It’s been a while since I posted the first part of the Sportmeets story. Now, with the first 4 months of my involvement (or is it a love affair?) with Sportmeets successfully behind me, and another big trip to Athens ahead of us, it’s time to tell the world what made me join the team and think that an application like Sportmeets could ever work, that is, make it easier for people to play sports, wherever they are.

I don’t want to sound too cheesy, but I’ve traveled and spent some time in quite a few countries over the last couple years (precisely the last 5 years if you need to know). My traveling was something between what you’d call ‘low-cost backpacking’ (usually involving Teva sandals, big backpack and a cheap local equivalent to the Rough Guide)  and ‘living abroad’ (usually involving life outside one’s country…). The peculiarity of this type of traveling is that whichever place you come to, you are a tourist for at least the first month. Then, gradually, you kind-of master the language, get to know the locals, appreciate the cuisine and stop ignoring the customs… and when you finally start feeling (and resembling) a local yourself, it’s time to ‘go home’.

Anyway, my point relates to sports, in case you started wondering where this post is going to. As a backpacker, holidaymaker or just a roadtripper you never worry too much about playing a particular sport, since you never spend enough time in one place anyway and there’s just so much to see (Hint: think ‘frisbee’ on these trips). However, if you work and live in one place for three months, and you happen to have a favourite sport or two, you will almost certainly miss it a lot if you don’t get to play it! And that was my case over the 4 summers I spent in the US, Mexico, Spain and Catalonia (OK, I know, Catalonia is not OFFICIALLY a country).

So here I was last august, with more free time, beaches and sun than ever, in the Catalonian city of Tarragona, wondering why finding a game of beach volleyball, football or tennis can take so much time and effort even if you happen to speak Spanish and Catalan. Apparently, just typing in ‘volei playa en Tarragona’ didn’t do the job. Of course, not every single group of occassional volleyball players that meet up whenever they find time can keep a dedicated website with the game schedule for the whole summer, even if this would made my life easier. And,I thought, as with the Joe the Organizer from the first part of the story there must be many people like me with exactly the same problem. Why not make it easier to discover sports wherever you live? Well, that’s what you can do now with Sportmeets.

Well, this is my story, short but true, that made me think that becoming part of Sportmeets might be worth it. And had Miro not ask me to join him as a co-founder on that rainy October evening, I would certainly be his first paying customer today!

CHEESE-ROLLING

Which do you think is the world’s most ‘cheesy’ nation (read ‘cheese-lovers’)? The French? The Dutch? The Italians? Nope. Apparently the English. What makes me think so? Well, check the video below.

The annual event that has been held for hundreds of year at the Cooper Hill in Gloucestershire involves rolling a round of Double Gloucester cheese off the top of the hill and…chasing it. You can imagine that since the cheese gets a head start and reaches speeds of over 70 mph, this is not an easy feat. Thus, rather than having to catch the cheese in mid-run, it’s the first person to get to the bottom of the 200m-long hillside that wins (and gets the cheese!)

As you can imagine, the activity, as any other, is usually accompanied with occassional, minor injuries…no, seriously, people end up with broken bones and sprained ankles here. And the runaway cheese can easily knock off a spectator, too. OK, here’s the promised video. Judge for yourself:

Gloucester Cheese Rolling 2009

What else than love for cheese would make you even consider doing this??

One more fact probably not worth remembering is that, due to the food rationing in the UK, between 1941-1954 cheese-rolling was ‘played’ with a big round of wood that had a small piece of cheese inside.

Anyway, if you don’t feel like breaking your neck to get your daily amount of protein, check Sportmeets for some more conventional but perhaps equally entertaining sporting options in your area!

For those who wonder whether we actually know what we’re talking about with regard to sport, here’s the answer: we don’t just talk sport – we do it! Read a bit about my latest success with our very own GU volleyball club.

Sheffield is the place to be in on the second weekend in March if you play university sport. It’s the highlight of the season for most participants and also a great chance to spend a few days with your teammates. I already had a chance to represent Glasgow Uni at the BUCS Championships last year but this year it was even better! A gold medal in the Trophy tournament with the guys team and a silver one with the girls’ team as the coach are a nice end to my ‘undergraduate volleyball career’ here at Glasgow! Add to it some incredibly nice March weather, a company of great teammates and some well-priced beer and food at the local Wetherspoon pub, and you have a great experience that is exactly what makes it worth to play sport.

OK, and now a big hand for the GUVC – well done everybody!