Peculiar Plays

The Love Of Sports like soccer, basketball and football has created a worldwide fandom. With the excitement and thrill of competition and the big win, it comes as no surprise that we clamor for even more sporting events to experience.

And while most sports are mainstream, it’s the extraordinary ones that might have your hair standing on end. From canal jumping to rabbit hopping and face slapping, if it allows players to test their skills, then it’s probably deemed a sport. They may seem ridiculous and confusing to some, while others cheer from the sidelines or even participate. Nothing gets left on the table, and the following sports prove just how bizarre things can get.

Underwater Hockey

Imagine holding your breath underwater while swimming across a pool and trying to get possession of a weighted puck using only a short one-handed stick to win. If fighting for a puck sounds familiar, that’s because it’s hockey, and in this game, it’s entirely underwater. But don’t let the silliness of the concept fool you, underwater hockey is a very real sport, and it is truly competitive. Typically played with six players on two teams at the bottom of the pool, underwater hockey, or Octopush (its original name) has become a popular worldwide no contact sport. Players wear large fins, goggles, a cap and a snorkel. Their mission: to race for a weighted puck and push it along the bottom of the pool toward the goal line. Since there are no goalies, referees watch for fouls and goals. The game usually lasts 35 minutes.

The sport was originally invented in the 1950s to help British Navy divers become more efficient and stay fit and today it is played in more than 40 countries, including the U.S., with New Zealand having the latest championship winners for both men’s and women’s divisions. Thomas Grossin, a professional three-time tournament winner, is one athlete who’s excelled in the water.

If you ever wondered what’s more important, the need to breathe or the need to win, test out your skills in this quirky underwater sport.

Extreme Ironing

Extreme Ironing — an everyday ho-hum household chore — has been transformed into an intensely challenging sport. It requires athletes to take an ironing board and iron clothing while also rock climbing, skiing, surfing, snowboarding, skydiving, kayaking or other challenging activities.

While the origin is a bit unclear, many claim the sport began somewhere between the 80s and 90s in Europe. It is now prominent in countries like Germany, South Africa and the Netherlands. It took some time before Extreme Ironing became popular but with documentaries and tournaments like “Extreme Ironing: Pressing for Victory” and Extreme Ironing World Championships created around the world, the sport has expanded to bungee jumping and even underwater snorkeling.

In 2011, a team of 173 Dutch divers went into an indoor swimming pool to iron underwater — using traditional irons without the cords — breaking the world record. In 2019, the sport was also seen on television shows like “EastEnders,” a British soap opera and “Dino Girl Gauko,” on Netflix.

The rules of the sport are simple: the activity must be outside, the ironing board must have legs, a minimum length of one meter, a width of 30 centimeters and the iron should be very real. When athletes want to compete in championships, the rules can vary depending on the judges’ criteria.

In a nutshell, the sport is meant to combine the satisfaction of going on a thrilling adventure with the reward of well-ironed laundry.

Wife Carrying

Originating in Finland in 1992, Wife Carrying is a sport that stems from the 19th century Finland legend of Herkko Rosvo-Ronkainen, a group of thieves, who would carry women on their backs to prove their worth and strength. It’s now being held annually in Sonkajärvi, Finland, as the World Championship. The U.S., Australia, India, Hong Kong and Germany have also created their own competition.

As ridiculous as the sport sounds, teammates don’t necessarily need to be married, they only need to complete the 254-meter course with a “wife” typically carried piggyback or fireman’s carry style, although there is no requirement on how to carry the woman. It might seem odd to most, but the popular carry is the Estonian, where the wife hangs upside down as her legs sit on the husband’s shoulders, holding onto his waist.

Other rules apply: the female teammate needs to weigh a minimum of 108 pounds and the only equipment allowed is a belt and a helmet.

It’s one of the world’s most bizarre displays of strength — contestants have to walk over uneven terrain, and slog through water, mud and climb over logs.

The champions receive a liquid libation and more: their wife’s weight in beer and five times her weight in cash. The 2021 winners of the Annual North American Wife Carrying Championship (held in Newry, Maine) were Jerome and Olivia Roehm from Newark, Del. They’ve won the race three years in a row.

Fierljeppen (Canal Jumping)

When there’s a giant pole involved and the need for superior upper body strength to cross a canal, you’re probably playing Fierljeppen, the Netherlands’ oldest traditional extreme sport. The game dates back to the 18th century and literally translates to farthest jumper in English, hence why many refer to it as Canal Jumping.

It’s a mixture of long jump and pole vaulting. Athletes from all over Europe line up one by one for the popular game held primarily in the Netherlands.

With a running start, they sprint toward a vaulting pole standing vertically in the water while attempting to jump on it, quickly climb their way to the highest point and use momentum to push themselves as far as possible onto dry land. The length of the pole ranges from 26 to 42 feet high.

The longest Fierljeppen stands at 72.1 feet, won by Jaco de Groot from Utrecht, Netherlands.

Chess Boxing

For those that can punch like Muhammad Ali and outwit their opponent by destroying the knights and capturing the Queen, Chess Boxing beckons.

That’s right, the physically enduring and challenging efforts of boxing have paired up with the tactical and calculating mindset of chess to form one sport. Odd, right? Not to these athletes. During the game, opponents alternate between six rounds of speed chess and five rounds of boxing, and the winner can take the crown with a checkmate or a knockout, whichever comes first.

Invented in 1992 by the French artist Enki Bilal, the idea was initially meant for the pages of a comic book but later took root and landed in the ring.

Each player has four minutes during speed chess to make as many critically thought after moves and when time is called, they move onto a three-minute round of jabs and right hooks. A minute break is allowed before another round of each begins. On the chance that neither checkmate nor knockout happens, the judges can declare a winner based on points won in boxing.

C​​hess Boxing clubs are most popular in countries like the U.S., Germany, India, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and Japan.

This is a sport that requires both brains and brawn.

Quadball - Formerly Known As Quidditch

Remember the fun and intense scenes of Harry Potter flying on his broomstick attempting to capture a tiny flying ball? Well, that game Quadball, known as Quidditch on screen, has been brought to life.

With fans of Harry worldwide, it’s no surprise that the fictional game would inspire the real one and turn it into a sport. So do the real-life players carry a broomstick? You bet. They may not fly, but they’re still attempting to make magical moments on the field.

It was created in 2005 at Middlebury College in Vermont by Xander Manshel and Alex Benepe, and later two leagues, the U.S. Quadball and Major League Quadball, were formed.

The game isn’t only played in the States — the United Kingdom was the first to host the Quidditch World Cup, as Australia, Canada, France and Germany followed. It’s become such a beloved sport that more than 29 countries have signed up to play in the international competition. Every four years a new country hosts the sport, including the U.S. in 2007.

The whimsical name and concept of the game should feel like a copy and paste set up with combined elements of rugby, basketball and dodgeball.

Six to seven players work together to toss a volleyball through one of three hoops at either end of a field. Keepers, or goalies, man their hoops and winners are determined once a seeker catches the golden snitch, or the tennis ball tied to the shorts of a neutral player.

The team that collects the most points when the snitch gets caught wins overall, making them the top wizards of their class.

Rabbit Hopping

They’re cute, they’re fluffy and they’re bouncing their way to take home the golden carrot. Rabbit Hopping is a unique performance sport that puts adorable floppy-eared rabbits through eight to 12 different obstacle courses, testing their agility and grace over a barrier.

Originating in the 1970s in Sweden, Rabbit Hopping clubs are now populating Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

The sport shares some components of horse jumping contests. Their goal is to jump anywhere from four to 20 inches high, and each barrier has displaceable rails so the animals can safely achieve the jump.

Don’t let the overload of cuteness take away the competitive nature of this sport, the rules — to jump over the highest barriers — are just as important. With about 50 kinds of rabbit breeds, owners put a lot of time and effort into coaching their rabbits to be agile and jump to certain heights.

Once they’re on the course, each rabbit will have two minutes to make it to the finish line on its own. The fewer mistakes a rabbit makes in the shortest amount of time, the higher the chances of winning.

Face Slapping

In most scenarios, a slap across the face will shock a crowd of people but in a Face Slapping Competition, it’s bound to excite them.

This contact spectator sport is as simple and as weird as you could imagine. Two competitors stand entirely still taking turns slapping one another using an open palm targeting the other’s face. No flinching is allowed. A white tableau barrel helps them steady themselves for the impact of a ferocious strike. In some cases, players will have someone standing behind them in case a slap is too powerful.

The slap process gets repeated several times until someone can no longer handle the sting of four fingers and a thumb across their cheeks. The game does have rules: no hitting the ears, eyes, jaw or temple of the opponent, those are deemed a foul move.

Face Slapping is notorious in Russia, where it began in the early 2000s, but in the U.S., it is called Slap Fighting, and it became popular in 2017. The former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, launched the Slap Fighting Championship last March which includes three rounds of slapping and 16 different matches. It was a competition filled with slaps heard around the world.