University Sports

How many of us imagined ourselves as athletes? How many of these dreams came true? About 20 years ago the answer to these questions would be negative, after all, to be able to support yourself practicing sports is a tough task. (Specially if you live in Brazil, where sports policies are jokes). However, since about 1990, this story started to change: university sports became a reality in our nation.
Differently from the US, in Brazil the university-sports leagues are segregated and divided into different types of competitions. For instance, there are the internal leagues of the universities, such as "Jogos Da Liga", a league in which all of USP-São Paulo departments compete in many different sports modalities; there are inter-university competition, such as JUCA; and there are other amateur leagues not exclusive for college teams, but in which they can take part.
I am one of these people. I've never been great at sports so the option of going pro was never really an option, but I've always given it a chance. When I was young my father encouraged me a lot but, as I sucked at it and I was embarassed of playing it among the other kids, I stopped going to my football classes. The only thing left to me was P.E. where I could play with my friends (who sucked too). I also tried out tennis but I quit at the age of 8. When I was about 13 my father and I started playing soccer every saturday, a tradition that remains until today, and this is how I overcame my "football shyness" and improved my football. I rediscovered the joy that sports provide and at the age of 16 I started playing tennis again and kept on practicing it until I was 18, when I quit once more because I had to focus on my studies.
Although I've trained a lot in my life, I had never felt the drill that a championship is, or the pressure coming from the crowd, and this is where the University Sports came in. You don't have to be the best to play, and you will surelly be accepted in the trainings, if you do well and make an effort you might make it to the team, and there glory will await you. It is true that in some Colleges it is not that easy to get in the team, but in smaller ones like ECA anyone who fells like doing it can participate in this way of life and enjoy the sports bennefits.