Ah, summertime. The kids are out of school, everyone's on vacation, and there's no better time to get out from under your laptop — not yet! — and get a little physical exertion into your daily routine. Sure, you can throw the ball around with the wee ones or reconnect with that pickup basketball league you've been putting off.
Why not try something different? Beyond the major sports we all know, there's a growing subculture of amateur sports enthusiasts who are not only reviving old sports but creating new ones. Here are some of our favorite outdoor activities that may have escaped your radar, and let us know what else we may have missed.
Above:
Octopush
Also known as
underwater hockey, octopush's origins
date back to 1950s England and the
Southsea Sub-Aqua Club. The creator was
Alan Blake, who taught himself to dive in 1949 with no equipment. Just five years later, he had fleshed out his new sport, which is essentially hockey played along the bottom of a swimming pool. The game is six-on-six, with players — outfitted with snorkels and fins — trying to stick a weighted puck (3 pounds for adults) into the opposing team's 10-foot-wide goal area.
The obvious downside here is that it's not conducive to spectating, but there is an official ruling entity — the
World Aquachallenge Association — if you want to learn more about organizing your own matches. Just don't forget to hold your breath.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/CqI7yLUixH4
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
