Things you don't always see

One of the coolest things about coming to the Olympics is getting the chance to experience sports that I don't always get the chance to see.

I wrote about this early on in this Olympic trip when I took a trip to the handball venue. That's a sport I had never seen before (except a little on Olympic television) and it was an absolute blast. On this trip, I've also seen the whitewater kayaking, which is a bit more intense than the Smith River race that I cover every year and rugby, which I've seen a little before, but doesn't really show up on the high school level. And since I don't live in California, there's also no high school water polo in the area, so that's always fun to see. Badminton is something I've played numerous times in my backyard as a kid, but never something I've got to see up close at such a high level. Same with table tennis.

Locally we have a few swimmers and gymnasts that compete at the high school level, so those are sports I do get to see occasionally, but there are also those sports that I see every fall, winter or spring during high school sports. I've seen some field hockey here, which is a sport I've been covering for more than 20 years and still have questions about some of the rules. Right now I'm at volleyball, which I've also been covering for more than 20 years (the beach kind is a totally different game than the indoor game I'm seeing tonight). I will also see some triathlon later on, which is a bit longer than the Granite Man that I cover every year. And track is also on my schedule, another sport where I've been on the sidelines for more than 20 years. Basketball is a winter sport in New Hampshire, but here it is on the summer schedule.

It has certainly been a mixture of fun new sports and the tried and true old reliable sports on this trip. I had a mission to see some of the sports I didn't get a chance to experience in Tokyo. Badminton, archery and handball were all on that list. So is soccer (which to date has been played outside Paris), tennis, golf and breaking, which I still hope to see in the coming week-plus. Surfing is out of the question and out of the budget, as the flight to Tahiti wasn't included in my plane ticket here.

On a completely unrelated note, if you've commented on my blog, I have seen it, but for some reason I am not allowed to reply to the comments. I am not smart enough to figure out exactly why, but I appreciate the comments.


The backdrop for the Olympic triathlon is a bit different than the Granite Man Triathlon, which I cover every summer in Wolfeboro.

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