Horseshoes, bocce ball, curling — and ax throwing — offer activities beyond the conventional
A game of pickup basketball? Nah, got a wonky knee.
Tennis, anyone? Ay-ay-ay, my elbow is flaring again.
Wanna play soccer? Nope, too much running.
How about a game of curling? Oh: That weird sport with the brooms that they only do at the Winter Olympics?
Not so, says Johnny Domenico, who heads to the Denver Curling Club, near Golden, each week from his home in Evergreen to curl with friends of all ages.
“It’s a sport that’s accessible,” said Domenico, who was nursing a loss on the ice with a Juneau Juice hazy IPA on a recent morning. “Once you get on the ice, you get the nuances of it. You can learn pretty quickly.”
Same goes for any number of quirky, off-the-beaten-path sports and activities played on unique courts or in one-of-a-kind venues in metro Denver — from Aurora to Golden and Commerce City to Highlands Ranch. Think horseshoes, bocce ball, futsal, axe throwing … and yes, curling.
“It’s very social,” said Michele Page, who sits on the board of directors of the Denver Curling Club. “It’s a very unique community.”
That social aspect is a common theme across many activities that, while competitive, emphasize at their core the importance of getting together with others and having a good time.
That’s certainly true of the North Metro Horseshoe League. For more than 40 years, Todd Thompson has been tossing the equine footwear across a 40-foot-long pit to a waiting peg. He is secretary of the Adams County club, which holds tournaments at, where else? Places where you can drink.
Ted’z Place in Commerce City, American Legion Post 22 in Northglenn and the Lake Avenue Inn in Eastlake are several of the venues where the dozen or so horseshoe teams — with names like Pit Bullies, the Peg Benders, and, yup, the Go Nads — battle it out.
“We like to have a few beers and talk smack with each other,” said Thompson, whose grandpa started the league in the early 1980s.
Johnny Salazar, the league’s president, said it’s not typical, but things have gotten rowdy at the pit as the night grows long.
“I’ve seen a shoe bang off a peg and hit a guy in the hand and break it,” he said.
But mostly, Thompson said, horseshoes is about “the camaraderie.”
“Come April, we start getting that itch,” he said.
Across town, the Highlands Ranch Metro District runs leagues of its own — ones with fewer chances for metacarpal distress. Recreation Supervisor Luke Ruter said bocce ball leagues will soon form for spring, summer and fall at Northridge Park.
“They fill up quickly,” he said of the ancient lawn bowling game that originated in the Middle East more than 7,000 years ago.
For a more modern twist on league play, the Highlands Ranch Metro District will offer, for the first time, organized cornhole tournaments at Paintbrush Park this summer. The toss game with sandbags and perforated target boards is easy to set up and play.
Or you can rent your fun from the district. With Picnic Packs, people can play a dizzying array of lawn games, including croquet, ring toss, sack races, lawn darts and “tumbling timbers” — a 56-piece giant Jenga game.
“Highlands Ranch is definitely an active community,” Ruter said.
In Aurora, you can try your hand — or entire body — at the Fitcore Extreme Obstacle Course, a Ninja Warrior-style challenge at Tollgate Crossing Neighborhood Park.
For dexterity freaks, Hoffman Park offers the game of futsal, a miniaturized version of soccer that employs a smaller but heavier ball.
“To be able to navigate this small ball between your legs — I give full respect to those players,” said Ted Bryant, a spokesman for Aurora Parks, Recreation and Open Space.
In Colorado’s largest city, Denver’s more than 250 parks offer a wide array of courts for those seeking alternatives to the normal — including bocce, futsal, handball, lawn bowling, sand volleyball, roller hockey, ping pong, cornhole and slackline courses.
But if anger or frustration is your driving mood for the day, rolling balls or tossing sandbags may not do it. In that case, visit All Out Smash on North Jackson Street in Denver.
The 3-year-old business offers six lanes for axe throwing, three rage rooms for smashing stuff and one splatter room, where you can throw paint-filled balloons at the wall — or at your buddy.
“This is a good place for self-therapy,” said Josh Potts, All Out Smash’s manager. “We get a lot of people who are grieving for one reason or another or are working through something.”
And best of all, you can wreck stuff and walk away, no questions asked.
“You have the freedom to let loose and not have to clean up after yourself,” Potts said. “You’re not in trouble for it.”
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