As a child, my favorite sport was badminton, and I always thought the name was so funny. It sounds like “bad mitten” when pronounced. But the game was first played around 1873 at the Badminton estate in Gloucestershire, England, and thus the moniker. It’s the flight of the shuttlecock (another whimsical name) that defines this low-intensity racquet game which can be played in singles or doubles, much like tennis. Incidentally, the English originally called the small racquet a battledore, stemming from the ancient French batedor (to beat, or a beater).
And now we come to pickleball. My family really took to this badminton-ping pong hybrid when two new courts were installed at our local park. The idea was conceived in the 1960’s by three fathers who were trying to drum up some summer fun for their children but didn’t have any tennis equipment on hand. So they improvised with ping pong paddles and “whiffle” balls on the old tennis court instead. Guess what? The balls bounced delightfully well on the court, so they lowered the net and created a new game based loosely on badminton rules.
True to its founding, pickleball is truly a family game. Our 2nd grader enjoys it just as much as we do! All you need are a few rackets and some perforated plastic balls to get started. A bag to hold everything and a comfortable pair of pickleball shoes are also handy.
But what about the name? For some reason, there are two theories (can these three fathers not remember why they chose the name?). Number one says that combining several sports in one is similar to the way that pickle boat crews are composed of oarsmen from the leftovers of other boats. Theory two is that one of the founders had a dog named Pickles who loved to chase the ball. Whatever the reason, it’s both silly and memorable.
Now let’s move from America to New Zealand. Someone there felt very strongly that rolling down the hill in a massive bouncy ball would be highly enjoyable, and zorbing was born. Also known as globe-riding, or sphereing, the intrepid cowboy inside can opt for straps or no-straps, depending on how strong his stomach is.
On the other side of the world, Germany has created an usual sport that centers around a stool. While it’s classified as an “extreme sitting” sport, there is surprisingly no beer drinking involved in sporthocking. Rather, participants perform any number of tricks with the seat, including spinning and kicking, throwing and even juggling. And you’ll never guess what the grand finale is. You sit down on the stool.
Speaking of beer, I’m fairly certain that bog snorkeling was born over a good pint (or three) of ale in Wales. Why else would someone don a snorkel and flippers and swim a 60-yard murky bog trench? Wet suits are optional in this one, but advisable!
Not only unusual but hard to say, clog cobbing is just a bunch of Brits throwing their shoes around. Specifically, one must lob (or cob to use the English slang) a lovely leather Lancashire clog as far as possible, taking care to mind that it doesn’t plop into the water. Even children can compete in this one. Here’s a video clip.
It’s fun to say haxey hood, isn’t it? This is a local English sport dating back to the medieval times and looks sort of like rugby, but has few rules and involves hundreds of villagers, lots of singing and plenty of shoving. Play centers around a leather hood (tube) which is pushed and pulled in different directions in a big scrum. Two things are not allowed: running with the hood or throwing the hood. But there’s no law against drinking beer while doing your part to move the hood along.
The goal is to navigate the leather tube into one of the four pubs in the town, and the game is over when the pub owner touches the hood while standing at the threshold. He then gets to display it for a year in his tavern. As a spectator sport, this one ranks kind of low on the totem pole because there’s no way you can even see the hood or who’s controlling it in a massive scrum!
By the way, if you’re into weird and wacky games, then check out the World Alternative Games website. Whether you’re into wife-carrying, chariot racing, underwater hockey, or good ‘ole Paper Rock Scissors, this is your crew. Events are held sporadically in Wales, and it hasn’t quite gotten into a reliable two or four year rhythm like the Olympics yet.
