Handball

Handball is probably the most obscure sport we will play.  The US has not qualified for Olympic handball since 1996, and only about 300-500 people in the country take handball seriously.  We purchased an official handball from Amazon, and looked up the rules on Wikipedia.  The ball can be passed or run, and while running you must dribble once every 3 steps.  Goals are set up at the end of the field, and you must throw the ball into the goal, and past the goalie.  We basically played basketball, then threw the ball at the goal rather than in a basket.  Its a fun, fast paced sport, and really got our heart rates up.

Archery

Archery has been contested in 14 Olympiads.  Cinnamon Creek Ranch rents bows and has introductory lessons, so we showed up one morning to learn.  The instructors were great, and we were all hitting bullseye's by the end of the lesson.

After the class, the instructors showed us some bows with a quick release, like those used in the Olympics.  We all had a great time, and will definitely be doing archery some more.

Equestrain

There are three equestrian events in the Summer Olympics: dressage, show jumping, and eventing.  We had very little to no horseback riding experience, so completing the equestrian events was a little daunting.  However, the Curragh Equestrian Center developed a class for us that would let us complete the events to the best of our abilities.

First up was dressage, which is sometimes called horse ballet.  The horse performs a set of movements around the arena - going diagonal, in circles, transitioning from a walk to a trot, etc.  The horse does all of this with minimal input from the rider.

The trot was a little faster than J, on Razz,  liked to go.

K, on Teddy, was comfortable with the trot.

Our next event was show jumping, where horses jump a series of rails in an arena.  For our level, the rails were all placed on the ground, where the horses stepped rather than jumped over them.  We did however stand up in the saddle into jumping position as we went over each jump in the course.

L, on April, going over a jump

Eventing is an equestrian triathlon consisting of dressage, show jumping, and a cross country race.  After completing the dressage and show jumping, we went to the cross country course.  This course consisted of hills, ditches, and natural jumps like logs.

J was not any more comfortable on the jumps.  Razz sensed weakness.

M and Lonestar crossing a ditch.