Games & Sports
Given all the demands of living in the Arctic-the need to continually exercise willpower, endurance, courage, and adaptability-it is no surprise that Chukotka's traditional peoples have always considered physical training a key to survival. Since ancient times, they have attached great importance to sporting competitions; no celebration was complete without races, wrestling, shooting competitions, and ball games.
Traditional sports-such as dogsled, reindeer sled, and whaleboat racing, are a forever a part of the Chukotka culture even today. Other traditional sports include a form of cross-country running, lasso and harpoon throwing, axe-throwing, traditional triple jump, open-air snow wrestling, kneeling jump, various forms of high-kicking, snowshoe racing, and others. They are included in the schools, as well as seven schools just for these specialized sports. Training is also available in 15 classic Olympic sports-including boxing, wrestling, and Judo. The region has over 160 sporting groups and clubs, three regional sporting federations, a division of football clubs, and a youth Volleyball league.
In recent years, teams representing Chukotka have begun to participate in national and international sporting events-in some cases with great success, as in the case of the Arctic Winter Games and the All-Russia Student Games.
Source and image: courtesy of http://www.chukotka.org
