National Pride
There is no doubt that sport arises a lot of emotions. Happiness, sadness, pain, pride and joy are just few of them. Depending on the context you might experience all of them. You are able to identify with the players and you basically live the event with them. That is why it is so hard to understand that sport is unpredictable and everything can happen. However, supporting favorite team is not as intense experience as supporting national team performing during an international event. Showing everyone that we are able to win and get the medal or any other reward is the primary reason why we all watch events like the Olympics or the World Cup.
Every competition is important and everyone wants to show the best abilities and make everyone proud. People in Poland are very passionate about sport. We love supporting our teams and we enjoy watching games together with friends and families. This is what makes the experience even better, because we all feel special bond. We understand each other and we share the same emotions. Even if we do not sometimes agree in a certain matter, or we support a different team, when we watch players in red and white jerseys, it suddenly does not matter anymore.
We are not only fond of soccer, despite the fact that our team is getting better and better and we are going to play during the World Cup 2018 in Russia, but we love basically every competition where we can give a really good performance. It is said that Poland is the temple of volleyball, which was clearly seen during World Cup in 2014 hosted by us, which our players won. The game was concluded by a sentence: “The history is being written now.” And it applies to what athletes do. They write history and make everyone proud of being a part of it. Even though we personally are not on the field, we create the atmosphere.
Another event, which clearly describes how important national sport is for us, is the soccer game between German national team in 2014 while elimination to Europe Cup. It was our first win against them in our whole history and even though it happened four years ago, the memory of this victory is still vivid. This win was not only beneficial for the elimination itself, but also it gave our players and supporters hope that this team can achieve many successes.
It is impossible to talk about polish national pride without mentioning ski jumping contests, especially when the Olympics are taking place. Ski jumping is the most important winter sport watched in every home. Our representation is achieving great results and it is considered to be one of the best in the world, especially when we take into account that four years ago, Kamil Stoch won two gold medals. Every season he is chosen to be a strong candidate to win many competitions and all his rivals highlight that it is a pleasure to compete with him. Kamil Stoch in January, 2018 won Four Hills Tournament, what happened second time in a whole ski jumping history.
National sports are extremely important in creating every country’s sense of belonging and their pride. Sport enables everybody to experience sadness, happiness and many different emotions. Everyone has an opportunity to become a part of the “sport family” and share the same memories and feelings.
