Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Fit to be square

Belgians are not a fat people. But, they are not a fit people. Most are chain smokers. Their food is fried. Taverns not only outnumber gyms; they have longer business hours.

Belgians, we are told, are spectators. Why "Do it"? When you can "Watch it". Unfortunately, Belgian teams are usually the filler at the bottom of a league's rank. So, there isn't much home-grown talent to inspire little Belgian watchers to become little Belgian doers. No wonder then, that we found very little in terms of grass-root level organized sports involvement (read: registering Edouard into a little league of something or anything). Belgium is a tiny country, locals argue. So is the Netherlands. And, they give the Americans and Australians a run for their money in the pool come Olympics.

In all fairness, there is a tennis buzz (or rather something of a hum), thanks to Kim and Justine. Belgians do bike - Eddy Merckx, the (Trivial Pursuit) Belgian response to Lance Armstrong - but it's more about getting from one place to another than winning the Tour de France.

Oh, I forgot. There will always be Jean-Claude Van Damme.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If you're still looking for a little league, see if one of the international schools - St. John's or ISB - can point you in the right direction. Worked for me when I lived there - baseball, soccer etc.