Scout’s Overview
📡 🚨 Weekly Sports Radar: Ecuavolley

Ecuavolley is a variation of volleyball that originated in Ecuador in the 1940s. It’s played with three players per team on a smaller court and uses a football (soccer) ball instead of a volleyball.

The net is much higher than volleyball, too, at around 2.85m (9.35 ft) for men. The net is looser and not tightly stretched. Unlike standard volleyball, players can hold the ball for a brief moment (a “catch”) before passing it.

What started as a street and park game is now known as a “national sport” in Ecuador alongside football.

🏋 Athlete of the week: Noam Yaron

Noam Yaron is a Swiss ultra-endurance swimmer. Recently, he swam 191 kilometers and more than 102 hours in the Mediterranean without a break. How? He taught himself how to swim while sleeping in the sea. His challenge ended just 2 km short of the final goal as he had to be hospitalized due to burns and hallucinations. They call him the “fishman”, and one of his main goals is to raise awareness about pollution in the oceans.

🏟️ Venue of the week: Beijing National Stadium

The Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed the “Bird’s Nest” for its iconic lattice design, is one of the most recognizable sports arenas in the world. Built for the 2008 Summer Olympics, the stadium can hold 80,000 spectators. Besides all the numbers, it just looks incredibly sick.

🧤 Fit Check: Sydney Sixers First Nations Jersey

Sydney Sixers is a domestic Australian Cricket team that plays in the Big Bash League. Last year, they dropped this phenomenal First Nations kit, telling the story of the club and community. For me, the vibrant colours and unique patterns make it a top shirt, but there’s more to it.

The artwork celebrates the deep connection between the Sixers, their fans, and the lands they play on. Featuring the team’s three home grounds, the design also honours the significance of Saltwater Communities in cricket. Symbols throughout the jersey represent fans, players, families, and staff, woven together to reflect unity and belonging.

The jersey was later signed by the players and auctioned to inspire more boys and girls from Indigenous backgrounds to play cricket.

From the bench
🗞️ In case you were injured:

• He did it again… new week, new mondo duplantis world record in pole vault

• Archer Choi Young Kwang's shot was so precise that it pierced the exact centre of another arrow that was already on the bullseye

• Olympic athlete Ben Proud became the first British athlete to officially join the controversial Enhanced Games this week, saying that it would take him 13 years of winning world championships to earn what he could in one race at this games. This does raise an important point of how many athletes outside the world’s most famous struggle to earn enough while playing the sport they love.

🎯 In overtime:

• Why watch the match when there’s a guy solving a Rubik’s Cube in the crowd

• Why speculate if a player will start the game or not? Just ask them directly

📊 Analyst’s Corner:

Some sports business stats for you:

• The concept of limited editions and exclusivity is gaining the most traction with younger sports fans. According to PwC, younger fans are 21% more inclined to buy souvenirs, serving as tangible mementos of their experience.

• Regarding shrinking attention spans, only 19% of younger fans say they watch an entire game when they tune in at home, and when they do, they’re almost always doing something else at the same time.

• Younger sports fans are also relatively price-insensitive, reporting on average to have spent $70 more on tickets than their older counterparts.

🏆 Sports Calendar

We’ve got 17 new sports across 19 international events for you this week: