Since I was a kid, I have always enjoyed running, jumping, playing soccer, baseball, or just engaging in any physical outdoors activity. Sports have been very natural and fun to me. What has not been natural is building new relationships or friendships.
The following are the sports and teams that I have joined and practiced with more consistency: soccer, basketball, baseball, swimming, Tae Kwon Do, volleyball, and most recently, sports motorcycle riding, boxing, slow pitch softball, and running. A little bit of everything.
If you ever feel “stuck” in the same circle of friends or family members, you can always expand your network by enrolling in a new sport or physical activity. This could be something that you have practiced during your childhood or adolescence like baseball, gymnastics, soccer, tennis, or swimming. Furthermore, you could also expand your mind and body to new frontiers by trying out a new or different sport like running, boxing, rowing, calisthenics, or badminton.
Humans are social beings, and we enjoy being surrounded by other like-minded people. Sports offer a great opportunity to connect to folks that pursue the same objective. An objective which is not always winning a game. The objective can only be having fun or getting out of your house or the office to reconnect with friends and feel fresh air on your face.
Some people like me prefer individual sports like boxing, running, and motorcycle riding. However, through slow pitch softball I rediscovered the social power of team sports. Collective sports provide a venue to relieve stress and exercise together with other folks. In my experience, this environment promotes mental wellness and balance. This becomes a “safe space” where people can joke, exercise, laugh, and enjoy the company of each other. I had forgotten the camaraderie of getting together with friends.
Through sports and physical activities, I have been able to forge lifelong relationships. For example, I have kept friends from the time when I played minor league baseball, and since I started playing slow pitch softball (2020), I have reconnected to many more after 25 years without seeing each other. This is a community of friendships, support, and fun.
Even though I am not formally a member of any running club, running has provided me with a new venue to make new friends and networks. The running community is very special and much healthier than other sports’ networks. A runner most likely will commit to a strategic regime of running workouts, nutritional eating, good sleep, and strength training to complete a half-marathon or marathon. In other sports, athletes or let me correct, sports’ enthusiasts like me that have over 45 years of age do not commit the time, discipline, and resources to prepare for the weekend games or tournaments. It is definitively less structured. However, the running community is unique and provides participants with the opportunity to grow as an athlete and a human being.
In any case, I invite you to reach out to your local sports’ association, collective sports clubs, or social networks to find a coach or team that is practicing a sport that you are interested in to start playing, having fun, and reengineering your social life and friendships network.
Happy exercise!
JnRue
