Cricket
is maybe
the second most popular practiced sport, with long and
endless departures being transmitted by television on the
weekends. The Australian youths in the school practice it
in the breaks, and it is also very common to see whole
families playing at parks and beaches.
Golf is the third
sport more practiced, and the number of fields of Golf in
each Australian city is of crooking the stick. They are
several clubs to be associated with, and they also accept
paying players. Those clubs are true companies, with
inside stores offering all gear and materials for players,
besides specific areas for training or game. Golf in
Australia is practiced by people of all social classes.
Soccer it is a
secondary sport in Australia, maybe for the fact of never
to have earnings championships it to elevate the sport to
a category of larger popularity, as it is the case of
Rugby. However, several clubs as Italian Club, Spanish
Club, and many others, he/she came on Saturdays trainings
with promising young players creating conditions for a
larger popularity of the sport. Several technicians (with
Australian license) teach in those Clubs. The Socceroos,
as the selection of Australia is called, has been
presenting better results in international tournaments,
and the television channel SBS shows exclusive programming
for international Soccer. Those factors together, with
certainty will increase the popularity of Soccer in
Australia.
Rowing is very
popular and is practiced involving different types of
modern fiber of carbon boats with different styles and
sizes. On the Gold Coast canals and in some other
Australian cities with this kind of canals, is possible to
see rowing been practiced in all age groups and gender.
Sailing is a sport
little practiced being compared with other nautical
sports. The financial situation allows most of the
population to practice that sport, but motor boats have
absolute popular preference. Even so, there are some
cities that sailing is quite significant such as it is the
case of Sydney, Melbourne and in the Whitsunday's Islands.
Cycling is
another sport that captures the attention of the
Australians and it is practiced in any city. The amount of
people practicing is quite big, and it is difficult one
morning that doesn't see the cyclists, individually or in
groups of up to 200 at the same time. It is practiced in
the streets and for both sexes and ages. There are so many
Bike stores only losing in quantity for Surfing and
Fishing shops.
Martial Arts
are quite practiced and there are several academies with
all styles of fights including the Capoeira of Brazil. The
popularity of those academies has increased lately in
response of the search for professionals able to perform
personal defense in day by day work such as in government
departments, Immigration, police, and private
security of commercial establishments. However, it is not
very published nor in TV nor in the newspapers, and to say
the truth, I never saw a calendar of competitions. One
of the most affordable courses for international students
is exactly one of martial arts called Wing
Chun.
Bowls is a game
whose objective is to position a ball as close as possible
of a white smaller ball from some meters of distance.
Bowling is practiced by an enormous amount of people in
dispersed clubs for all and any city size. This game is
one of the favorite pastimes of the retired people, and
everyday they are in the clubs in the period of the
morning for practicing.
Volley Ball and
Basket Ball, are other games very a little practiced by
the Australians and in the schools they prefer to practice
Netball( specially the girls). In Sydney, there are
volleyball nets on the Beaches of Bondi & Manly; even
so the game doesn't attract a lot of attention, except
during international championships.
Swimming in
compensation is largely practiced and very popular. It is
generally organizes and in Clubs (life saving and sports
clubs), and the main important fact of increasing
popularity is in the last years, is the world
championships which Australians have beating and
maintained several world records. City halls of several
cities still maintain public swimming pools for the
practice of the sport, and the swimming pools of colder
cities in the winter, like Melbourne and Sydney, are
heated.
Spear
Fishing,
many people doesn't consider as a sport, and in Australia
it is also practiced for few people. Mainly by the fact
that where the climate is hot and favorable (as it is the
case of Queensland), most of the coast is protected by
shark nets. Even with many other favorable places, it is
not very popular among the Australians.
The two more
popular sports in Australia are Surf
and the amateur
Fishing. The impression you may have is that the whole
Australian population is already born knowing how to speak
the two words, Fish & Surfboard. Maybe one of the factors
is that those sports’ gear doesn't cost a lot. The
Australians seem to have longs for salty in the blood, and
all the nautical and linked sports are quite popular. For
many bridge fishermen, the first thing that do when having
a financial rest, it is to buy a powerboat. The result is
that, maybe in nowhere in the world, you could see so many
motorized boats as in Australia. Each area may differ in
preference mainly in relation to the climate. Other sports
as Water Skiing, Snow Ski, Jet Ski, Parasailing,
Mountaineering, also has space in the sun depending on the
time and season.
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