From badminton with no nets to rounders in the park, sports have always been a huge part of Irish life especially when we were kids.

And so too was watching sport. In fact, every time a sporting event was on the telly or the sun came out, the first thing that everyone did was go out and organise a game of something.

Tennis: You just knew when Wimbledon was on because there would be an increased amount of people walking around with racquets and tennis balls. But back in the day you didn’t need a net or hawk-eye to have a good old game. In fact we didn’t even need a playing partner, the house wall did the trick!

 

Badminton: The washing line might not have been the perfect net and no we didn’t keep to the correct storing system, but the fact of the matter is badminton is the ideal summer sport and everybody loved that it didn’t require a simple ball but a shuttlecock.

Rounders: Nobody really knew the rules and to be honest, nobody really cared. Rounders was great fun and you could have as many people in your team as possible. Of course there was the usual argument of throwing underarm or over but once that was done, all you wanted to do was actually hit the ball and get a homerun.

Camogie: Camogie was a great contact sport. Fast paced, skilled and was as enjoyable to watch, as it was to play. For those of us who weren’t that great at it but just didn’t want to give up the social side, in other words going purely to training to purely to have a gossip, your stick could always double as a seat. Handy.  

Football: Sure the goalposts were just jumpers and there were no such things as throw-ins or fouls but football was football at the end of the day and everyone wanted to be on the winning team, which was often decided by the ‘last goal.’ Keepy-uppies and one-touch were also popular choices in the back garden.

 

Frisbee: Some call it a sport. Others call it a hobby. We call it a brilliant childhood memory filled with laughter (because the art of throwing the thing took quite a lot of time) and sore fingers (just closed our hand at the wrong time). You could pretty much play it anywhere and with everyone. What’s not to love?

Trampoline: The Olympians might be doing their triple somersaults but we were happy not to fall off or break the thing. Although things did get slightly competitive when someone decided to introduce a scoring system using A4 sheets of paper and black markers.

7Up Free is asking people to submit what will uplift their summer. They will be giving away lots of prizes throughout the summer for the best entries. To be in with a chance to win people can enter via Twitter using the hashtag #upliftmysummer or enter via Facebook or the website www.7up.ie. Whether they want a weekly Friday ice cream to brighten their day or tickets to one of the hottest festivals in Europe, the 7Up Free team might just make it happen!