Sports in the FSU?

[mendeleyev]

Conversation starters for building rapport with your lady via phone/email:

Are you a sports fan?

Is your lady into sports?

So how do you merge both of your interests in sports into a unified/shared trait?

For a lady immigrating to another country, perhaps the USA would be the biggest adjustment in the kinds of sport, and the attitudes toward sports in general.

American football, while shared with Canada to a certain extent, is far different from most of the rest of the world where soccer is preeminent.

Sports in the FSU includes basketball (invented at a YMCA in Springfield, MA by a Canadian born American), of course hockey, and even baseball to a very limited extent.

Other sports in the FSU include Bandy a sport which appears to me as hockey using a ball instead of a puck. You'll no doubt be introduced to it with the World Bandy Championship in 2014 at the Sochi Olympics.

Figure skating is considered a sport across the FSU with the same respect as cross country skiing and rugby.

No doubt you're familiar with Russian Tennis stars.

Rhythmic gymnastics is considered one of the most popular sports in Russia. Almost every provincial city has a football team and larger cities have many clubs organised within factories, unions and government offices. International events include the Izvestia Hockey Prize and the Kremlin Cup tennis tournament.

The ethnic diversity of Russia is reflected in the wide variety of local traditional sports. Martial arts are well liked and gaining in popularity.


Kazan basketball stadium



Kazan basketball



What a country...cheerleaders for hockey!  










Just as in most other activites, Russian hockey fans are staid and unemotional:





Of course foreign visitors are easy to spot too.

[Olga_Mouse]

Rhythmic gymnastics is considered one of the most popular sports in Russia.

Do you mean aerobics, Mendy? 

[mendeleyev]

I think your term is better! 

[Boris]

Rhythmic Gymnastics

[mendeleyev]

Okay, Olga, I may have to switch sides as Boris makes a good point! 

[shakespear]

I've been to several Volgograd Rotor soccer matches. 

It's one of the highlights of my annual visit.  One of the best shows in town! 

I always add to my Russian vocabulary by picking up some new and interesting Russian mat by observing my fellow spectators. 

And the Moscow Dynamo fans throwing lighted road flares on the field is entertaining.

Hasn't been as much fun since the administration banned alcoholic beverages in the stadium two years ago.  Come to think of it, not as many fans attend the games anymore either.  Funny that.   

[mendeleyev]

Seems unpatriotic if one can't enjoy a beer at a game!

[froid]

Seems unpatriotic if one can't enjoy a beer at a game!

I SOOOOOO agree with that sentiment.

When I saw the one hockey game in Moscow, I was depressed I couldn't have beer to go along with it.  I had to have Kvas.

In Helsinki when I saw a game there they had no beer in the actual stands...but you could drink in the area just outside the stands.  When the buzzer went there was a mad rush to the servers. 

[WestCoast]

I've been to several Volgograd Rotor soccer matches. 

It's one of the highlights of my annual visit.  One of the best shows in town! 

I always pick up some new and interesting Russian mat by observing my fellow spectators. 

And the Moscow Dynamo fans throwing lighted road flares on the field is entertaining.

Hasn't been as much fun since the administration banned alcoholic beverages in the stadium two years ago.  Come to think of it, not as many fans attend the games anymore either.  Funny that.   

No beer in the stands.    Next thing you know you won't be able to smoke inside the building, you'll have to go outside and smoke. 

[AnfieldRiot]

  You'll find more women interested in sport in the bigger cities. A lot the teams we see today in the major RU sports are relatively new to the scene.  Cities like Moscow, St. Pete... their teams have a lot of history and thusly more fans.

   I lucked out and have been talking to someone who wants to learn more about hockey and is taking me to a game so she can experience it with someone who knows the sport. She also texts me football match updates.... amazing.

   Most don't like US football and see no point to it... same for me as well. If you like sports and want her to like your sport... take the slow and easy approach, this is yet another aspect of North American/ UK life and most FSU ladies will want to in the very least get an understanding of what you enjoy to watch/partake in.

   There is a flip side as well... don't forget to give their sports a chance as well. From Table tennis to bandyball, Russia has a ton of interesting sports. Bandyball is a goodtime by the way.