My legs haven’t been sore in a very long time.
I came home today from my first softball practice and my legs were sore. The practice wasn’t very physical or difficult, it was just a lot of standing flat footed for nearly 2 and a half hours.
I was invited to join the team by an old high school buddy who also moved up to Columbia from Summerville (about 100 miles). Otherwise, I don’t know anybody else on the team (most are college kids), but they’ll be fun to play with. It’s a good mix of new and experienced players.
I haven’t played on an “organized” team since I played soccer when I was 16. Almost 10 years have passed since then and over 100 pounds have been gained and it’s refreshing getting back onto the field again. I’m an extremely competitive person by nature and being in shape for the first time in my life makes it really easy to actually compete.
Practice is from 2-4 every Sunday with games starting sometime in Mid-March. I don’t know what the team name will be nor do I know the team colors yet, but I do know we might be looking for one or two more females to balance out our co-ed team.
Interested?
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
Good for you! I hope to join a team of some sort once I get closer to my goal :o)
You should, it’s been a blast so far!
I wish I could join your team. Unfortunately, I live in Minneapolis and it will be several more months before I can get any exercise outside. Have fun! It sounds like a blast.
I think the solution is to move the south.
Great news! Sounds like it’s going to be fun.
I can’t wait for warm weather. I miss playing volleyball so much, and if I keep up the good work on myself, maybe I can play again this summer!
I’ve never actually played volleyball, one of the rare sports I haven’t played in some sort of “team” capacity (I’ve played soccer, football, basketball, baseball, softball).
We play volleyball in the summer and it’s so fun.
Oh wow that’s awsome! I wish I could join, but I live in Oregon! I haven’t joined an organized team since I was 13…some 15 years ago. Wow! This will be great exercise for you too! Drink lots of water!
I am, both before and after practice!
Dude, I was in a league for a short while and it was SUPER fun. I am terrible at softball and only played in one game, but I was at every practice and that was 10 times more fun than the actual game. You’ll have a great time with this.
It’s really fun so far. I need to hit the batting cages fairly soon, my swing is a little off (too high).
That is fantastic. You get so much from team sports. My initial drive to lose weight came when I signed up for martial arts and realized I wasn’t going to be able to excel at it without dropping some weight. Good luck and have fun.
I’d love to participate in some martial arts — how much money does a typical class cost?
Awesome!
Softball always looks so fun! I actually have never been on a softball league (unless you count gym). But it does look like fun!
Good luck! Talking about softball lets me know that spring is just around the corner!
~Kellie
I HATE this winter. It seems like it has lasted forever. The whole blizzard we had here a couple of weeks ago was like the climax of a 6-month winter in South Carolina.
Or so it seems.
Tyler, be sure to STRETCH FIRST AND WELL. My spouse and I joined a softball team a few years ago and it was awesome fun. 2nd year we were late one day to practice and as we got out of the car someone yelled “Hey Tracy, you’re up to bat!” Not one to miss out on any at bat, I ran directly to the plate, no stretching or warming up. Got a single. Person behind me slapped a nice wobbler that hit the ground between in- and outfield; and as I rounded 2nd I took a glance to see where the fielder was and where she might be planning to throw – I had tons of time to get to 3rd when POP! and I hit the ground rolling. How embarrassing, and I stood up to start running back to…. BAM!. On the dirt again, WTH? So I crawled to 3rd (priorities you know), and tried again to stand up.
I had totally ruptured my right calf. That was 8 years ago and I still cannot go running. The pop! was heard by everyone on the field, gnarly scary – and the xray of it is just stunning. I now have 2 halves of a calf on that side, with a very obvious divot where the muscle separated from the bone.
So everyone, once you pass about 28 years old, you must stretch and warm-up thoroughly. I am the poster child for stretching before softball.
Tracy, who still feels extra ashamed since it was a practice, not a game-winning slide or anything good.
I’m a big believer in stretching, but a lot of the youngins on the field don’t. They just start running and playing. More than likely nothing will happen to them, but stretching, when done properly, also seems to decrease the recovery time for me after a physical activity and well prevent me from locking up.
Ill stick to jiu-jitsu. :)
Where?
W. Cola/Lexington
http://focabjj.com/
I love the workout :) You use all those muscles you forget about.
Have fun! I have always played sports, including softball. When I gained a lot of weight, I convinced myself that the deterioration of my skills was due to age. Now that I have lost the weight, I am having great fun playing again. Enjoy!
Yeah, I’m having fun. Honestly though, it’s weird not being the “big” person on the team. That was always my profile — I was the one my teammates went, “jeeze, this guy can’t run.”
Now I’m flying around the bases.
Hey Tyler,
I just sort of stumbled onto your site and…wow. You have an amazing story and the fact that you’re sharing it with the world makes it even more impressive. So…thanks.
And as for sports leagues…I think there’s something seriously wrong with the fact that opportunities for participating in sports just for the fun of it seem to drop off after we turn 16 or 18. It happened to me, too, only my sport was soccer. It’s really too bad. Not only are we (society?) missing out on a fun way to exercise, but we’re missing out on some good, healthy competition, too!
Best,
Heather
I’m glad you found the site Heather! Thanks for the comment. I feel the same way — there seems to be no one big organization or effort by anybody to encourage or promote sports by adults, only organizations/companies that host sports for kids.
There’s a huge demand for it.
I used to play 16″ softball when I was a kid. A lot of jammed fingers, but all you needed was a ball and a bat and a bunch of guys.
Sounds like a blast.
Sounds like fun…. I haven’t played an organized sport for about 20 years :D I am a better cheerleader than player though. wOOt!
My wife and daughter were out cheering for me on Sunday, but my wife is pretty good at softball herself (or so I hear!).
I am jealous that your practices already start and that your games will start mid march. Snow will still be on the ground here! I think I have to wait until at least april for my league to start and May for games. I guess that’s what I get for living in upstate NY
You should move down to South Carolina :)
keep the weight, man! the more u lose, the less topics u can find
Isn’t it great when you lose enough weight to be active again? A softball league – that’s awesome!
I’m not much into team sports, but I enjoy doing other physical activities I haven’t done in a while. It’s a perfect way to celebrate weight loss.
You’re right, it is! That’d be a good idea for a blog post.
Your site is great. Keep up the hard work. Very inspiring.
Thanks, Ged!
You asked about the cost of martial arts. The reason that I joined is because it is free – after my husband earned his black belt our entire family was allowed to attend for free. However, it is very economical compared to other schools. About $100 for twelve weeks of instruction, and if you pay an extra $20 you can attend classes five days a week.
Most schools have a free trial class if you ever want to try. It has done loads for my confidence, and I am testing for brown belt this summer and hopefully will do the year long program for black belt with my son in 2011.
I played on a city-wide intramural softball league for two years a few years back. Even though I was sadly horrible at the game (they put me in right field for a reason!), I had a blast and got some good fun exercise. Hope you experience the same! (minus the ‘being a horrible player’ part!) :)
Holly @ Making Over Me