Around the world, sporting endeavours are as diverse as the people who play them and the countries that embrace them.
Last week, I saw an amazing video of the cycle ball world championships in Japan.
Two teams of two players each cycle around a small court and use the wheels of their bikes to knock a ball into the net.
The players ride fixed-gear bikes with no brakes.
If their feet touch the floor, the other team is awarded a penalty “kick” (using only their wheels, of course).
Another mash-up sport that’s getting its day is footvolley.
Footvolley is exactly what it sounds like and combines the rules of beach volleyball with those of soccer. Two players on each side use their feet, knees and chest to knock a ball over the net set around two metres.
A team scores when the other team drops the ball.
That’s similar to sepak takraw, the Southeast Asian sport that sees teams of two or three knock a rattan ball over a net set at a metre-and-a-half using their feet, knees, chests and heads.
Bossaball from Europe is similar, except the teams are on a trampoline set into a bouncy inflatable court.
Three or four players on each side set up their attacker, who is positioned on the trampoline, to score.
Those who like to relay might be interested in cup stacking, a sport where the hand proves it moves quicker than the eye.
Competitors race against the clock to stack cups in different-sized pyramids.
Some Harry Potter fans have tried to turn the fictional game of Quidditch into a real one, but without magical broomsticks for players to fly on and elusive or antagonizing balls that fly on their own accord, these muggles have to make do with tennis balls, dodge balls and volleyballs
whilst running with a broom between their legs at all times.
Some players simply go under water to change the game, as in underwater hockey or underwater rugby.
At their very core, many sports at the heart of Canadian culture are bizarre.
Passing a small puck between sticks while on shoes with ice-knives stuck under them is weird.
Sweeping ice to shine it up for a smooth boulder to knock others out of a target is weird.
Strapping one or two boards to your feet and sliding down a mountainside is weird.
When it comes down to it, people do a lot of bizarre things for fun, and team sports are just another.
But hey, if it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad. Whether you’re skating into rec hockey or jumping in with both feet on a bossaball court, embrace it. Who cares what I think about wacky sports anyway — there’s no I in team.
