Florida: Our Most Popular Extreme Sport May Surprise You

It's officially X Games week with Real BMC officially getting things underway in San Diego on Sunday. Next, the skateboarding competition will officially kick (flip) off on Friday, July 21. To coincide with the action, Storage Café has highlighted the most popular extreme sport in every state, and the winner in Florida may be surprising.

In the Sunshine State, all of  the summer X Game sports can realistically be done at any time of year. There is certainly no shortage of bike paths or parks to practice those rail slides. However, Florida also has hundreds of miles of coastline bordering two major oceans. Therefore, it's certainly understandable that the most popular extreme sport in the state involves the water.

"Extreme sports also offer a unique insight into how we push our limits and discover ourselves," Storage Café explains. In order to determine which extreme sports people are seeking out they compiled and analyzed a year's worth of search data, and then compared them to previous trends.

As a result, they found that skateboarding, mountain biking, and rock climbing are as expected, the most popular three extreme sports across America. However, there are outliers like Florida where the choice was different. In fact, Florida was the only state where this extreme sport ranked number one.

Although jet skiing did populate in the top three for ten different states, Florida is the only area where it was the most popular. This action-packed, motorized water sport compiled 49,500 searches in the year. Skateboarding and rock climbing then rounded out Florida's top three extreme sport interest.

Lastly, Storage Café points out that many extreme sports have seen significant year-over-year growth in America. "Rock climbing was the biggest standout with a huge 83% increase in interest, while scuba diving takes second place with a 50% increase in average monthly searches year-over-year," they say.

This is certainly good news for the X Games. After you come in from partaking in the most popular extreme sport in Florida, here are a few X Games events be aware of:

What makes a great skatepark? Essential requirements revolve around safety conditions, open space, and overall atmosphere. In Florida, two skateparks were recently listed among the best in the country.

In SkateboardHQ's feature, "13 Skateparks in the U.S. You Need To Visit," they take you on a tour through some of the greatest bowls in the continental United States. From the Northwest corner of Oregon to the Southeast corner of Florida, this list rolls through a lot of ground.

"You’ll find some of the most epic street courses alongside iconic locations and facilities designed for skaters and by skaters, including the largest full-concrete pipe and one of the oldest-running skateparks in America," SkateboardHQ expxlains.

The largest full-concrete pipe they mention belongs to Lake Cunningham Regional Sports Park, in San Jose, CA. At 68,000-square-feet, it's the largest skatepark in California. As for the "oldest," we'll get to that shortly.

Whether they are built into the recreational facilities of a suburban town, or between buildings on city streets, skateparks can serve a great purpose. Under safe conditions, such parks provide a place for youth and skate enthusiasts alike to support each other while they work on their craft. There is a true artistic and creative component to skateboarding. Furthermore, the sport takes a great deal of discipline. To master a trick (or even to get a feel for riding) you have to go through rounds of repetition. Often, you fall, get up, try again, and then fall again.

Skateboarding is an activity that also can have very little cost affiliated with it. After the price of a board and the necessary safety equipment (such as a helmet and padding), most community parks are free admission.

There are some great organizations (mostly West Coast-based) that thrive off building and restoring skateparks in various communities. Evergreen based out of Portland, focuses on structuring parks for all skill levels. Montana Pool Service, a non-profit organization, aims to connect youth communities with their generous work installing parks across the country.

So let's grab a board and take stroll through the two Florida skateparks that were named among the best in the country.

Skatepark of Tampa, commonly known as SPoT, is located at 4215 E. Columbus Dr. They offer indoor and outdoor facilities. They also sell many skate products, further inspiring the all-encompassing skate experience. Furthermore, SPoT provides various programs, including camps, birthday parties, and a session they call "Girls Meetup."

Here we have the oldest running public skatepark in America. It's been open since 1977. Like the sport, this park has fallen flat, but then bounced back up when many thought it would stay down. Kona Skatepark is located at 8739 Kona Ave. The grounds offer a clubhouse as well given the Kona experience is all about community. They host events, and they will occasionally have live music or competitions at their park.