Top 10: Weird Sports You Should Try

If you have ever watched the Winter Olympics, than you know that some pretty weird sports exist. However, these oddball sports are weird and wacky enough to make curling and skeleton seem pretty normal.

Underwater Hockey

Games played with curved sticks and a ball have been played for thousands of years. First there was field hockey, then there was ice hockey, and now? Underwater hockey, of course. In this sport, which is also called Octopush, two teams of six try to push a puck using a stick into the opposing team’s goal. Although this sport is played around the world, it has not gained a major following. Perhaps because a sport played entirely underwater is not very spectator friendly.

Bossaball

Imagine a game of volleyball being played on the moon, and you’ve got the gist of bossaball. In this sport, each side of the court has a trampoline and each team of 3 to 5 players attempts to hit or kick the ball over the net to the opposing team’s side of the court. Like in volleyball, points are scored when the ball hits the floor.

Wife Carrying

Wife carrying, which originated in Sonkajärvi, Finland, is a sport in which male competitors race to carry their female teammate through an obstacle course in the shortest time. Not only does the winner of the Wife Carrying Championship in Sonkajärvi get the glory of being the number one wife carrier, he also wins his wife’s weight in beer. Although this sport would be very entertaining to watch, I can only imagine how funny it would be if the roles were reversed. Unfortunately, husband carrying hasn’t caught on yet.

Dog Surfing

This sport is further proof that animals are capable of more than we might imagine. Who knew that dogs could do more in the water than just doggy paddle? While this sport began in San Diego, there are now many dog surfing competitions all over southern California.

Unicycle Polo

As if just riding a unicycle didn’t look funny enough, add mallets and balls and you’ve got a truly wacky spectacle. I’m sure it’s a fun game for the participants, but just imagining unicyclists crashing into each other makes me burst into laughter.

Caber Toss

This sport is unique to this list, as it is the only one in which the participants wear skirts, err… I mean kilts. Caber toss is a traditional Scottish sport in which competitors throw large wooden poles called cabers. The object is not to throw the caber the furthest, but to have the top of it land near the thrower. This sport is thought to originate from the need to throw logs across gaps, in order to cross them.

Chess Boxing

The ultimate mash-up of brains and brawn, chessboxing is exactly what it sounds like. Competitors must be masters of both knocking out and checkmating opponents, as the sport involves alternating rounds of chess and boxing. I can only imagine that repeated blows to the head must affect their ability to develop chess strategies.

Cheese Rolling

Perhaps the only sport to involve food (besides competitive eating), cheese rolling is a tradition that is over 200 years old. Every year, on the Spring Bank Holiday, a round of cheese is rolled down Cooper’s Hill in Gloucester, England. Competitors race down the hill after the cheese, and the first one to the bottom wins the cheese. As silly as this event sounds, injuries are common, and the 2010 cheese rolling has been canceled due to safety concerns.

Blind Soccer

Imagine how hard it would be to live life day-to-day without vision. Now imagine playing a game of soccer with the same impairment. While the visually-impaired are usually unable to participate in athletic activities, blind soccer is a truly inspirational exception. All of the players are legally blind, except for the goal keeper, and the soccer ball has pebbles in it so the players can tell where it is.

Ferret Legging

While many sports require enduring pain, this sport is just plain masochistic. Competitors tie their pants at the ankles, drop two ferrets in their pants, and see how long they can endure getting their genitals bitten and scratched. The world record for this painful competition is five hours and thirty minutes. It was set in 1981 by Reg Mellor, whose trick was to make sure the ferrets were well-fed before putting them in his pants.

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