Obstacles such as padded planks with a rotating arm await the unwary as they slip and slide their way along it. A whack on the head with the revolving arm causes the heavily lifejacketed contestants to fall ungracefully into the water some eight feet below, which isn’t more than three feet deep. They emerge looking like drowned rats, their clothing clinging revealingly to not very athletic bodies.

They then need to scramble up onto the next obstacle: blow-up lollipops which require great skill to jump from one rounded top to the next without another trip into the water.

The winner is the one who actually makes it to the end in the shortest time. One can only admire their sense of humour and sportsmanship. These contests are definitely only for fun!

Advancements in video photography make it possible to play with these funny moments. You can edit clips from matches and put the frames into a music video. These can then be sold to TV networks as fillers on sports channels between games and they are often more entertaining than the games themselves.

You will need a top-of-the-range camera and tripod to get the very best shots, as you will usually be on the sidelines or even further away from the action. All-weather clothing is also a must as you will be subjected to the vagaries of the weather.

But getting your shot published first will make it all worthwhile.

Physical effort is the perfect means to combat obesity, which has become a disease of our modern, sedentary lifestyle. It is also a way of socialising without having to have a particularly meaningful conversation. Our actions and body language are the words and sentences. We can therefore achieve many things while enjoying sport.

Men who participate in very physical sports like rugby tend to be tall, well-built and fast on their feet, whereas table tennis is dominated by athletes from the Far East and Asia, with their slight frames and lightning fast reactions. A rugby player might be all thumbs when wielding a paddle, just as a table tennis player would do well to run in the opposite direction of the ball in a rugby match. In these cases, neither athlete would be having fun.

Women are also entering previously male-dominated sports, including rugby. One can only wonder what makes them want to risk losing their front teeth in a heavy tackle or have their face pressed into a muddy field in a collapsed scrum. It can only be that they think it’s fun.

The foofie slide later developed into a sport whereby a person would hang from a T-bar suspended from the rope or wire and later a seat was added for safety by adventure sports companies who run foofie slides across exciting and dangerous locations, such as the Victoria Falls Gorge in Zimbabwe. Your life is considered incomplete until you have made this journey!

Safety features such as harnesses and double wires have been introduced to ensure that the public can have confidence that they will survive the adrenalin rush and strict safety checks form part of every launch.

This sounds ideal for the thrill-seeker who can’t quite subject himself to a bungee jump!

It seems as though every country is trying to host the world’s highest jump. In June 2012, the Tokyo Sky Tree building will take first place with a jump of 430m. The general public will not be able to do this jump as prospective jumpers will be carefully assessed first. Basic criteria will be to pass an on-site electrocardiogram test, be aged 18 – 45 and weigh at least 40kg. A breathalyser test will be conducted on late night partygoers who might under normal circumstances never have even considered such a move.

Practice jumping has been taking place under cover of darkness by persons unknown, clad in black spiderman suits. A photographer taking night shots noticed a streak in his photos and closer inspection revealed a jumper. So the secret is now out and the highest bungee jump in the world will be known as Big Bungee Banzai.

This was of course an April Fool’s joke which appeared in The Japan Times and is worthy of repetition. The funniest part is that there is every likelihood of such a scenario becoming reality in the not too distant future!