Start playing a team sport again

Apparently, according to the coach, I’m a “natural.” It certainly doesn’t feel that way in the boat. But, I am enjoying getting up eaerly to hit the water, and the challenge of learning new and complicated technique is exciting. As a teacher and friend of mine once said, “it’s good to do something a little mad once in a while,” making a shakespearian reference. So yes, 4:30 is a bit mad…

Yesterday I checked out an adult novice crew team that rows nearby. While there will be a bit of a learning curve, I’m athletic enough that it shouldn’t be too bad. The team rows EARLY tuesdays and thursdays as well as (early for a) saturday mornings. This means i can get a workout in before work, in a team environment, while being out on the water. Sounds like a win-win-win to me.

Because team sports are a great way to satisfy two very important needs: exercise and casual social contact. In addition to making exercise more fun by adding in an element of competition (a common enemy?) team sports, exercising with other people drives me to push myself harder. The structure and objectives (as ridiculous as they may seem in the abstract) of team sports also make this form of exercise more enjoyable than solo sports (which have different redeeming qualities). Perhaps the most overlooked value of team sports is the type of casual social interaction it facilitates. You develop a unique type of relationship with your teammates: one of familiarity and shared experiences/goals, which allows one to communicate feelings that might otherwise be surpressed, but on a level that is surface enough and with a limited frequency and lack of obligation (that might accompany a deep friendship or romance) that avoids the risks of opening up.