Obscure Sports

On the basis of social media over the past week and a half, its clear to see that people are having to find new and inventive ways of keeping themselves fit and healthy. I've never seen so many challenges: toilet paper keepy-ups, planking, blindfolded ball-catching, the list goes on and on.

Lionel Messi took part in the viral toilet paper challengeObviously, we're all missing our sport. The football season should be reaching its exciting peak, the Six Nations was cut short, tennis officials have been postponing tournaments left, right and centre court - but it's not just the mainstream sports being affected. A few years ago, I found my way into Flag American Football - a 5-a-side, non-contact version of the full contact sport (which I'd always avoided due to my propensity for breaking easily). The Flag season should have been starting in the next few weeks, but instead we have all been left wondering how much - if any - football we will get to play this season. While it isn't as popular in the UK as some of the other sports I mentioned previously, it means just as much to the people who play it as "soccer" does to those teams that are missing their weekly game on a Saturday/Sunday.

Which leads me to the lesson today - with all of those "mainstream" sports cancelled for the time being, what better opportunity is there to go out and find a lesser-known sport? Something that you may have glanced at before, but never really looked into?

The most obscure sports around the world that you've probably ...Challenge:

 1. Research an obscure sport or a sport you are interested in, but know very little about. This could be anything from American Football to Toe Wrestling (yes, it's a thing).

 2. Produce an informative poster/leaflet about the sport, which explains to readers what it is and how it works. You could also include information on the top teams/athletes that take part in it. Here's a great example of a baseball poster: https://www.dkngstudios.com/blog/2015/6/8/info-rama-baseball-infographic-poster

 OR

 Produce an informative article for a newspaper/magazine, which explains the sport and its history. Again, try to include some specific information about teams/individuals that take part.

 Here's a good example of an American Football article: https://www.americanfootballinternational.com/game-american-football/

Inside England's Annual Toe Wrestling Championship | Mental FlossIf you really want to challenge yourself, try to complete both tasks. Who knows - you may end up finding a sport that you take up when all this is over. You'd be very surprised by the extent of sporting opportunities that are out there!

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