Extreme ironing is the sport for you if you want to combine sport with performance art. It entails hiking or climbing to a remote location and ironing clothing there. The sport is said to have been started in 1998 by Phil Shaw in Leicester, England. Shaw came home from work one day…
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Obscure Sports Weekly: SlamBall
Most sports require a mixture of speed and strength to achieve success. Mason Gordon went above and beyond these requirements when he created SlamBall, a form of basketball that incorporates aspects of football and gymnastics. Gordon wanted to take the unrealistic abilities of athletes in video games, such as extreme…
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Obscure Sports Weekly: Roller Derby
Roller derby began as a spin-off of marathon events, walk-a-thons and dance-a-thons, popular in the 1930s. Leo A. Stelzer sponsored the first marathon skating session in 1935. The teams registered in the competition had to skate a total of 3,000 miles around the rink. Beginning in 1937, physical contact within the…
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Obscure Sports Weekly: Futsal
Futsal or “Futebol de salão,” otherwise known as “room football,” is a sport that is not well known by most Americans. In its most basic form, it is soccer played on a basketball court with smaller goals, and fewer players. The game of futsal originated in Brazil in the 1930s…
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Obscure Sports Weekly: LARPing
Parks and college campuses have seen an increase in what appears to be medieval duels. In these duels, groups of people dressed as fictional characters gather in a central location. However, the meetings are much more complex than people running around fighting with foam swords; they are actually participating in…
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Obscure Sports Weekly: Quidditch
Whether they briefly saw it on a movie preview or recall the exact value of the Golden Snitch, many are familiar with the Harry Potter-based sport of Quidditch. While mounted on a broomstick, witches and wizards in the magical world compete in the sport that incorporates dodgeball, rugby and friendly…
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