Growing up I played a lot of sports. I tried just about everything when I was younger from hockey, volleyball, soccer, field hockey, gymnastics, ice skating, and even softball. But at a certain point I remember being told that I had to “pick a sport” to stay with. At the time it was an easy answer, gymnastics. It was what I was best at and liked the most. I did gymnastics all throughout high school and although I spent so much time I didn’t absolutely love it. I just thought that since I was good at it and was told to pick a sport then I guess I should stick with it.

After graduating high school I quit, if you’re not competing for college or going to the Olympics there really aren’t any teams to join after like a beer league or anything. What I realized after I quit was that since gymnastics is such a niche sport I kinda sucked at everything else. This was a pretty frustrating discovery. I had all these plans to join a slow pitch team, maybe kick around a soccer ball on a womens team but since I left all these sports so long ago I literally forgot everything I felt like I was illiterate in athletics. I do dabble in golf here and there and love snow and water sports but anything on a field or involving a ball, forget it. 

So this year I’m making it my mission to get back into sports, age is just a number, why should I let that stop me. For so long I believed that you had to be “good” at a sport to be a part of it but to be honest if you’re post grad and on a fun team that’s what it’s really all about – having fun. Sports get you active, creates a sense of community, and is a great way to relieve stress, have fun and get outside. 

Instead of treating sports as something so serious as I did when I was competing in gymnastics, I’m learning to put the fun back in the fundamentals of sport. This year I’ve got some pretty big plans. I’m going to join a slow pitch team. I currently don’t have a lot of assets I bring to the field but what I can bring is a positive attitude and some beers. 

So if it’s been awhile since you have been back playing sports, don’t let your age or skill level stop you, get out there and have some fun and if that doesn’t work don’t forget that every team needs a bench warmer or a water boy.