The Boomerang World Championships

Anything that has a long-standing tradition of being a hobby has a chance of ending up as an official sporting competition.  It’s only a matter of time before people, thinking that they’re the best at what they do, will want to organize a league so that they can prove it.  This also gives people the chance to share their passion with others from around the world, interacting with enthusiasts that they would never have met otherwise.  One of the latest events to take root - the Boomerang World Championships.

Though people have been using boomerangs for centuries, a proper league is a recent thing.  There have been informal championships since 1982, though it was only professionally organized during the early 90s.  The rules and regulations of the championships continued to evolve until they reached their present state in 2004.  As can be expected, the first organizer was from Australia, though since then the sport has taken hold across the globe and now 12 separate countries all have official leagues ready to compete in the championships.

The event takes place every two years, the last one being hosted in Brazil in 2012.  It is a ten-day long event that features the best boomerangers (is that a proper word?) in the world.  As of the Brazilian event, 93 pros showed up to showcase their skills.  The competition highlights a number of boomerang strengths, including accuracy, endurance, speed, distance and… juggling?  Pretty much anything you can think of to do with a boomerang has its place in the event.

And the championship is not just about throwing the boomerangs, but also about the amazing level of skill that goes into crafting them.  Master craftsmen come from all over the world to show off their wares and discuss the sport with other passionate devotees.

So if the boomerang is your thing, keep tabs on the league’s official web site and look out for when the 2014 championships will be taking place.  Who knows, it might even end up as a great excuse to take a vacation to somewhere that you’ve never been before.

Boomerang photo courtesy of Kocio via Wikicommons