Is sport a popular leisure activity n Poland?
Sport is becoming more and more popular in Poland, especially among young people. They have already started to consider it one of the most enjoyable and important pastime activities.
The choice of discipline depends mainly on character and personal preferences. People who are open, sociable and competitive usually choose team sports, which give them a lot of satisfaction. Boys can play football or basketball every afternoon and are never seen to be bored with it. Girls prefer volleyball because it’s less violent. Beach volleyball has become a very popular summer sport lately.
There are a lot of disciplines which are suitable for the whole family and more and more people feel like spending their free time in an active way. Cycling is one of the most popular sports especially on weekends, when parents and children have enough time to go for a cycling trip. Other popular summer sports are swimming, sailing and windsurfing. Some people go trekking because it’s an activity for all ages. In winter, families can go skiing, snowboarding or skating together.
A lot of people treat sport both as a form of passing their leisure time and a way to keep fit and healthy. They go jogging and practice aerobics. Teenagers like skateboarding, roller skating, in-line skating and mountain biking. They are quite new sports, which require great skill and agility. But more traditional sports are also still popular and such disciplines as tennis and horse riding have a large number of participants.
There is also a large group of people who love martial arts. They do karate, judo, taekwondo or aikido. These disciplines are popular not only among the young, but also older people. Their popularity results not only from the feeling of insecurity in the contemporary world but also a fascination with the culture of the Far East. The number of schools which have been opened during recent years shows how high the demand is for this type of activity.
In my opinion sport in Poland would be even more popular if sport equipment was cheaper, there would be more sport centres and cycling paths. Nevertheless, there are more Poles who practice sport now than for example twenty years ago.
Przykładowe pytanie, jakie może zadać egzaminator.
What should the authorities do to promote sport?
I think that every government should have a specific programme concerning sport as it is a very important issue which shouldn’t be underestimated. They should spend more money on building and modernizing stadiums, pitches, swimming pools etc. The more sport people practice the healthier society becomes and the less money is spent on health care. There should be more programmes on television about active forms of spending leisure time, and full scale campaigns encouraging people to take up sport. It would be good if there was more physical education at school and gyms were better equipped. Schools might also organise sport picnics for whole families.