Professional Sports in
Krakow.
As in the rest of Europe,
football /soccer/ is the favorite sport of Krakow
residents, at least the male half: the young play it, grown-ups
watch it on TV. And the city’s football teams inspire enthusiasm
and loyalty of hordes of their fervent fans. Notably supporters
of the
Wisla Krakow club
have a lot to enthuse about in the recent years as their side
has dominated Poland’s premier league and won a string of the
country’s championships. Other popular – moderately – team
games
include basketball, volleyball and ice hockey where Krakow's
Cracovia team has been calling the tune in the premier league in
recent years. Also rugby and handball have their
adherents. American football remains a novelty.
Few glaring exceptions notwithstanding–e.g. , baseball or
cricket–virtually all professional sports are practiced in
Krakow’s numerous
sports clubs,
with contests regularly held in the city. And many native
sportsmen are major players in the country’s or even
international championships. Notably, besides team games, Krakow
champs stand out in Poland’s tennis, judo, karate, swimming,
gymnastics, car racing, parachuting, chess, and table tennis. On
top of it the city boasts some of the best Polish athletes, such
as the Olympics’ triple gold medalist Robert Korzeniowski (now
retired), although track and field sports stay mostly
college and university events.
Among combat sports boxing still seems to gather the
biggest audiences, but those practicing kung-fu and even judo
hugely outnumber aspiring boxers in Krakow.
Winter sports in Krakow proper are practically restricted to
skating and ice hockey but Poland’s capital of alpine skiing,
Zakopane
in the
Tatra Mountains,
is just two hours’ drive away.
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Leisure Sports in Krakow.
Sadly, sport activity is not the routine of an average Krakow
dweller. The city abounds in fine jogging paths but few
natives take advantage of it. Also bikeways crisscrossing
metropolitan Krakow and its
environs
seem underused despite the city’s vocal group of ardent
cyclists. So, hiking remains the most popular outdoor
activity, and no wonder seeing that the
Krakow region
is famous for the beauty of its rolling, wooded countryside and
scenic landmarks, which also explains brisk sales of mountain
bikes. At
the same time
Krakow swimming
pools are usually overcrowded: outdoor ones in summer, those
with a roof over them the whole year round. Also playing
tennis in Krakow
– on clay courts mostly – is fairly popular pastime among the
residents, at least those who can afford it (down the social
ladder the table version prevails). In winter downhill skiing
largely replaces tennis as winter resorts are scattered
throughout the region, with the nearest ski slope just fifteen
kilometers south of the city center. Squash, golf
(there are two 18-hole courses in the Krakow area) and
bowling are quite recent arrivals to the city with
relatively few converts to date. Billiards has been
traditionally distant second to table tennis among indoor games
and played by few, but it gained in popularity in the 1990s as
snooker tables in pubs mushrooming all over the city outnumbered
their pool and carom counterparts.
Gyms in Krakow
are quite frequent in the downtown and finding a decent fitness
club with the latest equipment isn't hard. Generally, they fall
in two categories–aerobics outfits for women of any age and
muscle-buildup dens for young men. Hunting
and fishing are centuries-sanctioned sports in Poland.
And both – especially the latter – retain considerable following
in Krakow.
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Extreme Sports in Krakow.
Some extreme sports, such as cliff climbing or parachuting, have
been around in Krakow for decades. Some are barely few years
old. Nowadays the former and the latter are more readily
accessible than ever to novices as various establishments offer
training and lease equipment if necessary. Numerous steep rocks
in
the vicinity of Krakow
and Alps-like
Tatra Mountains
some 100 km south of the city have always lured young people to
climbing. In the past just preparation for “serious”
mountaineering in
the Tatras,
Alps and Himalayas, cliff climbing now is sport in its own
right. It is practiced also indoors on artificial walls. The
bulk of Poland’s thousand or so caves are found in the uplands
just north of Krakow and in the
Tatra Mountains
two hours’ drive south from the city. Small wonder there has
never been a shortage of passionate cave explorers here.
Amateur spelunkers can find a number of caves in the Krakow area
outfitted for their absolute convenience. Canoeing
on mountain rivers south of Krakow, notably Dunajec in the
Pieniny range, is the most gratifying experience though a highly
risky one for novices (plus, Krakow boasts
a state-of-the-art artificial course for white-water kayaking). The
shortest basic course of parachuting takes two days and
it costs about 250 euro (one jump from an airplane included,
next ones 10 euro or so each). Course of paragliding
lasts longer but once accomplished it allows you to sail in the
air all on your own (with the help of a friend at the start on
an even ground). Sure, some practice scuba diving in
landlocked Krakow but certainly it bears no comparison to the
exploration of tropical seas, though extreme experience
doubtless it is.
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