, and it was as if she were caught in an endless cycle.
When Yu saw that the Chinese government was handing out health kits to overseas students, she realized she had to do something for her compatriots. She contacted the Chinese student association of Newcastle University, which was in charge of the work, and applied to be a volunteer to participate in the collection and distribution of materials. “I think it’s a very rewarding job,” she said. “I know there are a lot of Chinese students in Newcastle like me, and helping them get supplies gives them comfort and confidence.” More than 30 Chinese students signed up for the volunteer program, and Yu didn’t expect so many people to participate. “Even though we are far from home, now is the time for us to unite.”
Yu was carrying supplies. Photo by Yifan Lu
All worked in strict compliance with government regulations. “we all wore face masks,” Yu said, ” Although I couldn’t see the faces of my classmates, I saw confidence in each other’s eyes.” The volunteer work ended. Spring has arrived and the warm sunshine makes Newcastle even more charming, she was sure she would soon see everyone’s bright smiles beneath their face masks.
In the field of skateboarding dominated by men in history, it has never been easy to create space for women. However, with the skateboarding entering the Tokyo Olympic Games and more and more female skaters showing their brilliance, the phenomenon of sexism in contemporary skateboarding culture has been dormant.
The theme of International Women’s day in 2020 is “each for equal”. In the field of skateboarding, women skateboarders are striving for gender equality.
Many years ago, it was hard to see women skateboarders on the street, most of them were boys – in fact, this sport is not suitable for girls, it needs strong explosive force, waist and even whole body strength, and it needs to make all kinds of fancy skills. Compared with men, women may need more time and hard work to complete these movements. As a result, skateboarding is not so friendly for many women.
Tamaki Morikawa. Photo: Yifan Lu
But more and more women skaters have proved themselves in the international arena. Aori Nishimura from Japan is the first Japanese to win a gold medal in the X Game. She is a legend in Japanese eyes – which gives Japanese women skaters great confidence. Because compared with Europe and America, Japan is more traditional, so there are few women skaters. But Aori Nishmura’s achievements in the international arena have greatly promoted the number of skateboarding girls in Japan. Tamaki Morikawa, also from Japan, is currently studying at Newcastle University, and she also takes Aori as her idol. She thinks Aori has given the young generation of female skaters the direction to continue to work hard. “It’s very difficult for women skaters to win respect in men’s projects, but Aori has done it.” Tamaki said.
Tamaki Morikawa. Photo: Yifan Lu
Coincidentally, the 2020 Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo in a few months, and skateboarding will be the first time extreme sports will be on the Olympic stage, which is undoubtedly a historic moment. More importantly, many countries have women skaters on their national teams. Britain has brought five skateboarders to the national team in 2019, including sky brown, a 10-year-old female skater. This shows that whether in the X Game or the Olympic Games, women skaters have the strength to compete with men.
But the problem remains that the gap between sponsorship and bonuses hurts women skaters. Dennis Martinez, a former professional skateboarder, sounds similar. “There are more marketing tools, more functions and more money for men,” he said “It’s a given, it’s a 100% given, it’s not just in skateboarding, in any movement, anything that’s going on. It all needs to change. That’s what our female skaters need to do today. “
Skateboarding is a rebellious Street sport that will debut at the Tokyo Olympics in a few months. Skateboarding is often combined with rebellious, characterized by dizzying fancy tricks, and will enter the Olympic mainstream structure of “faster, higher, stronger”.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee allocated 80 places for skaters, 40 for men and 40 for women respectively, which were divided into street and park competitions, and reserved four seats for the host country Japan.
Although the Olympic Games may face many problems due to the coronavirus, the participating countries are still working hard to train their skateboarding teams. Britain has formed a national team of five skaters, including Sky Brown, the female skateboarder who is only 10 years old and of Japanese descent. The five players will take part in a series of preliminaries in order to enter the Olympic Games.
Liam Okey. Photo: Yifan Lu
“The British skateboarders are very good. I followed their account on Instagram.” Said Liam okey, a skateboarder from Newcastle. Liam loves skateboarding very much and dreams to take part in the Olympic Games on behalf of Britain.
Because skateboarding has entered the Olympic Games, the British government now attaches great importance to skateboarding. “The government has built many skateboard parks, and has also held many competitions, such as the British National skateboarding Championships in Manchester, which will enable the public to participate more actively in skateboarding.” Liam said.
British skateboarding team. Photo: Garry Jones
Not only Britain, but also other countries in the world attach great importance to skateboarding. China has set up the skateboard national team in 2019 and started the training, aiming to win an Olympic medal in a few months.
“Compared with the UK, skateboarding entered China later.” Songyan, Yao , an international student from China, said that he to the UK four years ago and began skateboarding. He is very optimistic about the development prospect of skateboarding in China: “although there is a certain gap between China’s skateboarding level and that of the United Kingdom and the United States, the skateboarding program has become very popular among young people in China, and many universities in China have opened skateboarding courses.”
Liam Okey. Photo: Yifan Lu
“China has a population of 1.4 billion, which is a big advantage. I believe skateboarding will develop better and better in China,” Yao said.
Skateboarding from the streets has been recognized by the mainstream world. No matter whether the Tokyo Olympic Games can go smoothly in a few months, skateboarding first appears in the Olympic Games, which has brought enough confidence to skateboarders around the world, who believe that the future of skateboarding will be better.
Traditional skateboarders have always laughed at scooters, but will a new generation of riders bring new prospects to the sport?
The Dynamic Extreme Park in Gateshead is the largest indoor extreme sports ground in Newcastle and the gathering place of new generation of trendsetters. Here, all kinds of skateboarders from the northeast of England flock to the park every day, forming a totally different culture and atmosphere from the outside world. They perform various tricks to try to shred the city of Newcastle.
Kids playing scooters in Dynamic Extreme Park. Photograph: Yifan Lu
In fact, skateboarders are not the only ones occupying the park. For the younger generation after the millennium, scooter have surpassed traditional skateboarding to some extent – as can be seen from the Dynamic Park, more people come here to play scooters than skateboards, most of them are children aged 15 or 16.
Jacob Steadman. Photograph: Yifan Lu
“Over the years, there have been fewer skateboarders.” Jacob Steadman, 15, said he was already an experienced veteran with 7 months’ experience. He came to the extreme sports park every day for four or five days to play the scooter. “Here we are the majority, and scooters are more than skateboarders. Because scooters are mainly for younger children, while skateboards are for older people. “
Although scooter is defined as extreme sport, it is safer for children. Compared with skateboard, scooter can be controlled by hand, which ensures the safety of children engaged in this sport. Thomas Francis, 12-and-a-half-year-old, who has been on a scooter for a year and a half, said: “its danger depends on what you do. If you put on a helmet and knee protector, it will be much safer, but it will still be dangerous.” Thomas’s parents are very supportive of his scooter playing. His parents drive him from home for 40 minutes in the morning and pick him up in the evening.
The number of search ‘Scooter’ in US and UK from 2015-2020. Photograph: Google Trends
According to data from Google Trends, in the past 5 years, the search volume for scooters in the UK is significantly higher than that in the US. In Britain, football is the mainstream sport, but scooters attract more and more young friends. When asked if Jacob wanted to be a professional skateboarder, he said almost without hesitation, “absolutely, that’s my dream, to participate in X game.”
Skateboarding, as an extreme sport, has become a formal event of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The skateboarding representing the trend subculture originated from the street has been recognized by the mainstream world. The scooter, originated from children’s toys, strives to stand firm on this road, and the scooter also represents the extreme sports dream of the millennial children.
Skiing is a dynamic and exciting sport. Although skiing belongs to extreme sports, it is not as dangerous as rock climbing, skydiving and other extreme sports. In fact, with the improvement of people’s economic level, skiing has entered most people’s lives.
Skiing is called “white opium”, because many people enjoy the process of sprinting down from the snow mountain. In this process, people can enjoy the pleasure of speed and the beautiful scenery along the way. Therefore, skiing is loved by more and more people.
Skiing doesn’t strictly limit the age of participants. From the 70 year old to the 10 year old, they have the opportunity to participate in such an extreme sport.
But for ordinary people, to enjoy skiing, they need to learn a lot of knowledge.
Photograph: Yifan Lu
Kai Liu, 24, who has been skiing for four years and is also a PhD of engineering at Newcastle University, said:
“For beginners of skiing, safety is the most important, the best way is to find a coach for preliminary learning. “
Kai started skiing since he came to England at the age of 20. Now he is proficient in various skills such as single board and double board. He goes skiing in the Alps every Christmas with his companions. He describes the dangerous situations he and his companions have encountered.
“There are often accidents on the snow ways. Some stones are often hidden under the snow. Once the skiers hit these hidden stones, they will be injured.” One of Liu Kai’s companions suffered a fracture and rested for three months because of such an accident.
Photograph: Yifan Lu
“The most dangerous problem is avalanche, which is a problem that every skier must pay attention to. In recent years, many famous skiers have often lost their lives because of avalanches. The most important thing is to judge whether they can ski according to the European avalanche warning system before departure.” Liu said.
In addition, no matter experienced professional skiers or enthusiasts still in the learning stage, they should try to avoid traveling alone. In an emergency, snow mountain rescue team will send rescue personnel and helicopters to conduct large-scale search in the ski resort, so as to quickly find the injured and rescue them.
In fact, skiing is not dangerous for most people as long as adequate preparations and precautions are made. Take your equipment, climb the snow mountain and overlook the beautiful snow.
Hi everyone! I am Kris, an international multimedia journalism student at Newcastle University. This is my blog: Amazing Race, a brilliant blog that will focus on extreme sports around Newcastle, including skateboarding, rock climbing, parkour, mountain biking and all kinds of thrilling sports!
Why I call it Amazing Race? Because extreme sports is a process in which human beings constantly challenge their physical limits in a cruel environment.
As an investigate journalist, I will find many talented sportsman and women who are professional in these area, and they can share their experience and stories to you!
If you love adventure and challenge or if you are interested in these sports, but you do not know how to start or just want to know their stories, you can follow my blog, twitter or Instagram! You can get anything you want to know from my channel!
Kris's blog 