As I promised you in my post of 304’2022 (2022-10-31) , here is the beginning of my story about how Brazil is investing in bringing up a generation of skiers that hopefully one day will be able to compete on an elite level around the world.
To start with, the house you see in today’s header has a sign saying NEBAR, it is an abbreviation in Portuguese for the attribute Núcleo de Esportes de Base e Alto Rendimento, which means Nucleus for Basic and Highly Productive Sports in English. It is a joint project between the Special Secretary for Sports of the Federal Government’s Ministry for Citizenship, the Department of Physical Education and Human Motricity at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), and CBDN. See also reference 1 below.
Here are some more pictures that I took while visiting the NEBAR team:
In these photos you can see three of the members in the rollerskiing coaching team, from left to right Fabio, Guilherme, and Carol. And in the smaller photos, from top to bottom, Guilherme gives us a closer look on one type of rollerski, with a large assortment in the background; and of course, there is a need to wear special boots to fit into the skies; and finally Carol shows us two different types of boots, the left one can be used both for rollerskiing on a paved road and in cross country skiing on snow, while the right one only is suited for rollerskiing. Photos taken on 330’2022 (2022-11-26).
During 2023, I will follow the NEBAR team and report more on their activities.
As you read in my post of 240’2022 (2022-08-28) , although Brazil does not have the natural conditions to be a country involved in winter sports, there are two Brazilian confederations, CBDG (sports on ice) and CBDN (sports on snow). For the former part, there is of course the possibility of building an ice arena, which you also saw in that post. But what do you do to create good conditions to practice on snow in a country with mainly tropical and sub-tropical climate?
CBDN has found a way! There is another sport which mimics cross country skiing, but without snow. It is called roller skiing, for details see reference #1 below.
I had the pleasure of attending a roller skiing competition in São Carlos, SP, Brazil two weeks ago. The following photo shows me testing the winners’ podium, and yes if it could hold me, then the athletes would have no problems to be receiving their well-earned medals.
Me testing the winners’ podium before the prize giving ceremonies of the third stage of the Brazilian roller skiing circuit, held in São Carlos, SP, Brazil on 287’2022 (2022-10-14)
Here you can see two pictures from the competition on 287’2022 (2022-10-14), when the topic was a 1,4 km sprint with qualifications, semi-finals and finals, as well as the top trio in both the women’s and the men’s competition. Reference # 2 below gives all the details about the competition.
In this photo can be seen the finish in the women’s 1, 4 km sprint. It is also very clear to see how the skis used by the athletes are.A photo showing the finish in the men’s 1,4 km sprint
A video clip showing the fascinating finish of the men’s 1,4 km sprintThe winning trio in the women’s 1,4 km sprint: 1) Eduarda Ribera (only 17 years old!); 2) Gabriela Neres; 3) Mirlene Picin. All three from Brazil.The winning trio in the men’s 1,4 km sprint, 1) Claudio Oliveira, Brazil; 2) Victor Santos, Brazil; 3) Yonathan Fernandez, Chile.
Next month, I will give more details about the roller skiing organization within CBDN.
What did you learn in School today? 