Discovering unusual sports during travels
Discovering unusual sports during travels
The spectators, who had come from near and far, gasp as a man jumps out of an airplane flying overhead and plummets earthward, with no sign of a parachute to slow his fall.
He’s seated in a modified kayak and the onlookers gasp again when he begins performing aerial stunts. Only after he deploys a chute and floats to a soft landing are the bystanders able to breathe easier.
The brave bloke who defied gravity and perhaps common sense is participating in a Skyaking competition, a unique combination of skydiving and kayaking that was created in 1989 by a professional kayaker. This is one of a number of unusual, to say the least, sporting events that people may observe. Some may take place close to where you live, while others are offered at locations around the country.
Some unusual sports involve swimming
While Skyakers eventually land in water, Underwater Rugby players swim through it. They try to score by placing a heavy ball filled with salt water into the opponent’s goal at the bottom of a swimming pool.
The game is based on a physical fitness training regime created in the 1960s. In addition to a diving mask and snorkel tube, some players wear devices that help prevent their fins from being pulled off.
Unusual sports can involve different kinds of running
Quidditch, which was inspired by J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, combines elements of land rugby with dodgeball and tag. It was adopted as a real sport by students at Middlebury College in Vermont. Spectators quickly notice that players, who include both genders, clutch a broomstick between their legs as they run.
Competitors in Pack Burro Races, which are held in several western states, run next to small donkeys loaded down with a pick, shovel, and gold pan. This event recalls early mining days when prospectors would lead donkeys carrying their supplies. Some Pack Burro routes are as long as 25 miles.
Primitive Biathlon events in New England have shorter courses and much colder weather. Participants wear wooden snowshoes and carry early American-style muzzle-loading rifles, which they fire at steel targets along the route. Each hit takes five minutes off the contestant’s running time.
Those who run while taking part in Combat Archery combine features of archery, paintball, and dodgeball. To eliminate members of the opposing team, hit them with soft-tipped arrows shot from bows. In addition to bow and arrows, a face shield or eye protector is part of the required equipment.
Three clubs rather than arrows are the ammunition used in Combat Juggling, which got its start in the 1980s in San Francisco. Jugglers attempt to knock one or more of their opponent’s pins out of the air while maintaining their own pattern. The competition may involve two people, teams of two or more players, or a group, with each person battling everyone else.
An unusual sport named after a President
Teamwork is a basic part of Hoover-ball, named for the 31st President of the United States. The game was invented by Herbert’s White House physician to keep his patient physically fit.
The President was joined by Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, and high government officials on the White House lawn tossing a weighted ball over a volleyball-type net. Today, annual championship games take place in West Branch, Iowa, the location of the Hoover Presidential Library.
A smaller, lighter orb is used in Roundnet or Spikeball, and the small net is positioned horizontally like a mini-trampoline. A point in this fast-paced game begins when a player serves the ball down onto the mesh and it ricochets up toward the opponents. They have three hits among them to return the ball back onto the net.
A ball also is used in Broomball, an offshoot of ice hockey with some modifications. In addition to shooting a ball rather than a puck, participants wear street shoes instead of skates and use a broom rather than a hockey stick. It has gained popularity in Canada as well as the United States.
Unusual sports that leave spectators wondering: Why?
Then, there are contests that leave spectators wondering why people participate in them. That’s true of a race that originated in Finland in which men run over an obstacle course carrying their female partner.
During the annual North American Wife Carrying Championship held at the Sunday River Resort in Maine, the only restriction is that competing couples be at least 21 years old. While a teammate clings to the carrier’s back, the twosome negotiates a course that includes sand traps, log hurdles and the “widow-maker” water hazard. The winning couple takes home a prize of beer equal to the carried person’s weight and five times the weight in cash.
Only men participate in Hairiest Back competitions, which are held at half-time during some sporting events. Winners are selected based on audience response, and fittingly, the prize given to those chosen champions in some contests is a hair removal kit.
From Hairiest Back contests to Hoover Ball, Combat Archery to Combat Juggling, a surprising number of unusual sports competitions take place throughout the United States. Those who are uninterested in baring their back or parachuting from a plane without a chute may enjoy these unique activities by traveling to where they are offered.
A list of a number of unusual sports events that take place around the U.S. is available at topendsports.com