Olympic Games heat up small Brazilian sports businesses

The Paris Olympic Games, with their official opening scheduled for July 26th, promise to bring excitement to the second half of the year. The competition is an opportunity to attract attention to small businesses that operate directly or indirectly in the sports segment. Modalities recently included in the last edition of the Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, such as skateboarding, surfing and climbing were maintained and present great promise of a podium for Brazil, contributing to giving more visibility to these practices, especially for children and young people.

Sebrae Nacional’s competitiveness analyst, Flávio Barros, highlights that major seasonal sporting events such as the Olympics and the World Cup stimulate the market, creating interest in practicing a variety of sports, as well as carrying out physical activities as a form of recreation or in the search for well-being.

“It’s a great moment that entrepreneurs have to take advantage of. Think about promotions and campaigns that make your target audience want to also be part of the event, even remotely”,

states.

According to him, focusing on the public such as children and young people is essential, including them in the consumption chain as new customers. As an example, the analyst cites children’s sports schools. “Children who are starting a sporting activity at this time can be encouraged by the appeal of the Olympics to continue as students because they will be excited about the sport. This is positive for the sustainability of the business by increasing revenue,” he adds.

Approaching the public

With the visibility of the Olympic Games, practices that are still little known have the chance to become popular, helping to attract more fans to the sport, and, consequently, new customers, or even favor the opening of new businesses.

In the Mooca neighborhood, in São Paulo, physical education teacher, Bruna do Nascimento, and her Italian boyfriend, physicist Andrea Prudenziati, are owners of the República dos Macacos climbing gym, specialized in bouldering, one of the Olympic practices that was new in the 2021 edition, and which will continue in the competitions in Paris. The idea of ​​opening the business came after the entrepreneur returned from Japan, where the practice is already quite popular.

Operating for a year and a half, Bruna says that one of the main challenges of the business has been attracting the attention of audiences who don’t understand the sport. “Many people pass by and ask what it’s all about. Contrary to what many people think, it is a very accessible sport. Most of the time, those who try it come back again and again,” she commented.

She adds that climbing attracts attention mainly from a younger audience, who have more flexibility and less fear of facing walls 4 to 5 meters high, without the aid of ropes, characteristic of bouldering. The more adult public, she says, likes to participate in competitions between gyms, while the more professional ones, including athletes, frequent the place to carry out training.

Breaking barriers

Eduardo Mello, from Rio de Janeiro, is the owner and general coordinator of Nes Escola de Skate in Brasília, which operates within a private school in the capital, serving not only children who are students at the establishment but also external audiences of all ages. A skateboarder since he was a teenager, in 2013 he decided to open a school center that already existed in Rio de Janeiro.

The venture offers classes in the two main types of skateboarding, street and park, both of which will be competed in this Olympic edition by well-known names such as Rayssa Leal, who at the age of 13 was a sensation at the Japanese games when she won a silver medal. Eduardo says that it is a prerequisite that instructors, in addition to being experienced skaters, are also physical educators, combining experience in the sport with academic knowledge.

According to him, skateboarding’s entry into the Olympics reflects the rise of the practice in major competitions that have gained media attention in recent decades and receive investment from major sponsoring brands. For him, all of this contributes to increasing society’s interest in skateboarding culture, including breaking down prejudices.

Eduardo says that at the Japan Olympics in 2021, when skateboarding participated in the games for the first time, the rise of skateboarder Rayssa, among other names, increased the demand for classes. According to him, the practice in Brazil still faces barriers, unlike in the USA, where the sport drives a consolidated industry with the production of equipment, clothing, footwear, accessories, among other niches.

“In the last Olympics, we had a huge demand and a lot of registrations. We took the opportunity to hold street events, one of which was for girls in Parque da Cidade. I think it was a turning point for people to look at skateboarding in a more positive way. Being at the Olympics is an endorsement of the practice, including an opportunity for professionalization and a career”,

scored.

*With information from consultancy

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