A first observation: sport has metamorphosed and multiplied between 1970 and now. This half-century of accelerated economic development has been reflected as much in sports as in global consumption. Technology in particular has transformed our practices: in running, tennis, kitesurfing, mountain biking, climbing, surfing, when it is not the equipment that has evolved it is the bodies that have metamorphosed. Faster, higher, further justified everything. The sport that looks at itself has only multiplied its perimeter, its major events, its partnerships, the place it occupies and therefore its global footprint in defiance of all logic except that of commercial growth.
We cannot expect everything from institutions or brands, especially since they are also under “pressure” from the market: renewing ranges and innovating is a necessity to capture interest and transform it.
Of course, many actors are involved in recycling, in sustainability, and people will also change their choice, their consumption mode, but the question of the global philosophy will also arise. No one in sport has a discourse comparable to that of the Shift Project, for example.
Can sportsmen and women – us, you, our neighbors, our fellow human beings on the other side of the world – make a difference?
What will the sportsman of tomorrow do, the one who is 6 or 8 years old today, born in a world where the climate will be the number one issue?
This video, 8 years old and whose first forty seconds are not very engaging, speaks about simplicity, surf, wood and it puts forward a very minimalist relationship with the ocean. In the past we talked about bodysurfing as the elementary particle of gliding.
Will tomorrow’s (western) sport be more reasonable?
Kitesurfing and wingfoil are nowadays very demanding in terms of exotic materials and technological development. Riders partner with SUV brands. The imaginary of surfing is linked to travel, as is that of mountaineering. Climbing, like other practices, has been made possible by the numerous trips by car to the walls. Let’s not talk about skiing, a vast subject. A modern ATV is a concentrate of technology. One could decline endlessly.
We are adding another layer of connection today, the next step will be body data, as well as other things that sound exciting and useful.
Until when?
It is our global philosophy that must be questioned. The first weak signals are appearing, but they are very marginal for the moment.
ODE TO SIMPLICITY from ENJOY THE SOUP on Vimeo.
