Five Sports that increased in Popularity during the Pandemic

Photo by Tom Wheatley on Unsplash

Sporting and Exercise is a vital part of our everyday life and that did not change during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many countries have had rigorous lockdowns, which has disabled many team exercises, gyms, and sports arenas and the Pandemic even managed to cancel the Olympics 2020 in Tokyo as well as the European Championship in Football, both had to be moved by a year to 2021. But not all sports activities were crippled and today we list five sports that you can do during the pandemic at safe distance to others.

5. Golf

Golf has been a popular sport for over 60 years and has had a spike in popularity in recent years as it can be practiced by everyone without any limits to age, gender, or social status. Golf was previously considered an upper-class sport but has in recent times become more accessible for everyone. You can still find country clubs with invitation-only status but more and more golf courses open up to nonmembers too. Considering that the max players in one go are up to 4, it is a perfect sport to start with during the Pandemic as it takes social distancing into consideration. The fact that Golf is practiced outdoors and has considerable walks makes it good training even though one might end up in a bunker or a rough on a regular. There are plenty of good golf courses in Maryland including Clifton Park, Baltimore County, and Mount Pleasant.

4. Chess

Chess has had an uplift of players during the Pandemic as you only need to be 2 to practice it. The fact that you can also play online and on your mobile phone makes it a great option for social distancing. You won’t build any muscles lifting the pawns and rooks but it will definitely be a good brain exercise that helps keep you fresh and engaged during the games. Some other benefits of playing Chess include improvement of memory and increasing your intelligence.

The Popularity of Chess had a boost mainly due to the popular Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Thomas Brodie-Sangster which currently boasts a 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

3. ESports

Esports can hardly be considered a sporty sport, but has seen an increase in both popularity and users the past few years. More and More people play games such as Warzone, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Fortnite, and DOTA2. Similar to Chess, the body part that gets the fittest is in fact your brain as you need to make split-second decisions and strategize in order to get the dub. Following the increase in popularity, there has also been an increase in casinos and betting sites offering betting on ESports, according to Laatukasinot there are several key sites such as Unikrn, Pixel. Bet, Bet365 and Hard Rock Online Casino offer betting on the most popular tournaments. Despite not really falling in the sports exercise category, the top players in the games are athletes just like in any other sports, they exercise and train daily, go on nutritious diets and even have to participate in boot camps to bond with teammates.

2. Bicycling

The biggest calorie burner on our list is in fact Bicycling. Which can be exercised as a sport but also be used as a measure of transportation. A fun fact regarding Bicycles is that in Denmark’s Capital City Copenhagen, there are more bikes than people living there. A rough estimate is that there are 675,000 bicycles in Copenhagen. Many learn to bike at an early age and to pick up the sports, all you need is a bike and a helmet (not necessary but we strongly advise you to wear one). Even in countries with total lockdowns such as Peru, Spain, and Italy – you can still manage to bike from home and several stationary bike companies such as Peloton have become global brands during the Pandemic. With Peloton, you can bike with others using the screen provided or download fun bike paths so that you feel like you are biking on the Golden Gate Bridge while you’re in your Garage in Rossville.

1. Padel

Padel is the number one growing sport in Europe, it’s a mix between Tennis and Squash and can be played outdoors and indoors. You usually need 4 players to participate as it’s a Doubles Game. It originated from Mexico in 1969 and was founded by Enrique Corcuera. The fact that you only need to be 4 players makes it a good and safe exercise and a proper fat burner. To give an example of how popular this sport has become, you can now find Padel Courts throughout Maryland. Our favorite is the one on Gibson Island.

Which new healthy habits have you picked up since the Pandemic and what sports are you most likely to try out of the above?