Sports Bucket List
Do a half triathlon
You still have to swim, then bike, then run, but you just do half of each of them. It doesn’t sound much easier though – you still have to cycle 56 miles, swim 1.2 miles and run 13 miles. If you can finish that in less than a week, we salute you.
Run a marathon in all 50 states of the US
A great way to see the parts of each state that you wouldn’t normally visit, running through all fifty states will take you across 1,300 miles of the US. This will probably take a few years to complete, but once you get started you’ll want to get to that magic number.
Learn to Ice skate backward
We recommend mastering ice skating forwards first, but once you’re comfortable on the ice, going backwards actually isn’t that hard and you can skate along as normal.
Make a hole-in-one in golf
From tee-off to the hole, being able to belt a golf-ball Happy Gilmore-style hundreds of yards across the green is a feat in itself, let alone aiming it. Maybe give this one a practice at mini-golf before taking on the regular-sized course.
Attend an MLB game
Major League Baseball is the premier baseball competition in the US and Canada, and the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the US. Think of the music, the hot dogs, the beer… the sport as well, if you’re into that. If you’ve ever wanted to go to a baseball game, this is the place to be.
Coach a children's sports team
Taking a rag-tag bunch of kids and turning them into a confident, well-rounded, skilful little team is super rewarding. Just remember, the most important thing is that you all have fun.
Bowl a perfect 300 game in bowling
Otherwise known as the perfect game, you have to bowl a strike every single time. In order to be recognized you have to bowl it during a tournament or league – but even doing it on your own is an amazing achievement. Just be sure to take a picture of the scoreboard so that people actually believe you.
Compete in a Dogsled Race
Six gorgeous huskies dragging you across the snowy slopes is quite the experience. Sled dog races occur mostly in the Arctic regions of the US, Canada, Russia, and Greenland, so it’s something you may have to travel for. Beautiful way to see the countryside, though.
Score 180 on a dart board
The highest score possible on a dart board requires incredible accuracy, landing all three darts in the triple 20 (or ‘middle’ for you lay folk). At least this is a fun one to practice with a beer in hand – can’t say that about swimming.
Become a black belt in karate
You’ve seen the Karate Kid, you know how much training, concentration, and effort goes into becoming a black belt. It’s also important that you find yourself a nemesis to beat in the final round, so that you may truly know that you are a martial arts warrior.
Compete in the Olympics
There’s heaps of weird sports that you can probably get good enough at to compete on an international level – for ten strange years in the nineties, solo synchronized swimming was a thing! Another tactic is to get citizenship in a country where the sport is unheard of – remember Eric the Eel from Mozambique?
Complete an Ultramarathon
An ultramarathon is any running event longer than the standard 42km marathon. Try an off-road or trail event to make it extra interesting. These are becoming weirdly popular of late, so you should be able to find one you can start training for near you. Just be sure to scope out where the bathrooms are ahead of time.
Go to a boxing match
At a professional boxing match, there’s an atmosphere unlike any other – the fans are literally out for blood. Make it a bit more interesting and have a punt so when your guy wins, you win too!
Try lawn bowls
This is a great, easy time out, and no longer just for old people! Go along to a barefoot bowls day, and find out just how hard the game actually is. You might need a few tips from the seniors after all.
Play beach volleyball
While any sport played on the beach is automatically more fun, beach volleyball is surprisingly hard work due to the need to run and jump on soft sand. Your legs will burn the next day, but it’ll be worth it.
Go rappelling
Tie a rope around your waist and walk down a steep cliff or off a building. Putting your weight into the rope and leaning backwards off the edge is one of the most terrifying things you can do, so make sure you double check your harness before you go sailing down.
Go to the Super Bowl
Half the battle will be to find tickets to one of the most watched games in the world. If you manage that, be ready for non-stop entertainment, even if you’re not really that into sports – the half-time show is always a huge spectacle.
Become a professional triathlete
Travel the world competing in triathlons at an international level – you stay insanely fit, get to see some of the most beautiful scenery, and meet people from all over the world.
Complete a 5K run race
This length of race is just long enough that you’ll really start to struggle to run the whole thing if you’re not very fit. If you’re not very fit though, it’s a good way to get into long distance running as it’s over before you know it, and you’ll feel good about finishing.
Complete a 10K run race
Did the 5km race pretty easily? Try doubling it and see how you go.
Catch a foul ball
When the batter hits the ball in baseball, they need to hit it in between first and third base – the far two sides of the diamond. If you sit in between either first base and home or third base and home and the ball is flying towards you, you can catch them out! Though be warned that all your fellow spectators will be going for it too, so it could get messy.
Learn Ten Pin Bowling with a coach
Learning anything from a professional makes you appreciate the intricacy of the game so much more. It’s all in the wrist, after all.
Ski a Black Diamond slope without falling over
A black diamond slope is the hardest difficulty for the course, and is generally over 40% incline – which will make you go really fast. There may also be obstacles involved if it’s a really hard trail, so make sure you understand the layout before you try one for the first time. And maybe warm up on the blue squares first.
Try downhill mountain biking
Not for your average cyclist, downhill mountain biking is rough, fast, and dangerous. There could be jumps, drop-offs, trees, rocks, and other various obstacles for you to manoeuvre, while hurtling downhill at a very rapid pace. Don’t cheap out when purchasing a bike if you want to do this, as suspension is very important.
Go to a rugby world cup match
Played every four years, the World Cup is a tournament between the top international men’s rugby union teams, with the next one to be played in 2019, hosted by Japan.
Learn to play pool
Then pretend you don’t know how to play and shark someone good. It always looks badass if you’re in a bar and you’re good at pool.
Do a half marathon
A half marathon is just over 21km, and something you should definitely train for. Most major cities will host a half-marathon run at some point throughout the year – running through the city streets and past iconic sights will almost distract you from how far it is. Almost.
Be in an amateur bodybuilding competition
If you enjoy the gym, why not see how ripped you can get? You can start this at any age, and while it may be an intense physical regime for a while, it’s important that everyone finds out what their peak physical shape is at least once in their lifetime.
Become an Ironman/ironwoman
To become an Ironman or Ironlady, all you have to do is finish an Ironman challenge. The average triathlete takes 12 and a half hours to complete a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and 26-mile run. Easy!
Dunk a basketball
If you’re are short as me, you may need the help of a leg-up or trampoline to actually reach the basket. Hanging off that ring like a superstar though, that’s a great feeling.
Bowl 3 strikes in a row in bowling
No mean feat, bowling three strikes in the one game is hard enough, let alone three in a row. And you can’t use bumpers, that’s cheating.
Attend a baseball game at Yankee Stadium
The home field of the New York Yankees and located in the Bronx, New York, the Yankee Stadium is the most expensive stadium ever built. You can watch the game from one of the many restaurants in the complex, or, if you’re a real fan, head up to the bleachers to be in the thick of it all.
Go bobsledding
If a team of runners from Jamaica can do it, you can too!
Learn to play table tennis
Table tennis is great fun no matter how good you are at it. Once you master being able to hit the ball back, try putting some spin on the ball, or going for that match-winning slam over the net!
Play Disc Golf
Disc golf is just Frisbee on a golf course, and it looks ridiculous. But if you happen to have some skills when it comes to hurling a plate over a field, why not give this a go?
Go cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is where skiers walk themselves up hills rather than using ski lifts or other assistance. It is generally done off designated ski courses, and is practiced both as a sport and as a mode of transportation if you happen to live in a snowy area and need to pop down to the shops.
Compete in an archery tournament
Being able to fire a bow and arrow is such an underappreciated skill these days. Once you can safely hit a target instead of just twanging yourself in the eye, why not test your skills in a tournament – like Robin Hood would have done!
Compete in a triathlon
A triathlon consists of an ocean swim, followed by a bike ride, followed by a very long run. I don’t know about you but I can barely walk after a long bike ride, so finishing a full triathlon is not for the weak of heart.
Go to a Manchester United game
One of the English Premier Leagues most popular and successful teams, Man U inspires a fanaticism unlike any other. Win, lose, or draw, you must experience a Manchester home game at least once in your life – the atmosphere is electric and the fans are mental.
Try badminton
While it looks like a kind of wussy version of tennis, badminton is actually really fun and surprisingly hard. The ‘shuttlecock’ (hehe) is a strange kind of ball with a net on the end of it, so you can hit it really hard and it will go fast but not very far – which means you don’t have to chase it! It’s really easy to set up a net in the park, and it’s a nice chill game for young and old.
Go sandboarding
Go hurtling face-first down sand dunes, skimming across the sand at breakneck speed! And if you crash, it won’t hurt coz it’s just sand! Though you will probably get a mouthful of it.
Go to a Yankees Game
The iconic New York Yankees are one of the most popular teams in the MBL. While they haven’t won a championship since 2009, they’ve still got some of the biggest names in baseball. And who knows, maybe they’re due for a comeback.
Complete an Olympic distance triathlon
An Olympic distance triathlon is actually shorter than an Ironman triathlon, but that doesn’t make it much easier.
Play laser tag
An action-packed, low impact way to recreate your space battle fantasies, laser tag is like paintball but with lasers and sensors that tell you when you’ve been shot. Run around in a futuristic indoor course and try to take out your friends before they get you.
Complete Ironman Kona
The Ironman Kona is the World Championship of triathlons, held each year in Hawaii. You have to qualify to get into this race, which means finishing at the top of your age group in one of the other races. This means you’ll have to put a fair amount of training into it, but if Ironman is your thing, then nothing is better than competing at Kona.
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