Apparently there are some peculiar athletic trends cropping up around the world. Let me introduce you to three incredibly wacky activities you may have never heard of before:

Freestyle canoeing

Freestyle canoe-ers practice the art of paddling quietly through still water. Sounds fascinating right? Participants in this sport enter competitions, and they show off their ability to gracefully and treacherously spin their canoes on their sides. One can only wonder what kind of audience this sport attracts (if any). Some of these practiced paddlers perform their “routines” to music. For example, I stumbled across a Youtube video where a man freestyle canoes an interpretation of “Phantom of the Opera.” I kid you not my friends; check it out here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSldR9yOJq8

Mexican pointy-shoe dancing

No, that’s probably not the technical name. Shoes with extended, pointed toes  that I can’t help but link to elves in the North Pole have grown popular in night clubs in some regions of central America, including Mexico. Apparently, a new dance craze is centered around these shoes, and people hold competitions while wearing them. It appears to be incredibly challenging, and ridiculous-looking, so I can’t say I want to try it out. But power to you guys.

Extreme sitting (AKA Sporthocking)

The Germans are behind this craze. It involves a “Sporthock,” which is a kind of stool that is central to the new street sport. They throw the Sporthock around and do impressive tricks with it, often sitting on it mid-movement. To me, it looks like a mixture of parkour and breakdancing (but with a stool). This is probably my favorite concept, just because it sounds totally ridiculous but it actually looks pretty cool.

I can’t wait until these sports get big in America. Hey, it could happen. It probably already has and I just don’t know it. So go order a Sporthock and start practicing your extreme sitting.