5 Most Popular Indoor Sports in Canada

5 of the Most Popular Indoor Sports in Canada

Everyone recognizes Canada as the hockey capital of the world, but our citizens enjoy other kinds of sports, too. In fact, there are a good number of Canucks who just plain don’t like ice and snow and hunker down inside for much of the winter. That doesn’t mean they don’t also enjoy sports.

Here are five sporting activities that Canadians love to do while enjoying the pleasures of the great indoors:

1. Basketball

We have already discussed the health benefits of basketball; this highly popular game is also great for your mind.

Exercise releases endorphins, the brain’s “feel good” chemicals, which help you to stay in the moment and enjoy what life has to offer. This flood of happiness and well-being is a great way to combat depression and anxiety.

Basketball is also very good at boosting your self-confidence and you can also develop a real sense of camaraderie with your teammates. While every team has their star player, but that one person cannot win games on their own: everyone must work together as a unit in order to succeed. This can help you in other aspects of life, such as the work place.

2. Squash

Here is a sport that takes the challenges of tennis and drops them into an even faster paced and more intense scenario. In addition to its obvious cardio benefits, squash helps players to develop excellent agility. The fast-moving ball increases your eye-hand coordination and that heightened concentration also extends to avoiding your opponent as the two of you rocket around inside that small court.

3. Swimming

While many look to bodybuilding as a way of improving their strength and appearance, swimming definitely has its place, too. Swimming may not make you look like Mr. Universe, but it does make you trim and toned, and that is hardly a compromise.

It also benefits your body in a number of important ways. Regular swimmers make more efficient use of oxygen (a benefit that crosses over into most any other sport), have better circulation, and improved flexibility and balance.

Swimming is also an excellent choice for physical rehabilitation as it is low impact. Aquatic exercise benefits the body without causing the same amount of strain as many activities, even though water is far denser than air.

4. Boxing

There are few sports more reliant on training than boxing. Some professionals work diligently for months at a time just to participate in a single match. However, you don’t have to be Rocky Balboa to enjoy the sport on a more casual basis. A big health advantage particular to boxing is improved body composition—looking to lose weight and build muscle? Join your local gym and start hitting that bag. You can box without ever actually slugging another person.

5. Chess

Would you prefer something more genteel? Looking for an activity geared more toward mind than body? There is none better than chess and since there are a number of competitions worldwide, chess is very much a sport in its own right.

Chess is all about strategizing and that mental activity both increases your I.Q. and helps to stave off Alzheimer’s disease. Your memory capacity also increases because you need to remember your opponent’s moves and how they can have an effect on your own.

Whatever your sporting pursuits, an air-supported dome from the Farley Group ensures that weather is never a factor. 

Contact your local dome to learn more about the activities you can enjoy all-year-round on your own or as part of a team!