Zorbing Let’s Roll IMAGINE YOU’RE STANDING inside a giant plastic ball teetering on the crest of a hill Suddenly someone gives it a push Before you can scream Don’t even think about it you’re hurtling down that grassy slope Wahoo You’re zorbing This sport got its start in 1994 That’s when two thrill-seekers from New Zealand invented the zorb an inflatable ball that you climb into Originally Andrew Akers and Dwane van der Sluis designed the ball so they could walk on water The zorb stayed afloat but the friends found it hard to maneuver So they decided to head for the hills instead zorbing the sport of rolling down a hill in a large inflatable ball 10
Going Down Since its invention hundreds of thousands of people have gone head over heels for the zorb In fact there are zorbing sites all around the world from Canada to Japan The zorb itself is made of thick clear plastic There are two separate balls that make up this sphere The outer ball is 2 7 m 9 ft in diameter and the inner ball is about 2 m 6 5 ft around In between the balls is a pocket of air that acts like a shock absorber keeping riders from getting bounced around too much during the head-spinning trip And to get into a zorb a rider has to climb through a tunnel-like opening In you go dare to compare great moments in zorbing DIAMETER ZORB 2 7 m 106 in BASKETBALL 75 cm 29 5 in SOCCER BALL 69 5 cm 27 4 in BOWLING BALL 68 5 cm 27 in TENNIS BALL 6 8 cm 2 7 in GOLF BALL 42 7 mm 1 7 in PING-PONG BALL 40 mm 1 6 in SPORT SHORTS You may think going headlong down a hill would make a zorb rider toss his cookies but zorbing doesn’t make you feel all that queasy The zorb is so big that the rider inside only makes a complete rotation about every 9 m 30 ft And this keeps his lunch from making a return visit usually 9 9 9 1 NASA National Aeronautics and Space Adminitration used a zorb ball while researching Mars landings 6 0 0 2 The record for the fastest zorb ride is held by Keith Kolver who reached a speed of 52 kmh 32 3 mph while zipping down a hill in New Zealand A typical zorb ride lasts about 40 seconds 11
Finger Jousting Toe Wrestling En Garde finger jousting a battle to the finish using only your finger 12 FORGET ABOUT A SWORD In the sport of finger jousting the weapon of choice is your index finger In this finger-friendly activity opponents lock their right hands together and try to jab each other with their outstretched finger A jouster can poke an opponent anywhere on the body except the right arm and points are awarded for every successful jab When time’s up the jouster with the most points is the champ As for putting a finger on when this sport began that’s a tough one But the ancient Israelites are said to have played a version of jousting called finger spearing
Put Your Best Foot Forward toe wrestling may the best toe win just for laughs when finger jousting 1 Keep fingernails short 2 Shake opponent’s hand before match 3 No obscene hand gestures if you lose when toe wrestling 1 Keep toenails trimmed 2 Respect the baby toe It’d be a shame to hurt it You better be prepared to go toe-to-toe with the competition in this sport Toe wrestling is like arm wrestling except competitors use their feet A match begins when two barefooted opponents take positions opposite each other on the toedium the mat where all the action happens Wrestlers lock their big toes together and wait for the referee to cry Toes away With that they battle until one of them pins the other’s foot to the ground Supporters of the sport once attempted to have it accepted as an official Olympic sport but their application was denied That’s toe-tally a shame INSIDE THE RULE BOOK finger jousting Tally up the points for a finger-jousting match 1 point Left arm 1 point Legs Chest neck back 2 points 3 points Head the science spot What’s in a name Get the scoop on what each of your fingers is called Index finger aka pointer or forefinger Thumb Middle finger Ring finger Biggie Biggie Jr Throe three and toe combined Pinky aka baby finger Shorty Tiny aka baby toe Note Our toes don’t have proper names So let’s throw these out and see if they catch on 13
