Indoor Sports for a Sporty Family*

*This is a collaborative post*

If you are part of an active family, the incoming winter months probably aren’t your favourite time of year. The wet and cold conditions can put an end to your outdoor activities, such as running, playing in the park or the odd kick-about. However, that does not mean to say that while the weather is about as inviting as an ice bath, you cannot still get your kicks, with many sports able to be played indoors. Why not check out our list of favourite indoor sports as a source of inspiration for something to do on those rainy Saturday afternoons?

Darts

The ultimate working-class game, darts has long been associated with pubs and clubs, but that does not mean you have to head to your local for a game. A decent dartboard is available for as little as £20, with a set of darts priced roughly the same (although you can pay much more if you are serious about the game). 

Not only does the game require little more room than the 7ft 9 and 3/4inches space for the oche, darts is terrific for mental arithmetics. If you have ever watched darts on the television, you will notice how the players barely have to stop and think to calculate their score ahead of their next shot.

Bowls

More commonly associated with a game that the older generation may play; bowls can be good fun for all of the family, if not just for trying something a little different. The game has similar rules to that of curling, where the objective is to rolls your balls closes to the small ball (or ‘jack’ as it is called). 

Although the game is considered to be an outdoor sport, there are many indoor venues in the United Kingdom where those young and old can participate. You can view some of the equipment used in bowls here: https://www.sportsmark.net/sports-equipment/category/

20-bowls

Badminton

Badminton is a game that may look easy to play at first glance, but in reality is an incredibly physically demanding sport that requires a lot of technique to play properly.

Unlike other racquet sports, such as tennis and squash that play with a ball, players use a shuttlecock.

The sport is usually played inside a gym hall, with most having a number of courts already lined out on the floor. As well as helping to keep fit, badminton is one of the best sports around for developing hand-eye coordination.

Futsal

A variant on the more commonly known football, futsal (translated literally as ‘minifootball’) is a five-a-side game played on a hard court mostly inside. The game, which dates back to 1930s Uruguay, makes use of a harder ball than a normal football with little to no bounce.

Whereas the standard five-a-side game of football allows players to make use of walls and boards to kick the ball off, in futsal, if the ball goes over the lined out court, a player must kick the ball onto the pitch (similar to a throw-in). Many clubs have begun to incorporate futsal into their youth systems, as it encourages players to develop the technical side of the game.

Track Cycling

If your family are high-speed adrenaline seekers, then track cycling is the perfect sport for you. The velodrome is a demanding arena, consisting of two curled 180-degree turns on an elevated oval track, designed for cyclists to hit top speeds.

In Britain, there has seen large amounts of funding thrown into cycling, which has seen our teams prosper at recent Olympic Games. The velodrome used for the 2012 London Olympics at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford is open for cyclists to ride on the same track that the likes of Chris Hoy, Jason and Laura Kenny all made history on. Whatever type of sport you and your family prefer to participate in, and whether you choose to try your hand at any of the above or not, we are sure that you will be able to find something to keep you going this winter.

*Contributed by a third party

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