By Distributel
You know, we play more than just hockey ’round these parts. Want to try your hand at a super Canadian sport? Try one of these.
There aren’t many sports where you can be competitive into your forties and fifties, which is just one of the things that makes curling great. Invented in Scotland sometime in the 1500s, Canadians really took to the sport in the late nineteenth century, probably due to our overabundance of ice sheets. If you haven’t had the pleasure, curling is played by two teams. The goal is to slide big granite stones down the ice to targets with the assistance of team members armed with brooms. It’s a pretty beginner-friendly sport with a welcoming culture, so head on down to your local community centre and give it a try.
Canada is a sea kayaking paradise, what with our extensive coastlines and numerous lakes. You can get certified or take a class nearly anywhere in the country and go out paddling with a group. It’s also a sport that can be super casual in that you can just go out paddling for like an hour, or for more intensity you can pair your kayaking with a big camping trip.
Canoeing is great in that you can do it in a big group, with one other person, or just by yourself. Even if you didn’t go to camp in the summer, you can learn to J-stroke pretty easily and start canoeing in no time.
Picture hockey, but instead of a puck there’s a blue hoop, and instead of bent sticks you use straight sticks to manipulate the hoop. Also, there’s no physical contact. Ringette is played all across Canada, mainly by young women, and each province has a program where you can try it out for free.
Who looks at a bobsled track and says to themselves, Why not ride that by myself on a sled? Indeed, lugers are a special breed. And if you’re inclined towards extreme sports, you too can hurtle down an ice chute at inhuman speeds.
Fun fact: field lacrosse is Canada’s national summer sport. It’s true. Lacrosse is a full-contact sport played on a field with two teams of ten players armed with nets on sticks. The object is to move a ball into the opposing team’s net, but you can only use your stick. There’s an indoor variation too, called box lacrosse. Invented in Canada by Indigenous people, lacrosse is mainly popular across North America and Australia. Most cities in Canada have leagues and organizations that offer the sport to all ages and skill levels.
So you’ve heard of hockey, but have you heard of hockey’s laid-back brother, shinny? Shinny is basically pond hockey or street hockey. You show up with a stick and skates (and if you’re using a municipal rink, a helmet). There usually aren’t any goaltenders. There’s no body-checking or other physical play, since no one is wearing any padding. No lifting the puck off the ice. Sometimes there isn’t even scorekeeping. You’re just playing a super loose version of hockey with even lower expectations than beer league hockey. So if you’ve ever wanted to try to play but have been too nervous, try shinny.