Doug Tries Lacrosse: What Non-Mainstream Sports Have You Tried?

I've always been one that likes to try new things. A few weeks ago, I came across a toy lacrosse set and decided to buy it to play in the backyard. I have to admit, I do love watching the game of lacrosse on TV, but I've never played it before. I figured a toy set could give me the taste of the game.

This sport is played on a football like field and has two nets. The players wear a helmet, shoulder pads, elbow pads and gloves. I thought that passing and shooting would be pretty easy to learn, but that has not been the case. There is one goalie, three defenders, three midfielders and three attackers on each team. The object of the game is to score a goal and outscore the opponent. Seems simple enough, and watching college teams and pros seems to make it easy. However, this sport can be defined as a combination of football, soccer and hockey and is very tough on players.

I've always wished a lacrosse team would pop up in our area high schools, but as of right now there are not very many, so I'm pretty much flying blind on this sport in actually playing it.

Shooting the ball has not been much of an issue, but passing it and catching it is my problem. Guess I'm going to have to work on some hand-eye coordination. My son and I have enjoyed playing it in the backyard, but we have some obvious work to do. I do think having an actual set would be better, but at least the toy set gives us a taste of the sport.

Here is a taste of some of the best plays in Lacrosse from last year.

What sports have you tried that are not considered a mainstream sports?