Trampolining to ESports: Here are all of the Roses sports you probably didn’t know about

This is your daily reminder that Roses are Red x

2 weeks ago

Roses 2024 has gotten off to an incredible start, with a jam-packed opening ceremony headlined by Volleyball Open Firsts (and an amazing Lancaster 3: York 0 win for the home team) and an overall lead for Lancaster for the day. With two more days until 2024’s winner is announced, Saturday and Sunday are going to be just as exciting. But aside from all of the sports that dominate the Roses timetable, there might be a few that you weren’t aware were on the schedule – or maybe some sports that you’ve not heard of at all.

With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of all of the events that you probably had no idea you could compete in at Roses 2024.

Chess

While we’re sure everyone has heard of chess before, a lot of people might be surprised that it’s a competition in Roses. It doesn’t actually add any points to the scoreboard, but it’s still taking place on Sunday 5th May at 9am in the Studio (we don’t envy chess players for having to be that mentally prepared on a Sunday morning). To be fair, chess is actually recognised as a sport by the International Olympic Committee, so if it’s good enough for the Olympics its good enough for us!

ESport

We’ll admit, when we saw this we were confused. The first image that came to mind was Wii Fit, but it didn’t seem likely that there’s a Roses competition in how close your age prediction is on your Wii fitness score.

We’re still not really sure what qualifies for the ESports matches, but according to the Lancaster ESports Society’s instagram, this year’s games are League of Legends, Overwatch and Counter Strike Two. They’re going all out, too, and the player of the match is set to receive a limited edition Pringles gaming set – this is surely the coolest prize of Roses 2024 (aside from Lancaster winning for the third consecutive year, of course). Unfortunately, Lancs lost 2-1 this year, but it’s okay because it doesn’t add any points to the score board.

Trampolining

We’re guessing that this is a little more complicated that jumping up and down on the trampoline in your garden as a kid – but definitely just as fun. The pictures from Saturday’s event look incredible, and we’re so in awe of Lancs’ trampolining team.

Karting

So many of these sports are reminding us of our childhoods – from trampolining in the garden to go-karting birthday parties. Obviously, they take a lot more skill at Roses level, but we never expect to see our younger selves’ favourite party activities as a competitive sport!

With karting taking place off campus on Thursday 2nd May, it’s easy to forget about the (slightly intimidating) sport – but we’re definitely supporting Lancaster Motorsports after Thursday’s match ended in a 166-106 win for Lancaster!

Tabletop Gaming

This competition is a serious myth, because after searching social media for answers, all we know about tabletop gaming is that it involved Wargaming and card games – and Lancaster won on Friday’s match! It doesn’t count towards the scoreboard, but if Lancs’ Board Games and Tabletop Society’s instagram is any clue, it looks like everyone had a great time and we’re so happy for them!

Underwater Hockey

Honestly, if you’re going to make a sport even cooler, why not just do it underwater? We respect the hustle, and are devastated we didn’t get any pictures of what definitely was a really cool match. Unfortunately, York took the four points for their win on Friday, but we’ll definitely be cheering for Lancaster even louder next year.

Debating

As much as we love a good debate, we’re a little confused about it being in Roses. If anything, chess should get the same four points as debating for the amount of mental work they’re doing. It’s unclear how the event will function, but it’s scheduled for Sunday 5th May at 11am in the Margaret Fell lecture theatre if you want to check it out!

Korfball

Korfball is a true enigma – everyone’s heard of it, but nobody seems to know the exact rules. It’s some kind of cross between netball and basketball, and we’re totally here for the chaos. We’re also completely devastated that Friday’s 40:4 win to Lancaster won’t add any points to the scoreboard!

Snow Sports

Roses is honestly more complex than the Olympics, crossing competition categories left, right and centre! While we’d typically expect to see snow sports in the winter, Lancaster smashed their summer ski competitions out of the park with wins in both the Open Ski and the Individual Ski race, adding five points to the leaderboard.