Craving Caves

One of the first sports whose name left me truly disbelieving was ‘underwater ice hockey’. How could this even function as an event? What did it even mean? Believe it or not, it and many other ridiculous sports are garnering worldwide followings. I shall guide you through some of the most extreme sports on the planet and how they work.

Caving enjoys much popularity in several countries. Testament to this is the fact that it has its own specific American name (‘spelunking’) and British name (‘potholing’). These odd terms perhaps reflect the nature of the activity – by choice splashing around in vat-like caves of mud. The possibility of cave-ins remains a threat throughout, although the main cause of death is drowning.

One cannot help but wonder if this is just an elaborate scheme to ‘get away from it all’. After all, men are 4 times as likely as women to ask for a special ‘man cave’ in a new home. Some appear to take this concept quite literally. Nevertheless, it seems perfectly reasonable to ask oneself – why not fishing? Or golf? Or, better still, the pub?

Going back to the strange ‘underwater ice hockey business’, it really does live up to its name. It is generally played underneath frozen ponds and the players make use of a floating puck. It could be considered a kind of evolution of underwater hockey – or “Octopush” - which was thought up over 50 years ago.

However this sport is a lot more basic – playing at the bottom of an ordinary body of water. Despite its relative youth, the icy variant has staged its own world championships, held in Austria in 2007. Finland got the glory that time, while surprisingly, Canada did not even take part.

Another outlandish event famed for its exotic locations is extreme ironing. It is perhaps more tenuous to call this a sport; the variety of interpretations make any sort of regulation fairly meaningless.

People have been enjoying the “satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt” in canoes, whilst parachuting, on skis and under a frozen lake. But perhaps this serves only to showcase the ultimate goal of the sport – to live by the one golden rule that there are none(apart from a mix of ironing, danger and audacity, of course!).

Overall, it seems that these minority activities take a good deal of specialisation. But it is clear that with the rise in leisure time, cash and ‘positive’ free will, people are, more than ever, willing to make their own entertainment! And if that brings glory to the most mundane task, that’s fine by me.