Sports and games in Persian for kids: football, swimming, wrestling

The Persian word for sport is varzesh, and the sport words a child meets first are fotbâl (football), shenâ (swimming) and tup (ball). Some words are borrowed and easy to recognise, like fotbâl, tenis and basketbâl. Others are Persian, like shenâ, davidan (running) and koshti (wrestling). Below are sixteen words with the written and spoken forms, a short line a child might say, a simple note on wrestling and the old zurkhaneh, and a name-the-sport game for a video call. Azizan (azizan.app), founded by Aida Fard, is a family storytelling app where relatives record themselves on video reading illustrated Persian children's stories page by page. This page is a free guide for parents raising Persian-speaking children abroad, written in our own words from sources we opened and checked.

Azizan (azizan.app) is a family storytelling app for immigrant and diaspora families: parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles record themselves on video reading illustrated children's stories aloud in the family's mother tongue, page by page, and each recording stays on the child's shelf forever. Real family voices — never AI narration. Persian (Farsi) first.

Sixteen sport and game words

Many of these words are borrowed, so an English-speaking child already half-knows them. The spoken column shows the spoken form where it is different. The last column is a short line a child might say.

Written	Spoken	Say it like	Meaning	A short line
فوتبال	فوتبال	fut-BÂL	football (soccer)	بیا تو حیاط فوتبال بازی کنیم. biyâ tu hayât fotbâl bâzi konim. Let's play football in the yard.
والیبال	والیبال	vâ-li-BÂL	volleyball	تو ساحل والیبال بازی کردیم. tu sâhel vâlibâl bâzi kardim. We played volleyball at the beach.
بسکتبال	بسکتبال	bas-ket-BÂL	basketball	توپ رو انداخت تو سبد. tup ro andâkht tu sabad. He threw the ball into the basket.
شنا	شنا	she-NÂ	swimming	من تو استخر شنا بلدم. man tu estakhr shenâ baladam. I can swim in the pool.
دو / دویدن	دو / دویدن	DO / da-vi-DAN	running	تو پارک کلی دویدیم. tu pârk kolli davidim. We ran a lot in the park.
پرش	پرش	pa-RESH	jumping (a jump)	خیلی بلند پرید. kheyli boland parid. He jumped very high.
دوچرخه‌سواری	دوچرخه‌سواری	do-char-khe-sa-vâ-RI	cycling	تو کوچه دوچرخه‌سواری کردم. tu kuche docharkhe-savâri kardam. I rode my bike in the lane.
کشتی	کشتی	kosh-TI	wrestling	دو تا پهلوون دارن کشتی می‌گیرن. do tâ pahlevun dâran koshti migiran. Two wrestlers are wrestling.
وزنه‌برداری	وزنه‌برداری	vaz-ne-bar-dâ-RI	weightlifting	وزنه رو بلند کرد بالا. vazne ro boland kard bâlâ. He lifted the weight up.
تنیس	تنیس	te-NIS	tennis	با راکت تنیس بازی می‌کنه. bâ râket tenis bâzi mikone. She plays tennis with a racket.
پینگ‌پنگ	پینگ‌پنگ	ping-PONG	table tennis	بیا پینگ‌پنگ بازی کنیم. biyâ ping-pong bâzi konim. Let's play table tennis.
بدمینتون	بدمینتون	bad-min-TON	badminton	توپِ بدمینتون پَر داره. tup-e badminton par dâre. The badminton birdie has feathers.
اسکی	اسکی	es-KI	skiing	زمستون رفتیم رو برف اسکی. zemestun raftim ru barf eski. In winter we went skiing on the snow.
ژیمناستیک	ژیمناستیک	zhim-nâs-TIK	gymnastics	تو ژیمناستیک چرخ زد. tu zhimnâstik charkh zad. She did a cartwheel in gymnastics.
توپ	توپ	TUP	ball	توپ رو بنداز برام. tup ro bendâz barâm. Throw me the ball.
دروازه	دروازه	dar-vâ-ZE	goal (the net)	توپ رفت تو دروازه، گل شد. tup raft tu darvâze, gol shod. The ball went into the goal, it was a goal.

A few of these words carry a small picture. Docharkhe is "two wheels", so docharkhe-savâri is "two-wheel riding". Vazne on its own is the weight you put on a scale, so vazne-bardâri is "weight-lifting". Darvâze is the old word for a city gate, and a football net is a kind of gate, so the same word is used; the ball going in is a gol. The formal name for ping-pong is tenis-e ru-ye miz, table tennis.

Two of these, running and jumping, are also everyday verbs a parent says all day, like bedo (run) and beparr (jump). Those and other action words are on the Persian action words page. For the arms and legs a child uses to play, see body parts in Persian for kids.

Wrestling and the zurkhaneh

Two sports are closest to the heart of Iran, and a child abroad is likely to hear about them from a grandparent.

Wrestling, koshti. Two people try, with no tools, to put each other on the ground. Many people call wrestling Iran's national sport, even though football is the most popular sport to watch and play today. At the Olympic Games, Iran has won more medals in wrestling and in weightlifting (vazne-bardâri) than in any other sport, so these are the two the country is best known for.
The zurkhaneh, the "house of strength". This is a traditional Iranian way of exercising, done by a group together in a special building with a round, sunken floor. One person beats a drum and sings, and the others swing heavy wooden clubs, do push-ups on a board and turn in circles, all in time with the beat. The whole thing is called varzesh-e bastani, the "ancient sport", and a strong, respected athlete earns the old title pahlevân, a hero. A session often ends with koshti. UNESCO added the Pahlevani and zurkhaneh rituals to its list of the world's living cultural heritage in 2010.

This is a nice thing to ask a grandparent about on a call. Many of them watched wrestling growing up, or knew someone who went to a zurkhaneh, and the question gives them a story to tell.

A name-the-sport game for a video call

This game needs no ball and almost no room, so it works on a video call with a grandparent, or in a small flat.

The grandparent calls out a sport in Persian, and the child does the movement. Shenâ: move your arms like swimming. Davidan: run on the spot. Pareš: jump up. Docharkhe-savâri: lie on your back and pedal your legs in the air. Vazne-bardâri: lift two pretend weights over your head.
Then swap. The child does a movement and the grandparent has to name the sport in Persian. A small child loves being the one who knows the answer.
Name the body part too. Swimming uses the dast (arms), running uses the pâ (legs). The words are on the body parts page.
If there is a ball, a soft tup rolled back and forth in front of the camera is its own game: tup ro bogir (catch the ball), tup ro bende (throw the ball). More ball and playground words are on the toys and playground words page.
Finish with a cheer. When the child does well, the warm Persian words are âfarin (well done) and damet garm (nice one). No sport word sticks better than one a grandparent cheered for.

A sport named on a call often comes back: next time the grandparent asks whether the child swam or cycled that week, and the word is used again. Many families also keep a grandparent's voice close between calls with recorded stories, which is what Azizan is for. For more on keeping a call going with a small child, see video calls with grandparents for toddlers.

Related guides

Questions

How do you say football in Persian?

Football is fotbâl (فوتبال), the same word a child already knows in English. Many sport words are borrowed like this: tenis (tennis), vâlibâl (volleyball), basketbâl (basketball). The Persian word for sport itself is varzesh (ورزش).

What is the Persian word for swimming?

Swimming is shenâ (شنا). A child might say man shenâ baladam, I can swim. Unlike the borrowed words, shenâ is a Persian word.

What is Iran's national sport?

Many people call wrestling, koshti (کشتی), Iran's national sport, though football is the most popular today. At the Olympics, Iran has won more medals in wrestling and weightlifting than in any other sport.

What is a zurkhaneh?

A zurkhaneh (زورخانه) means the 'house of strength'. It is a traditional Iranian way of exercising in a group, with heavy wooden clubs, push-ups and turns done in time to a drum. The practice is called varzesh-e bastani, and UNESCO added it to its list of living cultural heritage in 2010.

How do you say ball and goal in Persian?

A ball is tup (توپ) and the goal, the net, is darvâze (دروازه). When the ball goes in, that is a gol (گل), the same sound as the English word goal.

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Updated: 2026-11-03 · By Aida Fard

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