Sports are meant to bring people together, inspire competitiveness and provide entertainment. A few of the most popular sports Americans love are baseball, football, hockey and basketball. However, there are hundreds of virtually unknown sports that people still compete in and love. Here is a list of the 10 most bizarre sports that people play and watch.
10. Unicycle Hockey. It’s hard enough to stay on a unicycle, let alone ride one. But imagine trying to play hockey on a unicycle. This sport requires balance to stay on the unicycle and coordination to maneuver throughout the court, making it one interesting sport to watch.
9. Ultimate Trampoline Dodgeball. Like regular dodgeball, the object of Ultimate Trampoline Dodgeball is to hit all the players of the opposing team with balls to get them “out” while avoiding oncoming balls from the other side. Ultimate Trampoline Dodgeball has one major difference than regular dodgeball: the floor and walls of the court are trampolines.
8. Toe Wrestling. Toe wrestling consists of two barefoot players who begin a match by linking toes with their feet flat against each other. Similar to arm wrestling, both players must try to pin their opponent’s foot while keeping theirs from being pinned.
7. Caber Toss. Caber Toss is a Scottish sporting event in which the thrower tosses a long wooden pole called a caber, which is about 19.6 ft long and about 175 lbs, with the goal of making it land directly away from them for a perfect score.
6. Chess Boxing. Chess boxing is just what it sounds like. It’s an 11 round match which consists of an alternation between 4 minute rounds of chess and 3 minute rounds of boxing. The match can be won from a knockout or technical stoppage in boxing, a checkmate in chess, or if the allotted time for the chess portion runs out.
5. Wife Carrying. Wife carrying is a race where a male competitor carries a female partner (who doesn’t necessarily have to be his wife) through an obstacle course. The “wife” must be approximately 108 pounds and be at least 17 years old. If she is under the required weight, she must carry enough extra weight to equal 108 lbs.
4. Cheese Rolling. Known for injuries, cheese rolling is an event where participants chase a large, round cheese down a steep hill. The size and type of cheese varies at different competitions around the world, but at the event in Cooper’s Hill near Gloucester, England the cheese used is a 9 lb Double Gloucster Cheese. The winner of the race gets the cheese as token of their victory.
3. Musical Canine Freestyle. Musical canine freestyle, also known as dog dancing, is performed by a dog guided by its owner and involves obedience commands, tricks, and doggy dance moves. There are competitions for this fun sport throughout the world!
2. Worm Charming. Worm charming is the method of attracting worms to the surface to collect them for bait and this practice is also a sport. A popular technique is creating vibrations on the ground so worms will think it is a mole and crawl to the surface to escape.
1. Extreme Ironing. If you thought ironing your clothes in the laundry room was extreme, guess again. Try ironing while falling out of an airplane, or standing on top of a mountain, or underwater. Extreme ironing is a sport where people take their ironing tables to extreme locations to iron their clothes.
Some of these strange sports have been around for a while, and others are just taking off. Who knows what will become the next big thing?