Daily Archive

Capoeria, Brazil

I think everyone has at least one favourite sport, whether it’s practicing yourself or watching on TV. A few days ago I came to think about what sports I have tried so far. I remember my first activity ever, baby swim with my mom. About two years later I tried downhill skiing for the first time.

Before turning six I took my first dance class. After moving to another city the following year I put my dancing shoes on the shelf and didn’t start dancing until nine years later. Prior to that I played tennis a few times, tried golf twice, and in elementary school I was very much into chess, poker and inline skating. Apart from all the regular sports like soccer, bandy, basketball, soccer, badminton, hockey, volleyball, and athletics/track and field sports they made us try on physical education in middle school, I did gymnastics, orienteering and cross country skiing. And in high school, I especially liked the time we had in-door climbing.

I’ll never forget the day in middle school when my neighbour and I signed up for a salsa class. I was so into Latin music that term. The following year, another friend and I joined a gym and tried dance aerobic, regular aerobic, kickboxing, spinning and karaoke spinning. Around the same time I also learnt snowboarding.

I love water sports, have been snorkeling for as long as I can remember, tried waterskiing twice, and was sailing with my neighbour and her dad once. And in 2005, my sister and I went on a surf trip to Lanzarote.

Have loved yoga since I was 15, tried pilates a few times, chi gong and Tai chi once, and in high school we had lessons in jazz, modern dance, and ballet about eight to nine hours a week.

When working in the U.S. a couple of years ago I climbed on a climbing wall once, in Grenoble the same year we went hiking a couple of times and had a go at water aerobics.

In 2006, when I lived in Malmö I took a couple of MC lessons. I had wanted to try since I was 18 and only lived five minutes from a driving school, so I thought “why not?”. The same summer I tried skateboarding.

That’s it. Apart from jogging, running and cycling, I don’t think there’s any other sport I have tried. So far.

One fun thing with travelling is all the new activities you can try. For example, in Brazil they have samba and the Brazilian fight dance Capoeira, Korea has Tae kwon do, Australia surfing, Spain flamenco and Havana salsa… What else?

What sports and activities would you like to try?