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While following professional sports can be a very fun time, especially when watching and celebrating your team with friends, playing them yourself can be an even more enjoyable experience. Sure, you may never reach the physical or athletic heights achieved by some of your favorite players, especially not the ones you prize most in your fantasy league, but you can experience what they’ve dedicated their lives to with the right practice. Playing sports should be an intrinsic part of anyone’s life, even those who don’t enjoy them. They help foster teamwork, communication, physical activity, and enjoyment.

If you’re mostly a couch potato and enjoy playing sports through viewership and in fantasy leagues, the time may have come to give the sport a try yourself. Not only will it give you a more instinctive respect for the sport you love viewing most, but it will also give you the feeling of legitimate happiness when your skills increase.

Here are the best hobbyist sports you may not have tried. Some may look intimidating for a newcomer, but you can be sure that there’s a lot of fun to be experienced here:

Boxing

There’s no reason for you to ever reach the heights of the celebrated recent match between Mayweather & McGregor, but trying your hand at boxing can be one of the best ways to keep yourself active and happy in your exercise regime. Boxing will teach you proper footwork, breath management and will also help you push through your limits. It will teach you angling, positioning, and sportsmanship when it comes to amateur sparring. Why not try today? You never know, before long you could be competing in amateur tournaments. At the very least, you will be able to defend yourself in your daily life much better if the time ever calls for it.

Paddle Boarding

If you’re more the adventurous type, paddleboarding can give you exactly the fun you need. A Stand up paddle board offers a range of amazing benefits, from wet yoga to surfing and even staying stationary to fish. Purchasing a board is cheap, doesn’t cost a maintenance or subscription fee, and can be used for years. If you’re simply looking to get out in nature, gifting yourself this wonderful tool can help you experience a range of smaller hobbyist sports. If you’re aquatically minded, this should be a no-brainer.

Ice Skating

Ice skating can open you up to multiple other cold sports, and that’s why we’re placing it on this list. Not only is the art of ice skating something beautiful to learn, but it can help teach you to balance, co-ordination and temperance of movement, all excellent skills to learn if you’re hoping to be better moving around in an actual sport you take part in. Not only that, but it can open up ice hockey, ice dancing, and even transferable skiing skills to your mind, giving you that excellent leg up in pursuing your other goals. Within a few weeks, you are sure to be addicted to the ice.

Not only can these sports and sporting implements offer you months and years of fun, but they can help you feel younger and active again, perfect for any coach potatoes.