The third round of this insightful column concerns Canadian sports. Now, I am perfectly aware that if there is one thing Americans know about Canada, it’s that Canadians love hockey.
Yes, hockey is a huge deal in Canada. A huge deal. To put it into perspective: generally speaking, American athletic boys participate in one of four things: football, baseball, basketball and soccer. Now take those boys and put them in Canada. Every single one would play hockey.
This is probably because it’s all they can do. With winters normally lasting about eight months, and snow on the ground for a good 90% of those 8 months, hockey is the easiest sport to partake in.
But it’s more than just a sport; it’s part of the culture. Family reunions revolve around hockey tournaments. Kids are constantly joining to play make-shift games, either on foot or on frozen community ice rinks.
Morgan Burke, a Canadian and senior at Leesville Road High School, exemplifies this perfectly.
“I always go up to Canada for Christmas, and one of the best parts is the hockey game all the cousins play each year. It’s a tradition,” said Burke.
Mike Daigle, another Canadian senior, agreed.
“It’s a family event. We all follow hockey religiously, and whenever I have games, the entire family comes. It brings us together,” said Daigle.
But hockey is not the only sport that exists in Canada. Lacrosse is the national summer sport, but its popularity is definitely overshadowed by its prior season relative.
Curling, another ice-oriented sport, is more calm and tranquil. This is the sport in which the elderly members of the community form teams and play on weeknights. The concept is simple: a big stone is slid down a long sheet of ice towards a target, attempting to knock the other team’s stone out of the target. Brooms are used to sweep over the ice before the stone in order to direct it.
Last but not least, the more female-oriented version of ice related sports: figure skating. This is the same concept as boys going to football and girls going to ballet. I myself took figure skating for four years, before I realized that I really wasn’t that good at it.
Although these sports are all prominent in Canada, don’t forget that Canadians do partake in other activities such as soccer, football and basketball. Just because it’s a different country, doesn’t mean the sports are entirely different.
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