to get the most out of it. For him, pushing to the other side of the
crux makes him feel even more alive.~
For each of these athletes it is apparent that their high sensation-
seeking personality helps them to succeed. They have the ability to
focus in a chaotic environment and the perseverance and grit to
succeed, driven by the desire to crack through the crux and the
amazing fortitude to bounce back when things don’t work out. And
while many people call high sensation-seekers like Will, Kristina,
and Jeb adrenaline junkies it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Their thoughts about and physical reaction to adrenaline is fasci-
nating. Amy noticed this when I talked to her about her time with
the athletes.
“What was interesting was that their response to adrenaline
depends on their years of experience. The most experienced people
hated adrenaline, absolutely hated it and wished there was some-
thing they could do to get rid of it. The middle group, were in the
zone and didn’t hate it but tried to navigate around it and ignore it
as much as possible. And the folks who were the newest to their
sport were the ones who felt like it gets them going.”
For many of these athletes there’s another motivating fac-
tor, and it’s another person in the room, sometimes thousands (and
thousands) of others.Doing it for the“Likes”
Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Twitter have over
100,000,000 registered users.^35 In a few seconds you can grab your
phone, send out a message and have it reach millions of people. In
the past high sensation-seekers may have adventured alone, or with
a group of people. Maybe they took some photos or a video, or just
retold the story. But now it’s just as easy to share your experience
with the world, even as it happens.
Dr. Ann Pegoraro is a professor in the school of human
kinetics and the director of the Institute for Sports Management
at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. She teaches courses
in Sport Marketing, Media and Sport, and Sport Communication.
She lives, breathes and researches the digital world. And Twitter is
her favorite. “I’m a bit of a twitterholic,” she admitted. She’s also
a scientist that studies social media and its influence on athletes.88 / Buzz!Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Access paid by the UCSF Library, on 11 Nov 2019 at 14:19:03, subject to the Cambridge