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To the lightweight, 3D-printed extreme sports desk and we all know that New Zealand is a popular destination for extreme sports junkies. However, for some people, bungee jumping, skydiving, jet boating and flirting with Austrian backpackers in Queenstown for a weekend is just not extreme enough these days. First-world problems.

Ever since the Red Bull enema-taking extreme adrenaline junkie Felix Baumgartner stepped off a little platform nearly 40 kilometers above the New Mexico desert and fell from the edge of space, reaching supersonic speeds and breaking records on his successful return to earth, people have been looking to this feat as inspiration for the next step in extreme sports. We may be talking about hyper sports here, people.

For those who don’t pay attention to space and all that cool stuff, the space race is on; we are going back and we are leaving pretty soon. You have probably seen Richard Branson promoting his Virgin Galactic brand for years and many other private companies like the very Austin Powers-sounding Bigelow Aerospace and their inflatable space hotel. These guys have been quietly setting themselves up to take advantage of the emerging space tourism market. But that is probably for oil-rich Texans, not hyper sport pioneers.

Seeing as Baumgartner and his crew adapted weather balloon technology to take him up to altitude, there was no need for nerdy rocket scientists and expensive, exotic fuels. This will help keep costs down and, as the technology is further refined, it will become accessible for everyday people to experience. With recent speculation and rumours about Back to the Future-style hover boards becoming a reality, all of this technology is closer to reality than we realise.

People are dreaming up plans for a “space station to sea level” race, a kind of extreme triathlon where you jump from space, land on top of a mountain which you then ski down as far as you can until you reach a motocross bike to take you to the finish.

What about combining a space jump with the advances in wingsuit technology?
A less extreme idea is to have a “space ballet.” With 25 miles of free fall space, entire aerial operas on the same scale as North Korea’s huge arirang performances are being envisioned to light up the sky with colour by forming huge shapes and formations. Who doesn’t want to see a 5000 person sunflower spinning back down to earth?


Now we continue our road to the World Cup in Brazil with a look at the colourful combatants of Group D.

ENGLAND
UEFA – Union of European Football Associations
Population: 53 million
Currency: The British Pound
Capital: London
Language: In the Queen’s English, the national football team is called “the three lions.”
FIFA World Ranking: 12th
Qualified: Top of Group H
Fun Fact: Win or lose, the rabid English press will tear them to pieces, like a wound up Staffordshire Bull Terrier with its negligent owners’ copy of the Daily Mail.
History: Struggled to top an easy qualifying group and followed that up with some poor form in their recent friendly matches.
Key Players: In-form Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge and Shrek-impersonator Wayne Rooney will need to score to overcome the firepower of the other big teams.
Prediction: First game against Italy is crucial. They will probably make twats of themselves once again.

ITALY
UEFA – Union of European Football Associations
Population: 60 million
Currency: Euro
Capital: Rome
Language: In lovely Italian, they call their team “Azzurri” because of the blue uniforms
FIFA World Ranking: 8th
Qualified: Top of Euro Group B
Fun Fact: The team’s blue shirts are linked to the colours of Casa Savoia (House of Savoy), the rulers who unified Italy into a republic in the late 1800s.
History: Four-time World Cup winners and were runners-up at Euro2012.
Key Players: My main man on FIFA 14 Stephan El Shaarawy and the entertaining and unpredictable Mario Balotelli, who is like the Dennis Rodman of football.
Prediction: Fully deserve to go through but they can’t afford to be too cautious, which has marked their recent performances.

URUGUAY
CONMEBOL – Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol
Population: 3 million
Currency: Peso
Capital: Montevideo
Language: In poetic sounding Spanish, La Celeste means “the sky blue one.”
FIFA World Ranking: 6th
Qualified: Beat Jordan 5 - 0 in a play-off
Fun Fact: Their top-three most-capped players are all named Diego. So is the guy in seventh place.
History: Reigning South American champions and finished fourth at the last World Cup in 2010.
Key Players: A very solid squad. Liverpool hit-man Luis Suarez is one of the most prolific strikers in world football and record scorer for Uruguay.
Prediction: If Suarez continues his Premier League form and doesn’t intentionally handball, bite or racially abuse anyone, then they should go through.

COSTA RICA
CONCACAF - Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football
Population: 4.5 million
Currency: Costa Rican Colón
Capital: San Jose
Language: In Spanish, Los Ticos – which is also an informal demonym for a Costa Rican.
FIFA World Ranking: 34th
Qualified: Runner-up in qualifying group
Fun Fact: Costa Rica is recognised as one of the “greenest” countries in the world and shares many similarities and values with New Zealand.
History: Fifth world cup appearance. A lot of people will be surprised to see them there again this year.
Key Players: Wellington Phoenix striker Carlos Hernández and his teammate Kenny Cunningham may not be key players but they may be familiar names.
Prediction: They would have struggled in most groups and certainly have no chance here.