Travel and the power of sports: My latest Yahoo column

This week, my Traveling Light column at Yahoo! News is a report from Paris entitled “Living and dying with ‘Les Bleus.'” Set in a street near the Champs Elysees during the France-Italy World Cup final last weekend, it’s really an examination of how sports can make the travel experience richer:

Over my years of traveling, I’ve discovered that games of any kind are not just a joyous way to pass an evening: they are one of the surest ways to meet people and make friends in faraway places. Before I went to Brazil, for example, I’d never heard of Flamengo or Fluminense — but watching these two rival Rio soccer clubs play for the national title in front of 95,000 screaming fans in Maracana Stadium provided me with my most viscerally thrilling experience in South America. On a more intimate level, my travel memories of Cambodia are invariably tied to the pickup volleyball games that I played (and, invariably, lost) with friendly villagers in the countryside. Similarly, my experience of the Philippines wouldn’t have been as enjoyable without blacktop basketball, nor the Dominican Republic as engaging without baseball as a conversation-starter. Unlike the more formal types of cross-cultural interaction, watching or playing sports carries an infectious energy that transcends language and culture.

In addition to sharing my story from the streets of Paris, I also give some advice on seeking out sports on the road:

1) If in doubt, think small

As a spectator, it can be a thrill to watch major sporting events in legendary venues like Wembley Stadium or Wrigley Field — but usually it’s just as fun (and much cheaper and more intimate) to seek out a neighborhood park and watch pub-league rugby or little league baseball. I’ve seen the Naadam Festival horse races in Mongolia on two separate occasions, but I learned more about the intricacies of the sport (and the culture of Mongolia) the year I watched them in the little town of Erdensant rather than the national capital in Ulan Bator.

On occasions like championship matches, where tickets are hard to come by, never underestimate the charm of watching the game on TV, surrounded a pub full of rowdy locals.

2) Never pass up a pickup game

One of the best ways to get to know people is to join in on the games that invariably take place wherever there’s fresh air and a few young people. In Cuba, this might mean pickup baseball; in China, it could be basketball; in India, it will invariably be cricket. Even mental sports — chess in Bulgaria, say, or backgammon in
Syria — are played outdoors in most parts of the world. And it almost goes without saying that a pickup soccer match is not difficult to find anywhere on the planet.

Usually, all it takes to get invited into any game is to stand on the sidelines and look interested.

3) Bring your own sport

Bringing a Frisbee or hacky-sack on the road may sound like an old hippie chestnut — but it’s also a great idea: If your favorite game is small enough to pack, by all means bring it along. I have a zip-up stuff-sack that puffs into a football when it’s full of t-shirts, and one day I used it to teach a beach-full of Thai kids to throw tight spirals on Koh Tao. To return the favor, they let me in on a game of takraw, which is played by kicking a woven rattan ball back and forth over a low net, volleyball style.

Full story online here.

Posted by | Comments (2)  | July 13, 2006
Category: Travel News


2 Responses to “Travel and the power of sports: My latest Yahoo column”

  1. Terry Ward Says:

    Thanks for that, Rolf. I felt like I was there on the street with the crowd. I would have loved to have been in France at this time.

  2. Jamie Says:

    Ah, you speak the truth, oh vagabonding sensei!
    Even if, like me, you’re hindered with the language barrier (“I’d like that without the chicken head” and “I like my quilt” don’t really help when it comes to sporting events), it’s not difficult to pick up a game or understand who’s rooting for which team.
    And bringing your own sport is even better; one of my fondest memories to date is of tossing a kooshball out into a crowd of about 100 squealing kids for nearly an hour.
    Viva la kooshball! :~)