Starting on Friday, athletes will compete in 36 sports during the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto.
While events such as soccer and swimming will be familiar to people, the Games do have their share of unique and unusual offerings.
Here is a look at five sports you probably didn’t know were part of the Pan Am Games.
Bowling
Bowling might be familiar to most people as a popular first date destination or as Fred Flintstone’s favourite pastime, but it’s rarely thought of as an international sporting event.
Ten-pin bowling, however, has been part of the Pan Am Games since 1991. The event features both men’s and women’s singles and doubles competitions.
Historically, U.S. teams have dominated the sport with 20 gold medals at the Games, followed by Mexico and Canada.
Roller figure skating
Simply put, this one is like figure skating without the ice. Athletes perform choreographed routines to music while wearing retro, four-wheeled on roller skates.
Competitors receive scores from a panel of judge based the performances’ speed, height in jumps, control and originality.
Colombia is the reigning champion in the sport.
This year, Pan Am attendees will get to see roller figure skating on July 11 and 12.
Racquetball
Not to be confused with squash, racquetball is played in an enclosed court where athletes serve and return the ball against a large wall. Unlike squash, the floor and ceiling of the court are also in play, meaning that the ball comes at the players from all angles.
Racquetball tends to be very fast-paced, with the call reaching speeds of up to 240 km/h.
Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. have dominated both men’s and women’s world racquetball championships, making Pan Am nations the very best in the world at the sport.
BMX and mountain biking
More commonly associated with the X Games, BMX involves competitors riding specialized bicycles in a variety of challenges combining speed, agility and style.
In the Pan Am Games, the BMX event pits eight cyclists against one another in a race to the finish held on a dirt track featuring jumps and obstacles.
Mountain biking events follow the same principle, but the race circuits are almost entirely off-road.
The event was added to the Summer Olympics in 1996. BMX biking also became an Olympic event in 2008.
Waterskiing/wakeboarding
Waterskiing -- something you’ve likely done at your cottage -- is an event in which skiers are dragged behind a boat and perform in three events: tricks, slalom and jump.
Athletes are judged based on the complexity of the tricks they perform and the length of the jumps they can achieve.
Wakeboarding works in the same way except that competitors ride on a single board instead of skis.
These events will be held at the Ontario Place West Chanel in Toronto from July 20 to 23.
With more than 10,000 competing athletes from 41 different countries, the Pan Am Games are the largest sporting event Canada has ever hosted.
A complete schedule of events can be found on the Pan Am Games website.
