X Games and Positive Athlete have announced a new strategic alliance aimed at bringing greater recognition, visibility, and long-term support to high school action sports athletes across the country.
The partnership is designed to spotlight students competing in disciplines like skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, BMX, Moto X, and other action sports that have often existed outside the traditional recognition systems built around school athletics. Through the alliance, both organizations are working to ensure that young athletes in these spaces are celebrated not just for performance, but for the qualities that shape them beyond competition.
That includes leadership, discipline, service, character, teamwork, and mental toughness. In other words, the same traits that have long been praised in more conventional sports programs are now being more intentionally recognized within action sports culture.
“Positive Athlete recognizes students for who they are, not just how they perform,” said Matt Amerlan, Director of Workforce Development at Positive Athlete. “Action sports athletes are incredible. These kids are developing the same powerful traits that sport builds everywhere, and they deserve support and resources that help them grow into what’s next.”
X Games CEO Jeremy Bloom, an Olympian and former NFL player, said the partnership helps address something that has been missing for years. “The same discipline, mental toughness, and leadership we celebrate in traditional school sports are being built every day on the slopes and in skateparks,” Bloom said. “This alliance with Positive Athlete finally gives high school action sports athletes the national spotlight and pathway they deserve.”
Beyond recognition, the alliance also creates a more direct path toward development opportunities. Nominated student athletes can gain access to the Positive Athlete app, which includes leadership certifications, character development resources, resume tools, education guidance, career exploration, and scholarship opportunities.
The initiative is centered around four core goals: elevating visibility for high school action sports athletes, amplifying the culture and values that shape their communities, creating clearer nomination pathways, and connecting young athletes with future educational and career resources.
Adults ages 18 and older can nominate high school student athletes in grades nine through 12 by visiting positiveathlete.org/nominate. The nomination process takes only a few minutes, but the long-term impact could be a lot bigger.
For X Games, the move also reflects the brand’s broader evolution. Since 1995, the competition has grown from a major event series into a larger cultural force that connects sports, music, fashion, and community. Under Bloom’s leadership, the brand is also continuing its push toward the X Games League, a year-round team-based professional league that aims to keep expanding the reach of action sports.
This new alliance with Positive Athlete feels like a natural extension of that mission. It is not just about honoring the next generation of competitors. It is about making sure action sports athletes are seen as complete young people whose talent, resilience, and leadership deserve to be recognized on a national stage.
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