Trained for the Game
Many studies have indicated that people living in cities are not getting enough exercise. While many urbanites do lead sedentary lives, there are people who participate in physical activities in public view. If they are training for athletic events, the conditions that they are training under may give them some advantage over the others (pollutant-filled atmosphere, scores of people to avoid, to name two).
There are a few athletic activities where the urban world provides a good training ground. The following is a subset of sporting and leisure activities people living in cities can excel.
- 100-Metre Dash
City dwellers move at a hectic pace and it is easy to see people running (to catch a bus or train, to cross the street before the light turns red, to enter a store before it closes, etc.) While the distance they cover is often less than 100 metres, their constant running should help them run in short bursts. The only training they need may be to learn how to jump out of the gate and accelerate quickly.
- Rugby
Many people do not cross the street at pedestrian crossings. When they do, they often cross the street when the red light is on. To cross the street unscaved, a pedestrian has to avoid fellow jaywalkers, vehicles of all sizes and speed. This setting provides a great training ground for aspiring rugby players, as they have to avoid opposing players running at full speed in order to score tries.
(Warning: Jaywalking is an offence and the author discourages anyone from crossing the street illegally.)
- Juggling
Parks and public squares are not the only place jugglers can be found. People juggling their wallets, cell phones, groceries, stationaries, and even briefcases is a common occurrence in cities. Some are even able to juggle and walk at the same time.
Frequently we have to juggle between work, family, friends and leisure. Since we are juggling all the time, why not actually take up juggling?
- Basketball
The urban world is full of weekend basketball players and some are quite skillful. Perhaps many of them are training without a ball at work or at home. Their training may include throwing litter into trash cans the way a basketball is shot towards to hoop, throwing and catching folders at chest level, and running through a crowded, narrow corridor to get to the other end (or the basket).
- Discus/Javelin Throwing
People talking loudly is a common feature in public transit or on the streets. All it takes is one person yelling and those who are talking over the phone have to raise their voices in order for the people on the other side of the conversations to be able to hear what they say. In addition, city life can be highly stressful and most of us do not have an outlet to relieve the stress. Over time the stress may boil over. This is why javelin and discus throwing are perfect activities for urban dwellers to participate in — we can yell as loudly as we want (and no one will complain about it) and we can imagine all our stress are contained in the disc or javelin and hurl it away in one throw (just make sure that there is nobody near the area you expect the disc or javelin to land).
- Bowling
Often there is someone or something in our lives that we don't particularly
like
. Our dislike of those people or things may lead us wanting to topple them (figuratively, of course). When one goes bowling, one can imagine the pins to be those people and things that you dislike. This way, one can knock over the people and things that bother them as often as the round allows. (Just make sure you are able to hit a pin. Otherwise, you may feel even worse).
The above is just a small list of sports that, with a little training, people living in cities can thrive at. There are certainly more sporting activities whose required skill set will suit many urbanites. By looking what our daily routines, we should find sporting activities that we are well trained for and serve as reflections of our lives.