Take advantage of your travels to discover new sports
Travelling is enriching in many ways, including sport. Some sports receive more media coverage than others, such as football, tennis, handball and basketball. But when you travel, you realise that the sports that are predominant at home are not necessarily so elsewhere. You know my daily life as a surfer, but above all I'm passionate about sport in general. There are hundreds of different sports all over the world. Travelling is also about discovering them!
Sport, activities with a universal language
Before talking about the sports I've discovered, or the strong practices in each country, I realised that when there is a language barrier, sport can break it. We see a lot of team sports where people of different nationalities play together. Without necessarily understanding each other perfectly, sport brings them together. The rules of the game, the pleasure of playing, the technical skills and the fact that they share the same passion create strong bonds between each player. It's one of the things that really makes me love sport.
Don't hesitate, when you're travelling, to go and meet sportspeople, whatever their level. Street football pitches are great places to meet people. Runners can help you discover little-known paths and places. In surfing, we rely heavily on the locals to help us get to the best spots!
Sport also breaks down not only language barriers, but also social inequalities. Everyone practices together, no matter where they come from, and that's a real pleasure to see.
Discovering new practices
Travelling has enabled me to discover new practices around the world, or simply a different way of practising them. In surfing, for example, we go a lot to the United States, Australia and Brazil.
In the United States, football is almost more developed among women than men. But it's also a country where I was able to go and see a baseball match in California. In Australia, Australian football (a mix of rugby and football), also known as footy, and cricket are among the most popular sports. In Brazil, surfing is very popular, but football is still the king of sports. I was lucky enough to go and see a football match at the Maracaña Stadium in Rio - what an atmosphere! All these events are a great way to immerse yourself in the local culture.
Of course, I haven't had the opportunity to travel everywhere, far from it, but by talking to other athletes, you realise the diversity and richness of the world of sport. There are a few online guides to unusual sports to discover when travelling, which I recommend you consult when planning your future itineraries. If I tell you about sepak takraw, kabaddi, bo-taoshin or the ball game in Mexico, you may not be familiar with it. Yet these are historical and cultural practices that I think can be fun to discover. By attending matches, you also immerse yourself in the local culture and get away from the more 'traditional' tourist approach.
Before you leave, try to find out about the leading sports in the country you're going to. Otherwise, for my part, I'd always advise you to try out or continue to improve your surfing skills wherever possible! The spots are never the same, so you have to adapt a lot and that allows you to make a lot of progress. After that, of course, it's a personal opinion, trying to convince as many people as possible to discover surfing!
As you'll have gathered by now, I'm passionate about sport and I hope some of you are too.
Pauline Ado
Article photo ©Riblanc
