Dan Magness of England spent 26 hours juggling a soccer ball without letting it hit the ground. Even more impressive? He didn’t ask for a bathroom break!

Further reading: Check out the book My Weird School Fast Facts: Sports or visit your local library and look for the Dewey Decimal number 031 for books about world records.  

Toru Iwatani believed that a face is a character’s most important feature. He was inspired after seeing a pizza with a single slice missing. He imagined a round face, chomping nonstop.

Further reading: Check out the book Awesome Minds: Video Game Creators to discover more interesting video game facts or visit your local library and look for the Dewey Decimal number 794 for books about video games. 

In order to complete a triathlon, athletes must swim for 1.5 km, bike for 40 km and then run for 10 km. It’s very gruelling. Canadian Simon Whitfield won the gold medal in the Men’s Triathlon at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Further reading: Visit your local library and look for books with the Dewey Decimal number 796 for all the books about sports and the Olympics. Or, if you prefer something a little sillier, check out the book Swim Bark Run, which features a fictional “dog-athlon.”  

Tom was one of the front-runners in the marathon when he saw that a train was barrelling down the track and about to block the race route. In order to prevent losing his lead, Tom ran with a burst of speed and beat the train!

Further reading: Check out the picture book Meet Tom Longboat to read Tom’s full story, or visit your local library and look for the sports section—the Dewey Decimal number is 796.  

Jacques was a talented goalie playing for the Montréal Canadiens. Tired of all the injuries from flying pucks, he became the first goalie to wear a mask. Helmets and masks are now standard equipment in hockey. It all started with Jacques’ brave defiance.

Further reading: Check out the picture book That’s Not Hockey! to read Jacques’ full story, or visit your local library and look for the hockey section—it’s where the Dewey Decimal numbers start with 796.  

A loop is a computer coding technique used when you want to repeat a command. Instead of typing the same instruction over and over again, a loop will save you a lot of time (and typing).

Further reading:  Are you interested in learning more about computer code? If so, check out How to Code a Sandcastle, or visit the coding section at your local library—look for the Dewey Decimal numbers starting with 005. 

Astronaut Alan Shepard took golf balls along with him to the Moon and used a makeshift golf club to send them flying. Since the Moon’s gravity is much less than Earth’s gravity, it is estimated that the balls could have stayed in the air for several kilometres.

Further reading: The book Weird but True Sports: 300 Wacky Facts About Awesome Athletics is chock full of fun facts. You can also visit your local library and look for books in the sports section of the library—it’s where the Dewey Decimal numbers start with 796. 

A chatterbox is someone that can talk really fast. They can only say 170 words in a minute (not 300), but that’s still a lot! How many words can you say in a minute?

Further reading: You can try more 60-second challenges in the book In a Minute: Take the 60-Second Challenge! If you are interested in chronology (the science of arranging events in the order of their occurrence in time), visit your local library and look for books with the Dewey Decimal number 529.

Soccer’s rules were officially set down in 1863 and it didn’t take long after that for the sport to reach every part of the world.

Further reading: Are you one of the 3.5 billion soccer fans on this planet? If so, we think you’ll enjoy the book Goal! Soccer as You’ve Never Seen It Before. It contains tons of soccer facts and everything you need to know about the action on the field. 

In December 1891, Naismith looked out the window of his school and saw a blizzard. Since the snow prevented outdoor sports, Naismith got creative. He nailed peach baskets to the walls of the gym and tossed the kids an old soccer ball. The goal of this new indoor game was to throw the ball into the other team’s peach basket.

Further reading: If you like basketball, you’ll love the books Basketballogy and 5-Minute Basketball Stories. Both of these books are on our recommended reads list this summer.