Sports are a big part of our lives. After the pandemic, many of us realized how precious our active time can be. It’s often about staying in shape, keeping fit, or living a healthy lifestyle. Sports are also a key part of every culture. In this article, you’ll discover some unusual sports you might not know about, but which are totally normal in other parts of the world.
Quidditch
Remember the wizarding saga Harry Potter? Quidditch is the unique sport many of us associate with this film series. In the movies, we see wizards flying around the Quidditch pitch on broomsticks, trying to score by getting a ball through the opponent’s hoop.
What many might not know is that this sport has made its way into the real world. Unfortunately, without the flying broomsticks 🙂 In Slovakia, Quidditch started being played in 2015, and there is now even an international competitive version. It’s a mixed-gender contact sport where both men and women participate. Each team consists of seven players who, as you might have guessed, run around the field with a broom between their legs. These aren’t traditional wooden brooms but flexible plastic replicas.
Source: Pexels.com by YanKru
Bossaball
How about taking a trip to Brazil? That’s where the sport of bossaball took off, a unique blend of several globally known sports. In bossaball, you’ll find elements of soccer, gymnastics, and volleyball, all set to modern music.
Bossaball is played on an inflatable court with a trampoline in the middle. Each side of the net has a team of three or two players. One player spends the game bouncing on the trampoline and spiking the ball, while the other two players handle passes and set up shots for the bouncer.
Source: Imagine.art.com
Chessboxing
If you thought no sport could surprise you with its absurdity, let us introduce you to chessboxing. Yes, this sport is exactly what its name suggests. A combination of chess and boxing, two of the most opposite sports you can imagine.
Wondering about the game strategy? Players face off in short rounds lasting three minutes each. A round of chess alternates with a round of boxing. Would you try such a sport? Which extreme of this sport do you prefer?
Source: Imagine.art.com
Joggling
It turns out that combining different sports is a popular trend around the world. A great example is “joggling,” which combines jogging and juggling. That’s right, jogglers run on a track while juggling. Maybe they found plain running a bit too boring.
Source: Freepik.com
Cheese rolling
In the UK, they dive right in—literally! The annual Cheese Rolling Festival has been a tradition for years and is an incredible spectacle.
Dozens of people first climb up a steep hill. Then, they release a wheel of cheese from the top. That’s when the fun begins. All the participants start chasing the cheese headlong down the hill. Calling it running is a bit of a stretch, given how steep the hill is. There are plenty of falls, tumbles, and rolling around.
It’s probably no surprise to readers that 95% of the participants in this sport are men. They’re always fueled by adrenaline and, as is customary in England, some good English beer flowing through their veins 🙂
Source: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
