Think Brazil and sport, and you’ll probably imagine football. Or perhaps volleyball. But, with the arrival of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016, Rio de Janeiro will host the world’s best athletes in 65 different sporting disciplines, many of them little-known in Brazil. But help is at hand. The Rio 2016 Organising Committee is working to spread understanding and enjoyment of these sports throughout the city.

Last Saturday (29 November) some 400 people, from young children to the retired elderly, tried their hands at some of these sports at a festival promoted by Transforma, the Rio 2016 education programme. The Oscar Schmidt Olympic Village, a government-funded sports and leisure facility in the Santa Cruz district, was the setting for the first in a series of such events.

“Our aim is to hold these festivals in all the Olympic Villages over the coming year,” said Mariana Behr, Rio 2016’s head of education. “We want to offer new experiences to children and adults, showing them that Olympic and Paralympic sports are open to all.”

The event brought new sporting experiences to people of all ages (Photo: Rio 2016/André Redlich)

Cheered on by the Rio 2016 mascots, the participants played a variety of Olympic sports (athletics, badminton, golf, hockey, judo, taekwondo, archery, rugby and beach volleyball) and Paralympic sports (athletics and boccia).

“I always wanted to try archery,” said 14-year-old Charles Alison. “The teacher showed us the correct posture and how to grip the bow and release the arrow. I didn’t manage a bull’s eye, but it was good to have a go.”

Children from the Rio 2016 education programme tried their hands at archery (Photo: Rio 2016/André Redlich)

The event was also attended by Brazilian beach volleyball player and three-time Olympic medallist Emanuel Rego, who gave a class in his sport. “All the lessons I have learned in volleyball have been very important in forming my personality,” he said.

“How to live with different kinds of people, how to deal with rules and limits, how to work in a team. I incorporate these values into my personal life and teach them to my son. We have to motivate children, get them interested in new sports.”

Emanuel Rego, 2004 Olympic champion, showed the kids how to play beach volleyball (Rio 2016/André Redlich)

The children said they had been inspired by the event. “What I liked most was boccia,” said 13-year-old Ariel Gonçalves. “I could put myself in the place of a Paralympic athlete. Transforma has inspired me to want to set up an NGO in the future for training Paralympic athletes.”

Golf will return to the Olympic Games in Rio and local residents are learning more about the sport (Photo: Rio 2016/André Redlich)

The event was run by instructors from sports federations with assistance from student leaders from Transforma and Rio 2016 ‘pioneer volunteers’, who are already at work in the committee. It is part of a series of initiatives organised by Rio 2016 in partnership with the Municipal Education Authority, which has incorporatedTransforma into the curriculum of city schools. At present, 168 schools in Rio are benefitting from the programme.