Another confession, which I seem to do often with LAPC, I’m not good at sports and never have been. Pro sports has become a business. Players are traded back and forth. Teams move. Fans have to pay big bucks to attend games. Have you guessed that I don’t enjoy pro sports. Beth wants us to dig into our archives for sporting events. So let’s look at everyday sports that us common folk enjoy.

Take ice skating for instance. I don’t skate (Remember I’m not good at sports!) but I do enjoy watching families on a skating rink. Young skaters have barrels to help them balance. The first two photos were taken at the Charles Schulz Museum and the third at the Folsom Ice Rink that they put up each winter.

How about a community kite flying event? I totally enjoyed watching children and their parents fly their kites at the Natomas Kite Festival.

Have you ever been on a horse? I got up on one once and got off quickly. They are big animals! We have several local parks where riders can ride on paths. I was getting fancy with the second image taken as a rider was riding around a ring.

I see a lot of people fishing at our neighboring lakes and at our rivers. These were taken at Mather Lake. Father is giving son some instruction.

Bowling is a sport I used to do about 48 years ago. I bowled on the PTA league. My average was low and handicap high. When I bowled a great game, that handicap put us over. Here we have a birthday celebration. Did you know breakdancing is a sport, making it into the Olympics in 2020! Maybe this dancer should try out.

Let’s end with a rodeo. This was my first rodeo. I wondered why the riders would do this to their bodies. I hope there was a chiropractor handy.

I think photography is a sport since it gets me moving, gets me thinking, and gets me preparing these posts for LAPC! What do you think? Thanks Beth for helping me realize that watching sports is an important part of my photography experience. When you post your response, be sure to link to Beth’s original post and use the Lens-Artists tag.

Last week, thanks to Sofia’s challenge, we saw all sorts of doors from rustic to fancy. We also saw unique door knockers and knobs. I’ll be presenting the challenge next week so get ready for something different! Until then, stay safe and live in gratitude.

41 thoughts on “Lens Artists Challenge #362: Sports, Sporting Events and Fun Games”

  2. I’m not a fan of professional sports, either, Anne. I facilitated women’s and girls sports when I worked for parks and rec whenever I could. But like you, I’ve enjoyed the sports you shared, ice skating, rodeo, horseback riding, and bowling. How cool you were in a bowling league! Excellent photos of these sports!

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  4. I enjoyed your blog Ann. I always have participated in sports, especially soccer, but I’m with you on not enjoying professional events. I’d much rather wander over to the park and catch an amateur soccer match than pay to watch professional soccer. That even goes for watching it on TV these days

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  7. Anne, I knew you would come up with some awesome images for this challenge. I love the variety of sports you selected. I love that you included horses and the rodeo. I love the kite festival. They used to have them at the beach here but I didn’t have any good photos. I’m not a big fan of pro sports, either (except we were Atlanta Braves fans once upon a time). I do enjoy SEC college football and have been to a few high school games. Now we watch them on TV.

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  8. I love your photos even more because I can relate to all your feelings, Anne. I did ballet and swimming when I was a kid but that was it. And don’t get me started on pro sports…
    The rodeo ones are brilliant 🙂

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  9. Anne, you and I are on the same wavelength with pro sports, though I do have a favorite baseball team, a minor league team that plays in our home town. We didn’t go to a game this year, but at $12 a seat, it’s an economical night out, even if you buy refreshments.
    I echo Sofia’s comment about the rodeo shots. Rodeos are fun to capture action as a photographer.

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      1. Your comment about affordable seats made me look. At least this season, which is over now, were still $8 General Admission, $13 for reserved seating. It’ll be interesting to see if they go up next spring.

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        1. John, you peaked my curiosity. I checked the prices for general admission at our Sacramento River Cats games. For a Saturday game against the Las Vegas team. the lawn was $20. (bring your own chairs) and the seats were $36.75. I don’t know whether the prices change depending on who they are playing against.

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  10. Very creative Anne! And you stirred up a bit of a hornet’s nest while you were at it!! I have 4 brothers so I grew up with pro baseball, golf and football every weekend on tv. I think allowing players to change teams for more $$ has rather ruined pro sports but we still watch them. One wonders the good that could be done if those huge paydays were distributed in areas where the money is truly needed. Sigh. As long as the tv ratings and online betting revenues are huge so too will be the paydays.

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    1. Thanks Tina! I didn’t mean to stir things up. I was just venting. None of my boys were into sports. They did T Ball but that’s about it. My oldest was on a high school wrestling team. I totally gave up on pro sports when the baseball players went on strike many years ago. My last bit of sports fun was when my younger grandson was playing soccer. The kids were so young and so much fun to watch.

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  14. I think you found some great images, I really liked the girl leaning on the buckets, and the last image from the rodeo. I am sticking clear on the debate about professional sports… I did some sports when a kid, but did not do that well. All my boys have tried football, ice hockey, basketball and track and field. And I have been together with a football player for a 40 years… But sports is a money driven business and all to early you have to commit to it.

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  15. Great photos and great variety Anne. I love the rodeo action shots, and that breaking dancing is strange. I used to bowl in my ‘ute, enjoyed it. My brother has many 300 game rings, but doesn’t bowl anymore.

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