Sports in Quito

By Bradley Rehak – Guest blogger studying in Quito, Ecuador

It should come as no surprise, given the location as being outside the United States and Canada, that football—hereafter referred to as soccer—is incredibly popular in Ecuador. What defines incredibly popular? I don't have any statistics, so I will rely on a few examples. Every morning, afternoon, and evening, my house dad is watching soccer—or replays thereof (even if he watched the game the night before)—for hours on end. Roughly 50% of the people at the park on any given day wear soccer jerseys. A recent "friendly" game (meaning the results didn't count in league standings) I went to featured two hours worth of entertainment before the game, fireworks, etc. And every pick up game played at the park is for money, even if it's only a dollar.

Carolina Park is the best place to learn about sports in Quito, as any given day there are numerous soccer and basketball games being played, as well as skateboarding and rollerblading in the skate park, bicycle racing on a course that resembles nothing more than a track from Excitebike, tennis, etc. The soccer games are of course the most heated of events, with a constant stream of cursing audible at quite a distance away. The basketball games are largely for everyone who isn't in good enough shape, or isn't aggressive enough, to play soccer. I gravitate towards the basketball courts for a few reasons, despite the fact that I'm better at soccer: 1—I'm out of shape for such running, 2—I don't have any cleats and the games are played almost entirely on dirt fields, 3—I don't usually feel like getting dirty. Also, the basketball games just seem a lot friendlier.

Although running isn't vastly common here, one can always see people jogging around the bike path that circumnavigates the park. Biking isn't entirely common, either—I get the feeling that most bikers are of foreign origin, as they are generally appears so, and they wear shorts, which is uncommon for Ecuadorians here on even the hottest of days.

Most importantly of all when it comes to sports, people here really love their teams. When I attended the previously mentioned "friendly" games, I bought the jersey of a team from Guayaquil—because it was the only one I could see being sold, because it cost three dollars, and because 90% of the fans were wearing it. This team turned out to play, and lose to, my host dads team, Deportivo Quito. So when I got home, I was nearly turned out for wearing the wrong jersey, and then was congratulated for being the reason that Quito won. This didn't surprise me. However, I didn't expect the next day to have the sister-in-law of my host family to tell me that I should be ashamed for buying the jersey: she was only placated when I promised that I had bought it only as a gift.