Athletes of Yoff Beach (2009)

December 2009 , Sports is very important for the Senegalese men. It’s a way to stay in shape and to socialize for them. But above all, all that heavy training is for those who dream about a career in sports abroad or in Senegal. If they are hard enough at work, It can be really a way to move to a foreign country with higher life standarts. The most crowded times on the beach is in the morning before 10am and in the afternoon between 5-8 pm. In the summer, it’s very hot and sometimes rainy so it’s less people on the beach and weekends are more crowded than weekdays.

The village of Yoff is home to the Lebou people and they have a very strong religious, Sufi Muslim brotherhood called Layene. Dakar’s corniche coastal road from Mamelles all the way to plateau is a space for thousands of runners, wrestlers, athletes and soccer players training on the beach. The sands come alive between 5pm-8pm, when young athletes play games, work on their stretches and practise push-ups.

There is a mosque on the Yoff beach and the founder of the Layene brotherhood, Seydina Limamou, was buried there. They consider their founder the reincarnation of the prophet Muhammad as well as the Mahdi. People from Yoff used to tell the story about the founder Seydina Limamou who wanted to find a home to the Lebou people and made the ocean move back to create Yoff for the Lebou people.The Layene brotherhood is powerful in Senegal and they run the village of Yoff.

Sports is very important for the senegalese men. It’s a way to stay in shape and to socialize for them. But above all, all that heavy training is for those who dream about a career in sports abroad or in Senegal. If they are hard enough at work, It can be really a way to move to a foreign country with higher life standarts.

Soccer is the second most popular sport after wrestling in Senegal. There are many local leagues and competions as well as nationwide and africa-scale.
They play soccer even with bare foot on the wet sands just near the waves.

The most crowded times on the beach is in the morning before 10 am and in the afternoon between 5-8 pm.

In the summer, its very hot and sometimes rainy so its less people on the beach, and weekends are more crowded than weekdays.

Young wrestlers practicing regularly to prepare upcoming competitions. Wrestling is the most popular sport in Senegal. This form of wrestling is called ‘Laamb’ (the Wolof word for ‘fight’). Laamb is a tradition that goes back to centuries in Senegal.

 If you continue the Yoff beach you get the Golf beach and Parcell beach. You can see the same amount of people doing sports there as well. There is also a beach closer to downtown Dakar where they have an outside gym on the beach.