I’m in my late 20’s and this is my first year since 2018 that I have not done adult recreational sports (softball and flag football) in the spring and summer. The reason for not doing them this year is because my wife and I had our first child and I did not have time to play like I usually do between work and the new child. I thought I would miss playing sports, but I really don’t.
I loved sports as a kid, but playing adult sports the last few years really wore me down. I was always the captain and even the event organizer for one sport and I really liked it at first, but as the years went on I noticed it was tougher to really enjoy it. Getting people to come out each week was the biggest problem. Even people I knew personally would get super flaky and cancel hours before the game kicked off, often leaving us shorthanded. Then other teams were also a challenge. I lost my super competitive streak years ago so I really just want to have fun and get some exercise, but some people seem to be unable to accept anything short of a win and appear willing to do anything possible to improve their odds of a win including cheating or being abusive. This constant bickering of reminding opponents of the rules, only to then be accused of being rule police became very frustrating. Often I felt like my team would be very flexible to avoid conflict and it still didn’t guarantee a smooth experience at all and there would still be unsportsmanlike conduct from the others. Our team wasn’t always perfect either, but it was almost always the result of reacting to unfair treatment. We even had one team who mocked our female pitcher and made sexist comments. We complained to the league and the team was thrown out of the league immediately, but our pitcher was shaken heavily by the experience.
I have been heavily contemplating if I want to go back to adult rec sports, and I really struggle to justify it. I’ve been so much more at peace not playing and I find I enjoy more going to professional sports and just watching casually rather than playing myself. Adult sports just feel so different compared to playing when I was a kid where it was about having fun and making friends. Now it just feels like people are only interested in winning and dominating their opponent even if it’s a meaningless game. Why do people do this? Should I just quit forever or should I give it another chance?
People who grew up doing sports have it quite easier than the rest when it comes to picking up a new physical activity later in life. Yes, I can no longer compete in the martial art I grew up competing, nor can I participate in any serious basketball event near me. But, for example, I can ride my bike for hours, explore very different routes and empty my mind. It is like meditation on my breathing while moving in quite beautiful natural surroundings. Sometimes getting to summits so silently beautiful that I wish I knew how to capture the beauty. It’s a different kind of fun, but it’s still fun.
Team sports… I 've played basketball and soccer as a kid, in competitive settings too, and I don’t think I can remember many occasions where everyone was respectful. It didn’t get better during adulthood. And it doesn’t take many assholes to ruin a game, even if they are eventually contained. Sometimes I miss basketball, which is probably the sport I loved most as a kid, but never the negative side of the team aspect, which was pretty much always present. In cycling (or running) the fact that you don’t need anyone else doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy company of others with similar taste and attitude :-)
And of course it’s the health aspect that is quite important. Maybe you are young and healthy enough still to disregard it, but for me, that alone pretty much justifies sports for as long as my body can handle them. As for watching… It’s easy for me to get bored (provided no unhealthy stimulants are used) when my heart rests at 45 bpm, but it’s pretty impossible to feel like that when it is constantly above 120-130 bpm to support movement. At some point in my life I took living with my heart very literally XD
Try other sports, competitive or not. Disc golf, tennis, basketball, volleyball, jogging, swimming, hiking, cycling, badminton, lawn bowling, skiing, surfing, and more… so much to choose from.
I think part of it is whether you win or lose if you go too hard you earn a prize of a sore back/arm/legs. Remember to always pace yourself, know your limits, and stretch lightly before, between breaks and after when you have time.
Organized sports with formal teams and team jerseys and calendars and refs was fun in my 20’s, but I was mainly doing pickup games by my 30’s. Now in my 40’s, I still do some participation in semi-organized leagues for inherently less serious sports, but it’s easy to enforce a “fun first” atmosphere when people are drinking beers while waiting their turn.
That all being said, I still do really enjoy individual, non-competitive sports where you’re trying to get your own personal best: weight lifting (whether powerlifting or olympic lifting), running, swimming, biking, etc. I like putting up better numbers than before, in all of those sports, even in a non-competitive environment. Or combinations of numbers (not my fastest 5k ever, but maybe my fastest 5k in the same month that I put up these deadlift numbers, etc.).
The competitive assholes are in youth sports, too, by the way. I think the last time I saw two 40-somethings almost get in a fist fight, they were dads at their daughters’ basketball game.
I am simply engaged in a never ending battle with the most feared and revered opponent I’ve ever come across: myself.
Seriously though, I don’t have the time / interest / patience to do group sports.
Running / cycling / hiking are great loner sports.
Oh, and maybe you didn’t realize it at the time, but kids are just as if not more brutal and competitive.
I occasionally help coach my son’s hockey team.
I was way more competitive as a kid. Physically too, if needed. Hockey and all.
I was a goal tender and if I let one past, I considered it a loss personally.
That drive left me with a record that hasn’t been beaten in the league, over half my “career” was shutouts, and the only time we lost was when I couldn’t play.
I’ve thought about getting back into it, but between the cost of gear, the time, and the fact that my knee would give out before a period is over really deters me.
Life protip: don’t be the pedestrian in a car on pedestrian accident.
Yikes - that last bit hurt!
I am extremely cognizant as I ride my bike but know that even then there could be a point where I’m forced to share the road and end up a victim.
I’m just to the point where my drive is fully internal.
Stay healthy and “all around” fit is good enough!
I think competitive team sports are a young people thing. Since my thirties I’ve had exactly zero inclination to risk my creaky old bones in football or anything of the kind, where an overzealous idiot can easily put you in hospital and cause life long damage. What worked for me for a while was badminton. At least there’s a net between you and the other bat-wielding maniac. Also you need only one person to play with. These days all I do is cycling. That’s really good for your overall health and the risk of broken bones or worse is controllable.
