Sports fans everywhere are suddenly unable to watch their favourite teams or even go to the court and play with friends due to the spread of COVID-19. While confinement to one’s home makes it difficult to maintain an active lifestyle, it is not impossible. To help individuals practicing social distancing enjoy the full potential of their own home, The McGill Tribune compiled a list of the best sports to play indoors.
Hallway Hockey
Hockey, Canada’s national pastime, is well-suited to the indoor arena. All one needs is a tennis ball and hockey sticks (preferably the miniature kind). While you can play anywhere in the house, a hallway is often the most convenient space, offering both the longest arena and the fewest breakable objects. The hallway’s width can serve as goalposts, so you have a built-in net to shoot on. Get your roommates together and let the games begin!
If hockey is not your game of choice, there are several other sports that can be played in this space: Baseball, tennis, and bowling can all use the same tennis ball, while bats and pins can be fashioned from any number of household items, like brooms and wine bottles.
Mini-Hoop Basketball
Indoor basketball is a fantastic way to work up a sweat regardless of your apartment’s square-footage. All you need is a mini-hoop to hang from a doorway or on the wall and a small ball, both of which should be available at a nearby dollar store. There are numerous games you can play with this setup. The most physically exhausting is a dunk contest, which involves jumping repeatedly to mimic the 360 and through-the-legs moves of the NBA’s highest flyers. Another great game is HORSE, which entails shooting, dunks, and making trick shots to try to make your opponent miss. Lastly, if a mini-hoop is not an option or you are worried about your neighbours filing a noise complaint, you can always ball up your socks and use a clothes hamper as a hoop to get some shooting practice in.
Marble Racing
Indoor marble racing is the perfect sport for fans of NASCAR, track and field, horse racing, or any other time-trial contest. All you need is a marble or some other small spherical object, and the rest is up to your imagination. Use whatever objects are lying around your house, as well as stairs and countertops, to construct epic tracks for your marble to race along. You can compare tracks to see which is the fastest, the longest, or even the Rube Goldberg–esque.
Floorboard Curling
Floorboard curling is a game of precision, rather than speed. The goal of floorboard curling is to give your stone just the right push to land on a specific marking point on the floor. Any household object can be used as the stone, with different objects providing varying degrees of difficulty. Your opponents will then shoot their stones in an effort to knock previous throws out of position. Alternatively, this game can be altered to focus on getting various objects to slide as far as possible.
Darts
The only activity on this list that was originally designed to be played indoors, darts is the perfect sport to play while in social isolation. All you need is a cheap dart board, which can be ordered online to minimize your contact with others. Place a piece of tape on the ground to mark your throwing line, and you are all set to go. You can work on your own dart throwing skills, play friendly competitions, or even try to develop some trick shots. Whatever you do, the next time you are allowed to visit a bar, you will be sure to have a new set of skills to show off.
