Peteca

A game very similar to peteca was already played by the indigenous peoples, who threw pieces of wood or straw tied with bird feathers. Peteca (pe'teca) is a Tupi word that means to hit with the hand. With the arrival of the Portuguese, the game began to be played by the colonizers and gradually gained followers over time.

Peteca has been played in the streets of the city since the 18th century, mostly by women. It became popular in the late 19th century, during the Rio belle époque, when the population took over the streets. In the 20th century, the game reached the beaches and clubs.

Peteca game on Copacabana beach, 1950. Photo by Jean Manzon. Saudades do Rio website

Image description: This is a black and white photograph of a game of peteca on Copacabana beach, in 1950. On the left, we see people playing peteca, with a man facing away from the camera and a woman in motion. In the center, other people are taking part in the game, including a woman standing in a white dress. On the right, more people are watching the game. In the background, we see the sea with waves and the horizon with distant buildings.

At the 1920 Olympics in the city of Antwerp, the Brazilian delegation brought petecas in their luggage to play during breaks. The game caught the attention of other athletes, and the head of the Brazilian delegation, José Maria Castelo Branco, upon returning to Brazil, decided to formalize the rules and send them to the other delegations.

Another peteca enthusiast was German gymnastics teacher Karlhans Krohn, who, while passing through Rio in 1936, saw the game and decided to take some examples with him in his suitcase to spread the activity in his country.

In the late 1970s, "peteca" was so popular that one of the agencies of the Ministry of Education, Mobral, published a small book titled Vamos Jogar Peteca, written by teachers and coaches from the Centro Cultural and the Executive Group of the Ministry's own "Esporte para todos" campaign.

The main goal of the game is not to let the shuttlecock fall or to hit it as high as possible. Hence the expression "don't let the shuttlecock fall," a reference to an attitude of resistance or resilience, familiar to all cariocas. In 1977, the National Sports Council (CND) recognized peteca as a genuinely Brazilian physical activity, and its official recognition as a sport came eight years later, in 1985.

Image description: The image is a watercolor painting. In the scene, there are two human figures. The main figure is in the center, wearing a vibrant yellow outfit, with arms outstretched and an attentive expression. Above this figure's head, there is an object that looks like a shuttlecock (peteca), with red feathers and black details. On the right, there is another, smaller figure, dressed in light-colored clothing, watching the first figure. The background is white, with soft shadows and a paper texture. In the bottom right corner, it reads "PETECA".

Well-known names, such as the owner of Cassino da Urca, Joaquim Rolla, the doorman of Copacabana Palace, Joaquim Caneato, and the member of the "Turma dos Cafajestes," Mariozinho de Oliveira, formed famous peteca teams on the beaches of Copacabana. These and other peteca players made up the teams of the Associação da Peteca Livre de Ipanema, the Peteca Carioca da Rua Paula Freitas, and many others.

The Peteca Carioca club from Paula Freitas and Clube de Peteka Livre Duvivier still gather every weekend and holiday to play heated matches, keeping the tradition alive.

Image description: The image is a photograph of a group of people on a beach. In the foreground, there is a group of adult men, some of them shirtless, posing behind a footvolley net. They are standing on the sand, with some people wearing sunglasses. In the background, there are urban buildings and a mountain covered in vegetation. The sky is cloudy, giving the image a gray tone.