“BETWEEN THE RIVER AND THE NET”

MEANINGS ATTRIBUTED TO BEACH TENNIS PRACTICE IN THE UNIVERSITY CONTEXT OF THE BICO DO PAPAGAIO REGION

Abstract

The study aimed to understand the motivational factors that influence university students to practice Beach Tennis (BT) in a university context in a city in the state of Tocantins, located in the Bico do Papagaio region, a gateway to the Legal Amazon. This is a field study of an exploratory and descriptive nature, with a qualitative approach. Participants were students who practice BT on the sand courts of the Babaçu Unit, linked to the Center for Education, Humanities, and Health (CEHS) of the Federal University of Northern Tocantins (UFNT), Tocantinópolis Campus. The results suggest that the sport mobilizes technical, aesthetic, emotional, and social dimensions which, when articulated, expand the meanings attributed to the practice. BT was configured as a vector for physical well-being, emotional regulation, and the strengthening of bonds, in addition to fostering institutional belonging and increasing the visibility of practitioners on campus. It was also found that the sport impacts academic routines in a complex manner, at times creating tension and at others reorganizing time management. It is concluded that BT functions as an integrative practice, capable of producing a sense of institutional belonging and contributing to the reorganization of the university experience in frontier contexts, highlighting the role of bodily practices as spaces of educational, sociocultural, and political mediation.