Welcome to the fascinating world of sports and their viral moments! While the glitz and glamour of popular sports capture much of the attention, we uncover the hidden gems and exhilarating moments that make these lesser-known sports truly extraordinary.From the adrenaline-pumping action of throwball and disc golf to the grace and precision of archery and frisbee, we explore a diverse range of sports that have captured the hearts of passionate athletes and dedicated fans alike. Delve into the origins, evolution, and milestones that have propelled these sports to new heights. Uncover the stories of the trailblazers who have left an indelible mark on the sporting landscape, and explore the exhilarating moments that have captured the imagination of viewers worldwide.

Prepare to be enthralled as we recount the viral moments that have taken these sports by storm. Let the excitement begin as we shine a light on the incidents that have left their mark on the history and future of these captivating sports.

Disc Golf

Disc golf originally known as Frisbee golf is played just like golf. But instead of the balls, discs are used which are made out of a type of plastic called propylene. The frisbees are first thrown towards their target from a tee pad. The target is a basket that is made using wires and chains to hold the incoming disc. There are around 9 or 18 holes (baskets). After the player throws the disc towards the basket, he needs to start again from the landing point of the disc towards the target basket. Once the disc lands a particular basket, the player gets a score. The players compete to achieve the lowest possible throws for landing a particular hole. PAR is the number of strokes a senior player utilizes to reach a hole or holes (generally 9 or 18).

Origin and Evolution of Disc Golf

The origin of disc golf is widely debated all around the world. This game came into being in the year 1960 when students of the Rice University in Houston, Texas  played this game with trees as targets. Then players in the Pendleton King Park in Augusta, Georgia used to toss the discs towards 50-galloon barrel trash cans using them as targets. Alameda park has a huge role to play in the history of frisbee golf where a number of chaps used to play this sport using water fountains, lamp-posts and trees as targets. There is also an Alameda Park collectors edition disc still existing in the world. 

Ed Headrick also known as "Steady" is known as the father of disc golf. He invented the frisbee golf while he was working with Wham O but he soon left the latter, since he independently wanted to focus on this new baby - the flying disc.

In 1976, Ed Headrick and his son began the first disc golf company with the objective of manufacturing discs and targets in order to formalize the game of disc golfs. In the primitive stages, the target catcher was Ed's pole hole design which had a pole sticking out of the ground.

The First Disc Golf Basket

In 1977, Headrick and his son Ken manufactured the modern basket target for disc golf, US Patent 4039189A, called the Flying Disc Entrapment Device which was given their trademark name ‘ Disc Pole Hole’. This equipment could catch the frisbee or disc and had a chain-hanger with hanging vertical rows of chain and was away from the center pole. The hanging chains created a mounting shape above and the metal basket surrounds the center pole. It would be able to hold the incoming disc from all directions.

Headrick’s patent design for a basket called the Disc Pole Hole is used today in majority of the 13,000 courses of the Disc Golf Association.

In December 2022, the PGDA (Professional Disc Golf Association) took a call to prohibit trans women from entering the Disc Golf Pro Tour events and Majors in the female division.

First Winner of PDGA

The PGDA is one of the major disc golf championships along with the US Disc Golf Championships. This event is held every year since 1982 and it recognizes winners of professional disc golf. 

Men and women are competing in the same field annually since 1983. There are 18 unique champions in Men’s event with an average field of 155 competitors and 17 different Champions in the Women’s event with an average field of 26. This major event has taken place in 19 US states including Toronto, Ontario Canada in 1987.

The 1982 PDGA Disc Golf World Championships held in Los Angeles California, US where Harold Duvall stood first in the Mixed Pro Open and was the first winner of the PDGA.

Ice Hockey

Ice Hockey is a team sport that is played on ice skates. It is generally played on an ice skating rink with lines and markings pertaining to the sport. It is part of the family of hockey. In this sport, two team opponents use ice hockey sticks to advance, control and shoot a vulcanized rubber disk called puck into the other team’s goal. The winning team will have the maximum goals to its name, that’s attained when the puck reaches the goal. At a time, in a game, there are 6 skaters in each team barring any penalties and one of the persons is a goaltender. Ice hockey is a physically demanding game and is considered a full contact sport.

History of Ice Hockey

It was initially believed that ice hockey came from English Field Hockey and Indian Lacrosse and expanded all through Canada in the mid 1800s by British soldiers. After a lot of research, it came across that a hockey like game was played in Nova Scotia by the Micmac Indians which was very much like the Irish game of hurling. It used a hurley (stick) and a square wooden block instead of a ball. It was this game that spread across Canada through the Scottish and Irish immigrants and the British Army. Field hockey elements such as bully, (later the face-off) and shinning (hitting the shin of the opponent), all this developed into an informal ice game called shinny or shinty. The term rink was first used in 18th century in Scotland in the game of curling that refers to the organized area of gameplay. Primitive hockey allows nearly 30 players to be one side of the ice, with two large frozen stones at each end of the ice to be used as goals. In 1860, the first use of puck instead of the ball came into being in Kingston Harbour, Ontario, Canada.

Evolution of Ice Hockey

The first indoor ice hockey game was recorded in 1875 in Montreal’s Victoria Skating Rink between two teams amongst students of McGill University. The first national hockey association called the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada was formed in 1885 in Montreal which restricted 7 players on each side. And the first ever league was formed in Kingston in the same year which had four teams namely, Kingston Hockey Club, Queen's University, the Kingston Athletics, and the Royal Military College. Frederick Arthur, Lord Stanley of Preston, donated a cup to be given yearly to the winning Canadian team. This gives the name ‘ Stanley Cup’ to the three-foot high silver cup and was first awarded in 1892-93.

In 1899, the Canadian amateur hockey league was formed, it was considered very amateur to even consider it to be paid for athletics. The first known professional hockey team in the world was formed in the United states in 1903, in Houghton, Michigan. Portage Lakers, the team was owned by a dentist Gibson. He imported Canadian players into the team and in 1904, Gibson formed the first known professional hockey league called the Pro Hockey League. Professional hockey found its way to Canada when the Ontario Professional Hockey League was formed. Around this time, Canada stood firm as the center of world hockey.

Introduction of Ice Hockey as a Professional Sport

The NHA was disbanded to become the NHL (National Hockey League) in 1917, which was the world’s first professional hockey league. A number of teams such as Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago blackhawks, etc joined this league.Starting with 6 teams under its roof, the NHL finally expanded to 12 teams in 1967. In 1979, the NHL undertook a merger with another hockey league that is the WHA which had 12 teams too. By 2017, 31 teams played in the NHL. The season consists of 82 games out of which 16 teams will qualify for the playoffs and the winner of the playoffs will be holding the Stanley cup.

First Winner of Stanley cup

The first winner of Stanley cup is the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association Team, which was the successor of the same cup after winning the challenge series. This was the format that Lord Stanley had originally planned. Post 1926, the cup went to the NHL to be awarded to the playoff winners.