Topic Challenge: Lesser Known Sports (Weird & Wonderful Games, What Counts as a Sport, and Why Movement Matters)
In this episode of The BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast, Kelly and Ashley explore this week’s “topic from the hat” challenge: lesser known sports. They start by going down the rabbit hole of strange and wonderful sports from around the world (and even a few from right here in the UK), and it quickly opens up bigger conversations about creativity, culture, community, and what sport is actually for. We chat about:
- The weird and wonderful sports humans have invented (and why some of them are genuinely shocking)
- Chess boxing (yes, really): alternating rounds of chess and boxing, and what that says about “mental” vs “physical” sport
- The difference between a sport and a game (and using the dictionary to define it properly)
- How quickly a sport can grow once people actually see it (media, Olympics, exposure, and suddenly everyone wants to try it)
- Why “lesser known” doesn’t mean “less valuable” — it might just mean it hasn’t had the PR yet
- How sport can be about fun, community, identity, tradition, and entertainment (not just winning)
- Making space for movement in other areas of their education (especially for neurodivergent kids), and why physical activity supports mental health too
- How this topic can branch into loads of learning: history, geography, PE, science (heart rate/pulse), maths (scoring), literacy (writing rules), and even coding-style logic (if this happens, then what?)
Kelly and Ashley also share some of the real-life ways this topic showed up in their week — from hobby horsing and play-based competitions, to watching Paralympic sport and noticing how many different bodies and abilities can be included in athleticism. If you’re joining in with the weekly topic challenge, we’d love to hear what you did with it — and remember, this is never about pressure or “doing enough”. It’s just a fun way to spark ideas, follow curiosity, and bring a bit of variety into your home ed rhythm. To try Strew (our Season 5 sponsor), head here: Strew home education logging app - on IOS and Android and use code: bighomeed Don't forget to subscribe, share an episode with a friend or drop us a rating - every one helps more people like you to find us!