The Magic of Red Helmets

Our ability to balance and grasp objects and accelerate our limbs through space allows us to experience the multidimensional, multisensory, global playground around us. Our urge to play and explore are so innately woven into our DNA that we routinely create new ways to engage with our universe – to experience wind and water and sky and earth. Extreme sports, such as those on display in the video above, showcase this innate urge to play.

Extreme sports are not just for highly trained, technically savvy adults. The Extreme Sports Camp (ESC) in Colorado offers extreme sports for individuals ages 5 and up with an autism spectrum disorder.

“”My son not only had the time of his life at this camp, but he was given the opportunity to overcome so many of his fears. Our children are not often challenged to the extent that I believe they should be, for their best benefit. This one week adventure provided a supportive environment that allowed him to experience many things beyond his typical boundaries, and gave him the chance to gain confidence, overcome fears and anxieties, and feel better about confronting new and not always so welcoming opportunities in the future.” – Laura from Tennessee

Like their professional and playful kindred spirits, the children also wear red helmets (and white ones and yellow ones). And they also wear big smiles on their faces.

We’re often admonished to “walk, don’t run.” But if we don’t occasionally try to run our fastest (or jump or climb) and feel the wind in our hair and the ground passing beneath our feet, how will we know what we’re capable of, what we have to watch out for, and what we ultimately can achieve?

About The Red Helmet video
This film was part of the Nissan Outdoor Games in 2008. Over one week, 5 teams compete to showcase 5 sports in a 5-minute film. Renowned kayakers, mountain-bikers, climbers, paragliders and base jumpers perform in teams with a cameraman and photographer to develop the most engaging interpretation of adventure sports in the outdoor environment. The competition takes place in Interlaken, Switzerland. The song featured in the video is ‘Cold Cold’ from the album Grus americanus by the band Stephanie’s Id.

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