Recreational Connections
We've found that people who devote a part of their life in recreation and leisure are more relaxed and easy-going. Here's a list of 8 popular recreational past times that you might enjoy. Millions of people world-wide enjoy these forms of recreation. The links below provide comprehensive resources and directories.
Swimming - Probably the most popular recreational sport followed by bicycling. It has the largest participation in Australia, U.S., New Zealand, Germany, and South Africa.
www.clubswim.com
www.ymcaswimminganddiving.org
www.swimmingworldmagazine.com
Bird Watching - Very
popular in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Switzerland where thousands
of people enjoy this past-time. Recently there has been a lot of concern
over birds' environment due to oil spills and disease. But the number of "birding" clubs
is increasing.
www.birdwatching.com
www.birdingguide.com
Camping - Truly an outdoor experience for the individual. Recently, RV Camping has overtaken tent camping as the more preferable way to "rough it."
http://gorp.away.com
www.campfire.org
Hiking - We found this to be one of the most international kinds of recreation with numerous organizations focused on both Camping and Hiking. People in over 100 countries enjoy doing this.
www.peaktopeak.net/clubs
www.adventuresportsonline.com
www.sierraclub.org/outings/national
Volleyball - While you may think that this sport is predominantly on college campuses and on California beaches, over 800 million people worldwide participate in volleyball; over 50 millions in the U.S. do this. The sport officially got started on the Santa Monica beaches in the 1920s.
www.volleyball.org
www.usavolleyball.org
Wind Surfing - The most popular places to find this activity are in the U.S., Mexico, Australia, the Caribbean, and Central America. Here in the U.S. it is most popular in California, Texas, Hawaii, Florida, and Minnesota.
www.uswindsurfing.org
www.windsurfing.org
away.com/activities/windsurfing
Water Skiing - invented in Minnesota in 1922 by Ralph Samuelson, it has become so popular there is a petition to have in included in the Summer Olympics. The U.S. Olympic Committee recognizes it as an International Sport qualifying it for the Pan-American Games. It is popular in the wind surfing countries listed above; plus the Middle East.
www.iwsf.com
www.waterskimag.com/index.jsp
http://usawaterskiing.org
Snow Skiing- While very popular in Europe and Russia, it is most popular here in the U.S. in Utah, Idaho, Vermont, Colorado, Oregon and Lake Tahoe in California.
For A listing of the top 10 European Ski Spots go to: www.thetimesharebeat.com/europe/skiing. For listing of the top U.S. ski spots go to either: www.forbes.com, or www.aol.cityguide/top11places/skiing.