Baseball.

This is coolbert:

 Finnish Baseball!! And the military dimension.

Thanks to the Internet web site Isegoria.net.

"What Finland Can Teach America About Baseball"

"Finland has its own, faster-paced version of baseball, called pesäpallo"

Faster-paced and MUCH MORE PHYSICALLY DEMANDING!

"Finnish baseball is the brainchild of a former Olympic track and field star named Lauri Pihkala. According to historians, Pihkala was studying in the U.S. in 1907 when he attended an American baseball game in Boston and made an observation that was ahead of its time: Fascinating game. A bit slow, though."

"He [Lauri] went on to develop the Finnish version in the 1920s, billing it as a military training exercise"

. . . .

Again, Finnish baseball more physically demanding, as played by military personnel an excellent way to develop stamina, teamwork and general physical fitness while having fun.

"A few years ago, one player wore a pedometer during a game and was found to have run 10.5 kilometers from start to finish. By comparison, soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo averaged 9.6 kilometers covered during Champions League matches this year."

NEVER heard of such a thing before. That American game of baseball [the national pastime] based on the original English game of rounders. Baseball having many versions as played. Conventional hard-ball, fast-pitch and slow-pitch softball, cork ball, whiffle ball, etc.

AND pesäpallo. Remarkable and who would ever have thought it.

coolbert.