And there was plenty to choose from: a wide array of sections, clubs and groups were presented by more than 65 sports schools and federations, with local sports opportunities showcased by all of St. Petersburg’s 18 districts. In all, roughly 80 different sports were represented. Above and beyond the traditional basketball, volleyball, track-and-field, fencing, table tennis, martial arts, swimming, etc., visitors had the chance to get a first-hand look at some lesser-known sports as well – floorball (a type of hockey featuring a ball instead of a puck, played on a hard surface), capoeira (a Brazilian form of martial arts combining elements of dance, acrobatics and music – sometimes referred to as a game) or even dogsledding. Dogsledding, for instance, is a competition among dogsled teams comprised, as a rule, of a specific number of Huskies, Samoyeds, Alaskan Malamutes, and other specialised breeds; it can be pursued from childhood in the “canicross” discipline, in which the dog pulls the sledder trailing behind him by a cord.

Festival guests were invited to try their hand at the most personally-appealing of the smorgasbord of sports on display. Such happy vignettes included: a child grasping a badminton racket for the very first time and hitting the shuttlecock with surprising power; two high-school seniors trying their skill at arm-wrestling under the watchful eye of an encouraging trainer; a boy getting behind the controls of a jet-ski as a coach from the Higher School of Watersports draws him a motivational picture: “Hold the wheel tight. You’re racing forward. Water splashes in your face. Sharp turn! Whatever you do – don’t fall off!”

Accomplished athletes were on hand to serve as role models for those just embarking on their athletic journey: acrobats shot to the rafters of the Expoforum pavilion, demonstrating impressive tumbling tricks on the trampoline; young dancers performed energetic elements of acrobatic rock-and-roll; freestyle wrestlers pinned each other to the mat; and members of the Irish Stick Fighting Club put on a display of, well… Irish Stick Fighting. The demonstrations were accompanied by valuable coaching clinics: wee gymnasts moved gingerly, chins-up, along the beam (a seemingly-endless number of times in various permutations), doing their best to execute a somersault on the 10-cm-wide piece of equipment, falling and trying again, as the coach stood by, carefully correcting their form – back straight, neck long, chin up…

Special pride of place at the event was devoted to ice hockey – in 2016, St. Petersburg is slated to host the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, operated by Expoforum International. Accompanied by a children’s choir, confidently singing the words “Hockey not for cowards!,” attendees were invited to take part in a shoot-out face-off, read about the many legends of Soviet and Russian hockey, look at the medals claimed by our country at the World and European Championships, learn interesting hockey trivia (such as: in 2008, at the initiative of the International Ice Hockey Federation, vying for the puck were the five best players of all time – including three from team USSR), and take a picture with the real Gagarin Cup, passed from champion team to champion team in the play-off series of the Continental Hockey League (CHL).

As the “I choose sports!” campaign surely demonstrated: sports are something for people of all ages – from infancy (with some clubs offering sports activities for babies as young as three-months) right up into old age (the floor was graced with elegant performances by senior Wushu-enthusiasts and master-classes on Nordic walking). As Distinguished Trainer of the USSR and Russia, Tamara Moskvina, remarked in opening the festivities, she began her career in sports at the tender age of 10: “Today, I’m 74 years old, and I can still give plenty of people a run for their money – I’m a living example of why it’s so important to choose sports!”