List of water sports facts for kids

A variety of water sports. From top left: diving, surfing, water polo, synchronized swimming, swimming, rowing, yacht racing, dragon boat racing, kayaking

Water sports are fun activities you do in or on water. They are also called aquatic sports. You can play them in many places like lakes, rivers, or the ocean.

Some water sports involve staying mostly on top of the water. Others have you partly or fully in the water. Let's explore some of these exciting activities!

Sports on the Water

These sports usually involve a boat or a board, keeping you mostly above the water's surface.

Boating and Racing

• Boat racing is when fast powerboats compete against each other.
• Boating is simply using boats for fun, like going for a ride or exploring.
• Canoeing means paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. It's a popular sport and a great way to explore nature.
• Dragon boat racing involves teams of 20 paddlers. They race long, narrow boats that look like dragons. This sport has a long history!
• Kayaking is similar to canoeing but uses a kayak. You move across the water with a double-bladed paddle.
• Rowing is a sport where athletes propel a boat called a "racing shell" using oars. It takes a lot of strength and teamwork.
• Sailing is about using wind power to move a boat with sails across the water. It can be for racing or just for fun trips.
• Yachting is using larger boats called yachts for racing or long trips on the water.

Board and Ski Sports

• Cable skiing is like wakeboarding, but instead of a boat, cables pull you across the water. This allows for cool tricks!
• Flyboarding uses a special device that shoots water downwards. This pushes the rider into the air, allowing them to fly above the water.
• Jet Skiing is riding a fast personal watercraft. You sit or stand on it, like a motorcycle on water.
• Kneeboarding is when you are pulled by a motorboat while kneeling on a special board.
• Paddleboarding involves standing on a large surfboard and using a paddle to move across flat water or waves.
• Skimboarding is a sport where people slide fast on a thin wooden board across shallow water near the shore.
• Surfing is riding ocean waves on a surfboard. You stand up and glide along the wave's face.
• Wakeboarding is where you are pulled by a boat while riding sideways on a board. Your feet are strapped to the board.
• Wakeskating is like wakeboarding, but your feet are not attached to the board. This allows for skateboarding-like tricks.
• Wakesurfing means surfing on the waves created by a boat without holding onto a rope.
• Water skiing is when you are pulled by a boat while riding on one or two skis across the water.
• Windsurfing combines sailing and surfing. You stand on a board with a sail attached and let the wind move you.
• Windfoiling is a newer version of windsurfing. It uses a hydrofoil that lifts the board out of the water, making it feel like flying.
• Wing foiling is a sport where you hold a lightweight wing while riding a surfboard with a hydrofoil.

Other Surface Sports

• Canoe polo mixes canoeing and ball handling. It's a team game played in canoes, where tactics and speed are key.
• Fishing is a popular activity where people try to catch fish for sport or food.
• Parasailing is when a person is towed behind a boat while attached to a parachute. You get to fly high above the water!
• Picigin is a traditional Croatian ball game played in shallow water. Players try to keep a small ball from touching the water.
• Rafting involves using an inflatable raft to travel down rivers, especially those with exciting rapids.
• River trekking combines walking, climbing, and sometimes swimming along a river.
• Stone skipping is a fun activity where people compete to see how many times and how far they can make a stone bounce on the water's surface.

Sports in the Water

These sports involve being partly or fully submerged in the water.

• Aquajogging is a way to exercise in deep water without putting stress on your joints. You wear a flotation device and move as if you are running.
• Artistic or synchronized swimming is a beautiful sport where swimmers perform a routine of moves in the water, often to music. It's like a water ballet!
• Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a springboard or platform. Divers perform amazing flips and twists.
• Finswimming is like regular swimming but uses fins, a snorkel, and sometimes a special monofin. This helps swimmers go very fast.
• Rescue swimming is about swimming to help and save other swimmers who might be in trouble.
• Swimming is moving through water using your body. It includes swimming in pools and in open water like lakes or the ocean.
• Synchronized diving is when two divers perform the exact same dive at the same time. They try to be perfectly in sync.
• Triathlon is a challenging event that includes three continuous sports: swimming, cycling, and running.
• Water aerobics is a type of exercise done in the water. The water helps support your body and adds resistance.
• Water basketball mixes basketball and water polo. Teams of five players try to shoot a ball into a goal in a swimming pool.
• Water polo is a team sport played in the water with a ball. Players try to score goals by throwing the ball into the opponent's net.
• Water volleyball is a fun game played in a swimming pool, similar to regular volleyball.

Sports Under the Water

These activities take place completely underwater.

Recreational Diving

• Cave diving is exploring underwater caves.
• Deep diving involves going to greater depths underwater.
• Freediving is diving underwater while holding your breath, without using scuba gear.
• Ice diving is diving under ice, often in frozen lakes or seas.
• Mermaiding is swimming while wearing a costume mermaid tail.
• Spearfishing is hunting fish underwater using a spear.
• Underwater archaeology involves exploring underwater sites, like old shipwrecks.
• Underwater photography is taking pictures underwater. Many contests are held each year for the best underwater photos.

Underwater Sports

• Aquathlon is a sport that involves underwater wrestling.
• Finswimming has some events that are done entirely underwater.
• Snorkeling is swimming on the surface of the water with a mask, fins, and a snorkel (a tube for breathing).
• Underwater football is a game played underwater with a ball.
• Underwater hockey is played underwater with two teams. Players use short sticks to move a heavy puck across the pool bottom into the opponent's goal.
• Underwater ice hockey is a version of underwater hockey played under ice.
• Underwater orienteering is navigating underwater using maps and compasses.
• Underwater rugby is a game played underwater where two teams try to score goals by sending a ball into the opponent's goal at the bottom of the pool.
• Underwater target shooting is a sport where divers shoot at underwater targets.

Images for kids

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  A variety of water sports. From top left: Diving, surfing, water polo, synchronized swimming, swimming, rowing, yacht racing, dragon boat racing, kayaking