My previous presentations always concerned cycling. This time I am going to touch a slightly different topic: urban sports. In my 3 posts I will show you various physical activities that can be done in Warsaw. Starting today with simplest sports and ending on Friday with extreme ones.
Probably the easiest sport to start is running. Every morning we can see lots of people running through parks, forests or promenades. All you need to have to start jogging is shoes. It may sound obvious, but good sport shoes are necessary unless you want to have problems with knees or joints. Not everyone knows that running without proper shock-absorption on feet is very harmful. Moreover, we should chose appropriate surface to run on, best would be forest ducts. Most popular mistake seen in Warsaw is running on concrete - like the one near Vistula.
There are lots of motivators in our city to start running. In the season, every month we can find great marathons that gather nearly 20 000 runner such as: Warsaw Halfmarathon, Run Warsaw, Zoo Run and so on.
Here comes my first question: what do you thing about closing city centre for a whole day to organize a competition for runners?
One of the most popular sports in Poland is skiing. Although we have only one hill from which we can ski (of a discussable quality), there are lots of places for snowboarders or ski runners. There are several places to rent a ski near Kampinos National Park on in southern part of Kabaty district. This winter we could see a record number of people skiing there, so paths were great and they are about to improve in future. The most popular place to snowboard is on Kazury road and on the slope near Old Town. There are several competitions organized every year. Some people also ride on their boards holding a rope attached to the car through forests.
(photo:Competition on Kazurka hill)
Talking about winter sports, we can go ice skating in winter in a really big number of places, but for me only 2 are worth visiting: Torwar (which is extremely crowded) and Stegny.
Last activity that is quite popular in our city is rollerblading. The main problem is finding appropriate surface. It has to be perfectly flat to move forward and everybody knows how situation with our roads look like, not mentioning pavements. Sometimes I see people rollerblading on the streets but for me it looks like suicide. Here is a movie of a little different way of riding:
Thing worth mentioning here, that is successfully avoided in media is that doing sports in the city is not really that healthy. During increased effort our lungs need larger amount of air, which is also less filtered. You probably know about the air pollution caused by cars and you can easily connect those two facts. But still, doing something in the polluted air is better than doing nothing in the same air. I hope.
Do you know any other sports that are commonly met (I skipped cycling) in Warsaw or maybe you have even tried some of them? How long did you manage to train, before you get bored? :)
I'm faithful to two sports - cycling and frisbee. You've skipped the first one, so I'll stick to that flying disc. Beautiful sport invented about eighty years ago by a guy who was just throwing a cake pan at the beach and was offered some money for that thing. After World War II he started a company that started to produce those discs. There were many changes in the design from that time, but the idea is the same - flying disc.
ReplyDeleteBut that's just the disc. How to use it? There are plenty of games. Starting at simple throw-and-catch, going through throwing to a dog or frisbee gold and ending on Ultimate. I really recommend the last one. It's like a combination of american football and basketball. There are two teams. Each one has an end zone where opposite team wants to catch frisbee. When they do that, they score point. Person with a frisbee in hands can't move.
You don't need anything more than a disc (I recommend the 175 gram models), friends and a grass field. It's amazing how people can stop and look at what you're doing. Remember to watch if there are big dogs at loose near you. They seem to have a natural need to catch what you're throwing.
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ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, closing the center because of the events is good. Participants can run without a problem. Interest in such events is large and attracts many runners. The objectives of such events are generally charitable and give a lot of good. Such events are held on Sundays and the center may be closed.
ReplyDeleteI live on Tarchomin where many young people do sports mostly on the Wisła. Jogging and cycling is common but a few times I met people riding horses. What do you think about riding a horse? I think that is a cool sport but it is very expensive and very few are as rich people.
That's bad. My second post was intended to be about frisbee ;)
ReplyDeleteMaciej - why running on concrete is a mistake? – I didn’t catch it.
ReplyDeleteAbout closing the centre – its good idea but only if the competition is on Weekend or Holiday.
I practiced rollerblading three years ago but only on one season – as you said it was hard to find appropriate surface - I had to travel 10-20 minutes by car to a good park where I had good surface and now skates are in the wardrobe for a long time.
Personally I like more static sports like billiard, bowling, etc.
It is considered as a mistake as concrete is very hard surface. It is best to chose semi-hard surfaces to run as our knees (joints) doesn't like to be overloaded. If you have to run on it, you need a REALLY good shoes.
ReplyDeleteClosing city centre for a whole day to organize a competition for runners is pointless. They can run in e.g. parks, forests and actually there is also cleaner air so as you said it’ll be better to their lungs. I live in suburbs of Warsaw and I drive a car a lot (school, work etc). I spent too much time in traffic jams that’s why this idea is very stupid to me and completely insane! But I can approve such a situation only during weekend or holidays like Piotr said.
ReplyDeleteIt’s hard to say what else is commonly met in the city apart from the things you have listed before. But there are many sport clubs where you can do whatever you like – swimming, tennis, squash, boxing etc. ;)
I agree with you in terms of working days but I disagree that they can run in parks and forests - they will destroy all the green.
ReplyDeleteI will focus on running as a way of performing sport in the city. Your arguments exclude each other. First of all, blocking bigger parts of city for a bunch of runners is not a good idea. It should be done so only in case of big events like > 20 000 participants.
ReplyDeleteAlso running on conrete can be ok when you do it not very often. And as we all know, living in the city doesn't give you a lot of opportunities except the weekend. Therefore medical argument is unreasonable.
I agree, frisbee is really cool. However, I prefer sports that require the use of physical strength as well. I used to climb indoor climbing walls for 2 years and I must say it's one of the best sports I have ever tried. At first, having no technical skills, the strongest climbs furthest. However, after couple of weeks, slim and flexible climbers have an advantage - and then the real fun begins :)
ReplyDeleteTo those interested in trying out indoor climbing I recommend Koło sport centre as a place to go.
I absolutely agree with s4504, closing streets for such activities is a pure waste of money and other resources (and in fact it increases air pollution a bit because cars have to stay longer in traffic ) .
ReplyDeleteStreets are designed for traveling, for sports there are stadiums and other special places.
I'm faithful to paint-ball and gocarts. They are more fun and adrenalin than cycling and frisbee.
ReplyDeleteAs a driver I can't agree for closing streets.
Closing streets for sport events like marathons could be irritating for drivers, but ... there are always detours and they mostly waits in traffic jams anyway. As j.m. said running is boring, or at least seems so for me. I have some friends who runners and I've never understood them. Personally i cycle a lot, but don't treat it as a sport, rather a better way to move through city than a bus ( especially during summer ;) ).
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that in big cities, as far as active life is concerned, everyone can find something interesting. I have to admit that I did not manage to take part in such activities. Nevertheless, I spend more and more free time doing some sports because I has a positive impact on my life. Whose knows maybe even I the guy who loves drinving will change the car for the bike, why not? The journey will be for sure longer but I guess my mood will be better after cycling.
ReplyDeleteI used to run at Run Warsaw and it is amazing adventure. People run to have a good time, not to win. I saw when I was running people with prams, old people, even children. Nike have made from sport incredible family event.
ReplyDeleteI heard only about several urban sport's: cycling, jogging and roll
ReplyDelete