Cycle ball combines soccer and cycling into one intense sport

OK, so you’ve probably heard of soccer — and you’ve probably heard of cycling. But what about cycle ball?

Yep, it’s an actual sport in which players cruise around a small court on specially designed bicycles that allow riders to knock a ball around, with the goal of making it into a soccer-style goal. To make it even crazier, the bikes have no brakes or gears, which means sometimes players crash into each other and fall off their bikes. Cycle ball is definitely not for the faint of heart!

Oh, and the players also aren’t allowed to have their feet on the ground, which complicates matters further. Check out this unique sport in action in the video below from Mashable:

Pretty wild, right? While cycle ball may be new to you, it’s actually been around since 1893 and is most popular in Europe.

Also known as RadBall, the sport was created in America by Nick Kauffman, a renowned pioneer of what is known as artistic cycling. Usually the game is played two-on-two, but there are also five- and six-player versions of the sport. A match consists of two 7-minute halves.

Lest you think this sport is just something silly, you should know that there are many players who take it quite seriously. In fact, they even have their very own Cycle Ball World Cup tournament.

Check out this highlight reel from the 2017 UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships in Dornbirn, Austria:

By the way, those special bikes go for as much as $3,000 apiece.

Soccer is not the only sport to be blended with bicycles. Believe it or not, you can also play bicycle polo. What will they think of next?

Combining bicycling and other sports does seem like fun, but also pretty intense! Would you give cycle ball or cycle polo a try?