Elk soccer is about to take over the sports world.
Now I’ll go ahead and warn you early on and say that it appears this video, which appears to be fairly new, must have been shot on a mid 2000’s flip phone. The resolution and clarity might be lacking, but the subject matter more than makes up for the poor quality.
You have to look past the fuzziness of the video in order to truly appreciate what the outdoors clip has to offer. It isn’t every day that you get to see a wild animal and a human being interacting… and it not end with the human getting tossed up into the air.
Those types of videos are funny, don’t get me wrong. However, for those more “high brow” media consumers, footage of an elk playing soccer (and being rather skilled) might be more up your alley. When it comes to antler-eye coordination, we just might be looking at the “Messi” of the elk population.
In the footage, which took place in Evergreen, Colorado, two kids (with a pretty sweet set up) notice that some elk up on the ridge above their basketball and soccer goals has taken interest in the ball they are playing with. At one point, one of the kids throws the orange soccer ball up towards the antlered creature, and it immediately showed off its foot skills.
Shockingly, the elk lowered its head and pummeled the ball with its antlers, sending the soccer ball back down the hill and to one of the kids. Both the young ones and the presumed father filming were astounded by the pleasant animal interaction, so much so that they decided to keep it going.
In order to avoid scaring and/or harassing the elk, the child never threw the ball directly at the wild animal. Instead, they always heaved it to one side or the other, allowing for the elk to approach the ball on its own terms and guide it back down the hill to its fellow soccer players. Sometimes it used its head or antlers, while other times it opted to kick the ball with its feet.
Regardless of what method the antlered creature used, it made for quite the entertaining outdoors video, and created a moment that those kids (and likely that elk) will never forget. Check it out:
