It’s been described as exhilarating and challenging. It’s a sport that combines strategy, physical endurance and teamwork with kicking, passing and scoring goals. It’s not soccer, football or even rugby. It’s Australian rules football – footy for short – and it’s Australia’s own fast-paced team sport. But you don’t have to go Down Under to be a part of the action. Sacramento is home to an ever-growing population of footy enthusiasts and an expanding league. The Sacramento Australia Rules Football Club (SARFC) is entering its fourth year as an organization and is expanding its league to include a co-ed tag footy facet as well as separate men’s and women’s tackle, full-contact teams. SARFC

 Dominic Cooke was a normal college student athlete until a car crash his senior year paralyzed him. It doesn’t stop him however, from hand cycling in a triathlon. Cooke, 30, was injured when he was 22 years old. His athletic ability and passion for helping other hurt athletes is what made him start “Team TFO” this year for the 37th annual Eppie’s Great Race. TFO — which stands for Try for Others — is a nonprofit organization Cooke created in 2005 to aid injured athletes. “I played rugby before here in Sacramento at Jesuit High School and then at UC Berkeley,” Cooke said. “I was getting a lot of phone calls from injured rugby players. We help them with their immediate medical needs.”