U is for Unicycle

For my A-Z challenge this year I'm taking a look at sports. Olympic ones, ancient ones, weird ones and some just non sporting sports.  I'm not athletic or even particularly fit but there are some sports I enjoy watching and in composing my posts I've come across many that I'd never heard of.  Join me in a sporting journey from the comfort of your couch (or wherever else you're reading this) and thanks for stopping by.

Unsurprisingly there are no Olympic sports starting with U.  The first one I came to on the list* was Unicycle.  Well it's not one I'll be trying.  I struggle to balance on a bike with two wheels.  I never really had a bike growing up so I didn't do much cycling.  It was something I tried when I stayed with my cousins but I have a vivid memory of not making a corner, tipping over the handlebars and ending up in a rose bush.  Rather puts you off getting back on!

Like me you probably think of Unicycling as a performing art usually seen in a circus or street parades but, apparently,  you can combine it with Basketball, Handball or Hockey.  Or not.  Those sports are hard enough to play when (balanced?) on two feet let alone one wheel.

Now for the weird, daft and dangerous:  Underwater Ice Hockey. Yep, Ice Hockey played not only underwater but under ice with a floating puck and the players are upside down.  And if that isn't daft enough for you, they do NOT wear breathing apparatus.  Instead they have to surface as necessary to take in air.  I am not making this up although it does sound far fetched.  You can check it out below and they have even held World Championships!  I don't think it's a sport that will catch on very fast though and not particularly great for spectators when you have to watch via a monitor.

Fancy giving it a try?

 * List of sports - Wikipedia