How do I get involved with social sports?
A social sports club can provide a consistent exercise routine, a sense of community and some healthy competitiveness, but I am currently finding it difficult to find one. When the state went into lockdown and all on-campus learning ceased for semester one, so did all of the sports and societies. Now that I have arrived back and the Coronavirus is currently in a controlled state in South Australia, sports societies have resumed their activities.
Unfortunately, I only arrived back in South Australia a few weeks ago. This has made it difficult to find a social sports club to get involved in. The few that I had started training with have almost finished their season for the year and I am ‘out of touch’ with their communities. For me, the idea of pushing myself back out into a completely new sports club (especially when I am an amateur) is daunting to say the least. It seems that most of the social leagues have finished and that leaves me with the option of spending lots of money on clubs outside of university with people I don’t know which is also quite a challenging idea.
What to do?
Even though the idea of meeting new people in an environment/sport where I am not very skilled is very scary, I’m trying to be proactive and find exercise and sport in other ways. For me, this is currently just emailing the sports clubs and asking what social leagues/events are going on and when and where I can get involved? I’ve also been searching for clubs outside of university to see if there is anything interesting and fun to do (as well as cost effective). In the meantime, however, I am trying to find exercise and the release from sport in other ways. I often just play some basketball at a free public court with a friend or by myself, but best of all I use the playground down the road.
I think adults using playgrounds is something we definitely have to normalise. Just because we are no longer children doesn’t mean we don’t get the same benefits from climbing, exploring and having a go on the swing or the spider web. As soon as I kick my shoes off and have a few bounces on the spider web I instantly feel more at ease and relaxed. However, one of the biggest challenges I find when exercising by myself without social sport is making the exercise fun. The best remedy I have found to this is surrounding yourself with friends and doing something fun and crazy such as lazer tag or going to a trampoline venue. It will make you sweat and get your heart rate pumping. As I go forward I need to keep pushing myself to meet people, try new things and learn to have regular exercise on my own, so maybe I will see you all at the playground next time!