Sports in Brazil - How Brazilians Keep Fit

The people in Brazil attach great importance to their good appearance and accordingly do a lot of sports. Aventura do Brasil has compiled the most popular Brazilian sports for you. Surely, you can witness the artistic tricks of the Brazilian hobby soccer players or admire Capoeira dancers in action during your Brazilian vacation on the beach.
But in Brazil, sport is not only about improving your body. Rather, sporting activity is essential for physical and mental health and fitness. In addition, sports in Brazil has the function of strengthening the sense of community and mutual respect. By training together in a team or club, each athlete contributes to the functioning of the community.

The master of all sports in Brazil is soccer. More than 30 million Brazilians are practicing soccer players. This is seamlessly transferred to professional soccer. It is not for nothing that the Brazilian national team is the international record holder with five world championship titles. The world's best and most expensive soccer players mostly come from Brazil, the export world champion in professional soccer. Pelé, the most famous and best player of all time also comes from Brazil, began his career in Santos/São Paulo. There is only one thing Brazilians can't claim for themselves: the sport with the round leather was not invented in Brazil but in England.

Brazil has over 15 million active volleyball players. This puts the sport, which originates from the USA, in second place on the national popularity scale. The Brazilian Super League is one of the most victorious in the country, both in the men's and women's competitions. Consequently, the Brazilian Super League is in first place in international comparison. Especially in the last decades, the sport of volleyball, which was established in 1895, has enjoyed great success in Brazil.
Brazilians love to play beach volleyball, which is not surprising given the more than 7,000 kilometers of coastline. In Rio de Janeiro or Florianópolis, beach volleyball is part of everyday life.

A large number of Brazilians enthusiastically take up table tennis bats to keep fit. About 12 million people in Brazil, mainly of Asian origin, meet regularly for an entertaining game of table tennis in their clubs or at home.

A tropical country like Brazil with countless beaches and bathing waters is predestined for swimmers. About 11 million water-loving Brazilians train their physical fitness and endurance while swimming. For other sports such as surfing, diving, sailing or canoeing, swimming is just as essential as for certain professions, including firefighters, fishermen, sea rescuers and naval personnel.

Futsal, the little brother of soccer, has almost as many fans as swimming in Brazil. Since 1940, Brazilians have been playing soccer indoors and on small fields. Although invented in Uruguay, Brazil is now the country with the most futsal players. The sport is only practiced in neighboring countries. It is not popular overseas.

A homemade Brazilian sport is Capoeira. It is a mixture of martial arts and acrobatic dance, which was invented by the slaves on the plantations of Bahia in the 19th century. In order to circumvent the ban on fighting at that time and still stay fit, the inventors camouflaged their martial art and expanded it with music and dancing movement patterns. In 2014 Capoeira was declared "World Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO. In addition to approximately 6 million Brazilians, Capoeira now has a worldwide and passionate following.

In the 1950s, US surfers came up with the idea of skating on land on a board to bridge phases with bad waves. They simply screwed wheels under their surfboards. The first skateboards were born and soon went into mass production. Nowadays, almost 3 million Brazilians skate in their spare time to do sports. Brazilian skaters are mainly active in large cities like São Paulo.

The Brazilian coast is perfect for any kind of water sports. This also applies to surf, of course. The varied swell produces excellent surfers like the current and two-time world champion Gabriel Medina. Nearly 2.5 million Brazilians nationwide regularly grab their surfboards. A tip from Aventura do Brasil is the surf mecca Praia do Rosa in southern Brazil.

A large number of Japanese have immigrated to Brazil over the decades. This may explain the popularity of Judo, the original Japanese sport. More than 2 million Judoka are loyal to the sport in Brazil. In contrast to international development, the number of people active in Judo remains constant in Brazil.

Around 2 million Brazilian athletes steel their bodies in the various sports of athletics. Baptized in ancient times by the Greeks on the occasion of the Olympic Games, they continue their triumphal procession to this day and find successful advocates in Brazil as well.

Let us all take an example from the fit Brazilians. A varied and active trip to Brazil will certainly contribute to your inspiration.

Sources: www.top10mais.org, www.wikipedia.org