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10 unusual sports you can do in Wales

Plenty of people across Wales like their sport a little less mainstream and a little less traditional. Whether it’s off grid, underwater or in the hidden depths of a Welsh hillside, Sport Wales is here to support your sports club – no matter how quirky or different.

Last year, Sport Wales’ Be Active Wales Fund invested more than £4 million pounds into almost 600 grassroots, community sport clubs. It offers grants from £300 to a whopping £50,000 for projects in Wales through National Lottery funding.

Here’s our guide to ten of the many unique sports that you can take part in across Wales and the clubs that have used Sport Wales funding to deliver brilliant projects.

Caving

Imagine yourself crawling through crevices, scrambling steep terrain and dangling on ropes and now add in the fact you’re underground. If this still sounds like it’s up your street, then maybe you should try caving? 

The United Cavers Exploration Team is the largest club in North Wales. It has seen its membership skyrocket by a massive 250% in just two years with cavers enjoying teamwork and increased confidence.

To keep new members safe, it needed monitoring wristbands and tagging equipment. Sport Wales stepped in and gave them a helping hand to the tune of £2248.

TOP TIP: The Be Active Wales Fund welcomes applications from projects which are using technology to engage more people.

Octopush 

Think swimming pool and then add a hockey stick and a puck. And you get Octopush (or underwater hockey).

You may not have heard much about Octopush but the Pembroke Octopush Club has been running since 1989. With an adults and junior team, one member (take a bow Nia Matthews) has even been selected to play for Great Britain at the World Championships.

As you might imagine, the club requires equipment which can be expensive. The club applied to the Be Active Wales Fund and has was granted almost £4000.

Based in and around areas of Pembrokeshire where there are high levels of families living in poverty, the National Lottery funding has helped the club buy kit and equipment. It can now lend the kit to players, reducing financial barriers to getting involved. 

TOP TIP: Take some time to think about what your project will achieve and how it will benefit your club. If you're unsure whether your project is eligible for funding, the friendly staff at Sport Wales can steer you in the right direction. So, complete the easy online form and go for it!

Korfball 

Some might say it’s a mash up of netball and basketball. Like netball, you’re not allowed to dribble and, just like basketball, all players are allowed to shoot and defend.

The recently established Swansea Roar Korfball Club put almost £1700 in funding from the Be Active Wales Fund into venue hire, coaching courses, cones and korfballs to help them get off the ground. 

Previously, the only other club in the city was the Swansea University team which is available only to students. 

The club is eager to be accessible to all and offers discounted memberships for those who are unemployed, receive council tax reduction or certain benefits. 

TOP TIP: Apply for the funding with the right frame of mind. Think about the benefits your club can bring to the community and how you can offer sport that is accessible to all. Then, include this in your application!

Sub Aqua

If you fancy taking the plunge with a new sport, you might want to think about sub aqua. Scuba diving is a great way to build water safety - and just think about the underwater adventures you could have.

Clubs across Wales provides ocean diver training and qualification. But don’t worry if the ocean puts you off - Brecon Sub Aqua Club use the swimming pool at Brecon Leisure Centre to practice their diving. 

Eager to make the sport more appealing for children and women, they applied to the Sport Wales Be Active Wales Fund last summer. A grant of almost £8500 allowed them to replace some of the heavy and cumbersome equipment for smaller, lighter alternatives. 

TOP TIP: Is your project aiming to reduce inequalities? Let us know in your application.

Skateboarding

Know your ollies from a backside180? Yes, we’re talking skateboarding. And if you want to get your kicks on a board, you can head to the growing number of skate parks across Wales.

No Comply Skatepark in Newport is the brainchild of Alan Cains who is on a mission to improve and create new skatepark and skate hubs in the city. But it needed the funding to build the facility.

Applying to Sport Wales, it received more than £31,000 from the Be Active Wales Fund which funded around 80% of the cost of the build and, according to Alan, “made everything possible.”

Now, it works with a wide range of youth and community centres including Positive Futures groups of young people who are disadvantaged and excluded from school. It runs queer sessions as well as relaxed, quieter, autism-friendly sessions. It also offers adaptive skating for individuals and groups with disabilities. 

TOP TIP: Don’t assume your sport is not supported by Sport Wales. Alan always considered skateboarding to be more of a lifestyle rather than a sport – and was surprised to discover the project was eligible for funding.

American Football 

If you’d rather channel the Chicago Bears and the Dallas Cowboys and go for touchdown, then make a dive for American Football. A high energy sport which boasts oodles of teamwork, it’s a great option if you’re looking for something a little bit different.

The South Wales Warriors, Wales’ only fully kitted-out American Football team, has started Flag - a non-contact form of the sport for children and young people. Thanks to more than £12,000 from Sport Wales’ Be Active Wales Fund, the club has invested in a heap of kit and equipment so that players can dig deep on the pitch – but not in their pockets.

TOP TIP: If you want to buy equipment that allows more people to take part in your sport, get applying! 

Dodgeball 

Continuing with the Stateside theme, we move to dodgeball. Made famous by the film starring Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller, it’s a popular sport in UK schools. But now in Wales, the first-ever junior community dodgeball club has been set up.

So if you want to dodge, duck, dip and dive, head to Rhondda Dragons Dodgeball Club which welcomes children aged between the ages of seven and 15. There are even plans to set up a local schools’ league. 

The club is charging just £2.50 a session as it wants to offer affordable sport while families struggle in the cost-of-living crisis. It also believes that sessions will help young people develop leadership, communication, and teamwork skills. The club put in an application to the Be Active Wales Fund and were thrown £778. This has been ploughed into buying balls, venue hire, coaching courses and first aid training.

Find out more about how National Lottery funding has helped the club.

TOP TIP: Build relationships with your local council’s sport development team and seek their support with your project. Sport RCT had the knowledge and contacts to help Rhondda Dragons Dodgeball Club achieve its aims.

Trampolining

Fancy defying gravity? We’ve got just the thing. Trampolining improves balance, flexibility, and coordination. And it’s also loads of fun. 

Caerau Vale Trampoline Club in Penarth, South Wales applied to Sport Wales’ Be Active Wales Fund last year. It received an incredible £10,000 of National Lottery funding to buy a top trampoline to help its stars prepare for competitions across the UK. The funding has also been invested in coaching courses so now the club can grow even bigger and welcome even more members.

TOP TIP: Need the best equipment to attract new members? The Be Active Wales Fund is open to applications for equipment which helps more people take part.

Angling

Angling, put simply, is fishing with a rod and a line. Think summer days of setting the bait, casting and reeling in. 

And the rallying call from Silures Angling Society in South Wales is Tackle box, not Xbox and the club hopes to encourage more people into the sport of angling with a focus on families and youngsters. Set up by two young Dads, the club aims to not just enjoy the sport of fishing, but also the joys of being outdoors at one with nature. 

The club offers workshops and tuition to children as young as five years old – and children under 10 can even fish for free. The club is also working with local groups on mental health projects.

Last year, Silures Angling Society came forward with an application to the Be Active Wales Fund and reeled in a grant of £2800.  It has bought junior equipment and coaching courses to help encourage more children to get involved in Blaenau Gwent. The club not only wants to grow the sport but is hoping to reduce anti-social behaviour in the area.

TOP TIP: If your club is investing in equipment, make sure you opt for long-lasting and top-quality products. In a technical sport like angling, it makes for a better experience.

Softball

It’s considered one of the great American sports, but softball is actually played all around the world. It’s a bit like baseball or rounders with two teams of ten players. Softballs are bigger than baseball and the object of the game is to score more runs than the other team.

RBI Wales is based in Barry and offers both baseball and softball. It scored a homerun last year when it clinched a £5000 grant from the Be Active Wales Fund. The National Lottery funding is being used to run sessions for visually impaired players. It keeps its sessions affordable to ensure the sport can be accessible to local children from all backgrounds.

TOP TIP: Our mission is to reduce inequality so that everyone can enjoy sport. So, if you’re working with or wanting to attract new members who are currently under-represented in sport, make sure you let us know in your application.

If you would like to improve the facilities at your club, find out more about the Be Active Wales Fund.

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