Cool combo sports offer great adrenalin rush

Ever tried Kitesurfing, Roller Soccer, Parkour, Sandboarding, or Mountain Boarding? How about Skijoring, Snowkiting or Snow Kayaking? Whatever the season, check out the coolest combo sports or invent your own!

Kitesurfing
Snowboarding meets hang gliding when you launch 20 feet in the air over water.

Kitesurfing is a mixture of paragliding, wakeboarding, surfing and windsurfing. Practice in flat waters similar to wakeboarding and water skiing or in waves like surfing with the ability to jump and fly. Some pros achieve heights of 60 feet and 100 yards in distance!

Mountain Boarding
Mountain boarding, also known as dirtboarding, or all-terrain-boarding, is one of the newest board sports. Originally intended to take the place of snowboarding during months when there is no snow, it’s developed into a sport in its own right.

A mountain board is similar to an oversized skateboard. The size of the deck is shorter than the average snowboard, and the wheels consist of small plastic/alloy hubs. Wheel size varies depending on which type of riding is done – smaller wheels for freestyle riding and jumping; larger ones for downhill. Like a snowboard (and unlike a skateboard) the feet of the rider are attached to the board deck with bindings, however boots are not required.

Roller Soccer
Imagine a game that combines elements of roller hockey and soccer and you have Roller Soccer.

League matches are played five-on-five in roller hockey rinks using a standard, size five soccer ball. A match consists of two, 25-minute periods. Teams earn one point or two points for each goal scored. Two points are earned only when the ball passes between the legs of a defender on its path into the goal. All players are forbidden to handle the ball while the ball is in play; specially identified goalkeepers are allowed, but not required. Gooooal!

Parkour
Parkour (par-koor) is a form of extreme gymnastics developed in the late 1980’s in Paris.

This urban extreme sport blends gymnastics and martial arts with skateboarding moves swapping uneven bars and floor mats for fire escapes and concrete. Parkour translates roughly from the French ‘parcours’ or obstacle course. Parkour athletes use whatever is around – stairways, benches, fountains – as obstacles and springboards to vault and jump.’ Crews aspire to ‘freeflow’ or achieve a state of mind over matter – this is the nirvana of parkour.

Sandboarding
After the snow melts, diehard boarders face the end of another winter season. How to cope? Try sandboarding. The sport, already huge in Australia, Africa, and Brazil, is taking off in America.

Sandboarding can be done standing up and barreling down the slope on a board, or, for the more adventurous, lying down and racing at speeds of up to 50 mph

Just find a place with sand dunes, (check local regulations and stay away from fragile dune grass) grab a sandboard and carve like you would in powder. Top U.S. spots include Jockey’s Ridge State Park, N.C., Sand Master Park in Florence, Ore, and Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Colo. Remember there are no chair lifts and you need to close your eyes and mouth when you fall!

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Winter Combo Sports

Skijoring
Cross country skiing has gone to the dogs. A popular sport from Scandinavia called “skijoring” can be a great workout for you and your canine. Fido is outfitted with a special harness and leash so he can pull you, wearing your XC skis, along pristine trails. Once your and your pooch are proficient you can search out races and more.

Snow Kayaking
Know of a pristine hillside covered with newfallen snow? If sledding or tobogganing seems old hat, grab the kayak from your garage and improvise. A kayak will work fine if the snow is really cold, so the kayak doesn’t stick. You can get some speed going and use the paddle to carve out snow and stick the paddle behind to use as a rudder. It’s not as accurate as a sled but about the same as a toboggan and a lot more fun.

Snow Kiting
Fast growing and simple to learn, skiers and boarders across the world are discovering the fun of snow kiting. All you need is snow and a power kite and you can turn a cold winter’s day into a blistering, adrenaline-soaked experience. Speeds of over 60 mph have been recorded as snow kite riders blast themselves along with just the power of the wind.

Wind power is one of life’s few free rides and already snow kiting enthusiasts have achieved incredible things. From a ground breaking unsupported journey to the North Pole and back to huge kite-powered adventures through Alaska, the world of winter sports is embracing this fantastic new sport.

A Day at the Beach; Sand & Surf Olympics

October 22, 2008 – Basketball may be one of the most popular and widely viewed sports in the world. At the Asian Beach Games, the sport will be performed at the beach.

Spectators from around the world can witness sports history with the 1st Asian Beach Games now underway in Bali, Indonesia. Conceived by the Olympic Council of Asia and currently scheduled every two years, the event features athletes from 43 countries participating in 18 sports. Some of those sports are played in North America. Many of them are not. All of them are way cool.

Obvious events like beach volleyball and surfing are included as are sailing, jet skiing, paragliding and marathon swimming. Participants can compete in other hybrid sports such as beach wrestling, beach waterpolo and beach soccer.

Some of the games, such as basketball, have to be adapted in order to be played on the sand. Beach basketball is similar to the hoops we all know and love except the basket has no backboard, just a net on a pole. The court is circular and there is no out of bounds. Shots from outside the circle are worth three points. Shots from inside the circle are worth two points. Obviously there is no dribbling possible so players move the ball by passing or taking two-and-a-half steps.

The Beach Games also features several sports that may fall far outside the American sporting consciousness.

One is Beach Kabaddi, a combative sport with teams of four players who try to score points by raiding their opponent’s court and touching as many defence players as possible without getting caught on a single breath. Kind of like an adrenaline-fueled game of tag.

Beach Pentjak Silat is a combative art of fighting and survival. A martial art form that has evolved in Indonesian and Malaysian civilizations into a social culture and tradition. Competitors use hands, elbows, arms, legs, knees and feet in attacks. Common techniques include kicking, hitting, tripping, sweeps, locks, takedowns, throws, strangles, and joint breaking.

Perhaps one of the most remarkable sports of the Beach Games is Beach Sepaktakraw, a Malaysian game that combines principles of soccer and volleyball. Players touch a rattan synthetic ball across a volleyball-style net using only their feet and heads.

Dragon Boat racing is a sport where a very long and narrow boat is powered by teams of 10 to 50 paddlers. It originated in China and dragon boats are always rigged with decorative Chinese dragon heads and tails and are required to carry a large drum aboard that leads the crew throughout a race with the rhythmic beating that indicates the timing and frequency of paddling strokes, from the cadence to picking up the pace to slowing down.

Not all the contests feature female competitors. Beach wrestling, for example, is for men only this year but most of the games do welcome women participants. Windsurfing, triathlon, dragon boat racing and woodball all have female entrants.

What fun to train and what fun to participate. Clearly, these Games, which continue through Oct. 26th, are more than just a day at the beach!

Sepak Takraw: Kick Volleyball

In our never-ending quest to discover new or hybrid sports, we came across Sepak Takraw (literal translation: Kick Volleyball) which is a cross between soccer and volleyball that combines elements from gymnastics, and martial arts as well.

This fast-growing and popular sport in Southeast Asia is called Takraw for short and is played on a badminton doubles-sized court. The Takraw ball is traditionally hand-woven and made of rattan stems or very hard plastic weighing approximately 250 grams.

Two teams compete for higher scores by spiking a ball into the opponent’s court. Each team gets three chances to kick, knee, shoulder or head the ball back to the opposing team. Like volleyball, there are passes, sets and spikes—but the strokes must be made soccer-style: no hands or arms allowed.

The result is a fast, extreme game played by both men and women. If you liked Shaolin Soccer, you’ll love this. Check out a doubles match moment:

Some unusual winter sports we’ve covered in the past include snow kiting, snow kayaking. and ice sailing. Looking for an alternative warm weather pastime? Try beach tennis or roller soccer.