If you’re looking for a workout, but you’re tired of the same-old, Pittsburgh is full of heart-pumping alternatives. The following sports can be played individually or in informal groups, and each can be played at your own level. You may begin as a novice, but you have all summer long to practice– and become as expert as your mind and body will allow.
Get Your Skate On
One day in 2005, Cathy Bazán-Arias was roller-blading down the Eliza-Furnace Trail, enjoying the feel of bombing down the pavement. She spotted a small group of inline-skaters ahead of her, dressed in knee-pads and slick sunglasses. “They seemed to be part of some sort of elite club,” she recalls.
One of the skaters broke off and asked if Bazán-Arias wanted to join them. She thought they were joking, but as it turned out, they were quite serious: As members of Three Rivers Inline Club , a collective of inline-skating enthusiasts, the group was looking for new recruits – and by the end of the day, Bazán-Arias had joined their ranks. Club motto? “We skate everything but the rivers.”
Skaters can roller-blade happily alone, and parks offer the easiest surfaces, but more motivated skaters enjoy the company of others – sometimes hundreds of others – and the challenges of open roads and Pittsburgh’s mythic hills. Skaters are protected by certified patrollers (all-volunteer), who are trained to direct traffic at intersections and administer CPR and First Aid if necessary; patrollers are even licensed to use a defibrillator in rare cases of cardiac arrest.
As a busy civil engineer in her mid-30's, Bazán-Arias doesn’t have a lot of spare afternoons but she found the time. “It was something new, I can meet new people, and they know all the trails that you can skate. And also, most major cities in the northeast have these kind of clubs. So I thought, oh, wow, this is a great thing to have in Pittsburgh.”
The club’s annual Hills & Thrills event takes place on June 1, 2 and 3, and covers a citywide array of twists, turns, and slalom-caliber slopes ranging from intermediate to advanced (think steep hills) for skaters. Registration is free, but you’ll have to bring your own fearlessness.
Floppy Disks and Hard Drives
The best way to enjoy a game of disk golf is to sprint after your disk. On a warm day in Schenley Park, there are dozens, scores of players – dreadlocked, sporty, young and middle-aged – tossing disks across the open grass, or angling their shots through corridors of trees. Disk golf (or Frisbee Golf, or Frolf) is played with specialized disks (not technically endorsed by the Frisbee company), which players try to toss into metal baskets. The terminology is all-golf: Players drive, put, score birdies and holes-in-one. The game is free, open to the public, and the discs are perhaps the cheapest equipment of any sport ($10 for an average 
disk, purchasable from a sporting good store, or from eccentric businesses, like, say, the Church Brew Works).
If disk golf is a little laid-back for you, take a trip to Flagstaff Hill on a weekend afternoon, and you’re almost guaranteed to find a friendly (or even cutthroat) game of Ultimate Frisbee. Played much like International Handball, Frisbee Golf is a fast-moving team-sport guided by the feathery float of a large Frisbee. Regular players become as diehard as rugby-heads. Minus the tackling. And the missing teeth.
En Garde!
So you might not know the difference between a foil and an epee, what “dry” fencing means, or the difference between a “B” and “C-rated” fencer. Take it from one who knows: The coaches of Three Rivers Fencing are exceptionally good, and their ringleader, Iana Dakova, is one of Pittsburgh’s best-kept athletic secrets: A Bulgarian 
native, Dakova competed in fencing’s World Cup and was a national champion (in a country where fencing is highly esteemed). No matter what your age, height, weight, gender or background, fencing is the most physically liberal sport there is – in certain tournaments, there are even wheelchair-only competitions. Classes and summer camps are always packed to capacity.
For hobbyists who fall in love with fencing, there is a whole underworld of glorious opportunities. Last July, TRFC competed in the National Championships in Atlanta, winning top rankings. This obscure sport is famously competitive but also polite, and competitors travel across the country to enter tournaments. If you’re going to try fencing, Pittsburgh is a great place to do it.
Here Be Dragons
“Paddling” is a loose term, used for any kind of manually-propelled water-craft – kayaks, shells, canoes, and yes, dragon boats – a traditional Chinese longboat, measuring 40 ft. in length, with a fearsome serpentine head stationed on the bow. The
Three Rivers Rowing Association has it all, from a Beginner Sweep Team (for the as-yet paddle-deprived) to the competitive Dragon Boat Races on June 16. After all, what’s the point of having three broad, glistening rivers if you can’t use them? For a related article on water sports, click here.
Getting a Grip
For a mere $40, you can spend a full month – every day, if you like – clutching the crags and handholds of an artificial cliff, building upper-body strength, solving “problems” (as climbers are fond of calling their climbs), and reaching the summits of 40-ft. escarpments. At the Climbing Wall newbies can learn the art of fastening 
carabiners, belaying lines, and tying intricate knots. Thanks to expansion in recent years, climbers can heave themselves along 14,500 sq. ft. of surfaces. For people adverse to ropes, who wish only to surmount safe heights, there are 8,000 sq. ft. of “bouldering” walls – enormous cubes of synthetic rock, where classes and tests are unnecessary.
For a $15, lifelong membership fee, you can also head to REI where a massive pillar rises from the floor, sculpted into a photo-realistic monolith.
The Great Outdoors
For those who prefer variety in their outdoor activities, meet Kerry Morsek. She wasn’t always outdoorsy. In fact, she had never slept in a tent in the woods – not once! – before she started majoring in Environmental Geology at Pitt. Auburn-haired, radiant and energetic, Morsek is now a poster-child for the outdoorsy Pittsburgher. “I like paddling – kayaking, canoeing,” she enthuses. “Biking, hiking... uh...” From the moment she starts listing activities, Morsek looks distracted, as if talking about them is a waste of time – she should be doing them, right now.
Morsek could spend an entire day riding her bike along the riverfront trails of Pittsburgh. She commutes to work by bicycle. Even her job requires open sky: She works for the Student Conservation Association as an outreach and education coordinator. “I take kids into the woods,” as she laughingly puts it.
“Kids grow up in Pittsburgh, but they don’t know which rivers are where. Other cities are so jealous of these trails, and we totally under-utilize them. You can do a two-hour hike in Frick Park.”
When Morsek worked as a volunteer for Venture Outdoors, she also contributed to the “GO Guide” with the GO standing for Great Outdoors. For water sports, nature hikes or any outdoor pursuit, it's an easy to use guide that will lead to a better appreciation for the range of pursuits offered in the area.
Summer awaits. What’s stopping you?
Robert Isenberg is a writer, actor and avid bicyclist.
Photos:
Climber working out in the 'tall' room at The Climbing Wall
Cathy Bazán-Arias
Training for 'Hills and Thrills"
Frisbee in Schenley Park
Iana Dakova training a fencing student
Climber working out in the 'low' room at The Climbing Wall
Cathy Bazán-Arias puts on her inline skates
All photographs copyright © Jonathan Greene