Bastian approved
I joined a local indoor soccer league! And we had our first game last night! \o/
As SOME of you may have noticed, I caught a bit of the soccer bug during this here World Cup. :) It has always been far and away my favorite sport, both to play and watch, but this World Cup was a really exciting kick in the pants and revived my interest in a very real way. I played soccer in high school - varsity for four years - and it's one of my favorite parts of my childhood. I haven't played since then though (five years) and I miss it a lot. So I got the idea to join a league, and I'm so glad I did!
I was really nervous because it's co-ed and my team is mostly dudes. I also had no idea what skill level the league would be at, even though it's called "recreational". Well, as it turned out, I was on a team at a similar level as me - had played in high school but not much since then. But we were up against people who obviously play competitively on a regular basis - they were so good, holy crap. (One guy reminded me strongly of Connor from Angel - with the lanky and the haircut and the MOVING FREAKILY FAST.) So it was a pretty intense and fast-paced game, which I don't think any of us expected. We lost 8-0, haha. I still had a lot of fun though, and WOW was it good to get my foot on a soccer ball again! I even loved putting on shinguards and soccer socks and indoor soccer shoes - so many memories just came rushing back, and it was amazing feeling.
The main problem was that I am so out of shape. I'm terrible at exercising for the hell of it and have only been in shape when I participated in organized team sports. As a result, I was huffing and puffing within 10 minutes, dripping sweat and actually a little dizzy. It was not so awesome. :((( One problem was that our team had only 3 girls and the rule is that 2 girls need to be on the field at all times for fairness' sake, so we actually ended up working harder! I did get to play defense though, which is my faaaaavorite position (one of the many many reasons Philipp Lahm is my VERY FAVORITE). I didn't play as well as I would have liked, mostly because I was so out of gas and just could not go everywhere I wanted to, but I was pleased to find that I still had a pretty good instinct for the game, and a decent touch on the ball. By the end of the game I had gotten more of a sense for things and was even making good passes. My roommate Emily came to cheer me on (♥) and one guy on my team got injured so he was next to her on the bleachers; she said he was grumbling about how our team was playing, but that about me he said "She just needs to loosen up." That made me smile, because he saw potential in me! In my first game in 5 years! Yay!
One awesome thing about playing co-ed is that you get to play with hot dudes. :D Case in point: our goalie looked like IKER CASILLAS (Spain's goalie). Not as devastatingly attractive, of course, but still very cute. He even played amazingly even though he'd never played in goal before - he's the only reason the score wasn't 15-0! AND we had a midfielder who looked like ARNE FRIEDRICH, my daaaarling, so I was very charmed by that as well. They were for the most part nice dudes, if a little dismissive of the gals, but a couple of them were really sweet and I think it'll be a fun team to play on. A bunch of them already know each other so it's a little hard to break into that, but I think I might be able to. We'll see! We have one game a week for 8 weeks. Should be a good time.
OH AND WE PLAYED WITH A JABULANI! Hee! I don't think we got it up to 40 mph, so I didn't see the beach ball effect, but I was so pleased to be playing with one. :D
Another funny thing about all this is that when I went shopping for soccer gear, all I could buy was Adidas! I mean, I've always been an Adidas fan - in high school my socks, shinguards, and cleats were almost always Adidas just because I think the three stripes is such an elegant design, and they're good quality - but this time I was like "My Germany bbs looked so good in it, must have!" *facepalm foreverrr* I can't believe branding worked on me, oh my god. /o\
SPEAKING OF GERMANY CLOTHING, I bought myself a Lahm away (black) World Cup jersey!! *happy dances* Number 16 baby! I hilariously bought it as a replica from some random person in Thailand on eBay, so it was only $6 plus $21 shipping, which is kiiind of awesome. They had a lot of good reviews on similar jerseys so I'm hopeful that it'll look fantastic! I CAN'T WAIT to represent my bb captain! \o/
The worst consequence of launching back into things is that my back hurts like a MOTHERFUCKER. I permanently damaged my back in high school when I tried to dead lift a stupid amount of weight (the chiropractor x-rayed me and one of my vertebrae isn't properly in line anymore /o\) so I've had chronic lower back issues for years. Even just sitting still for an extended period of time is uncomfortable - at the movies I have to continually shift my angle because my back starts to hurt. :( So you can imagine that doing a twisty, physical activity for the first time in a long time might have done a number on my back. Aaand it did. I have felt like an old lady today. D: You know how you have to lift boxes with your knees, not your back? Well I have to lift my OWN weight with my knees now, hahahasob. It's not cool at all. The rest of me is a more pleasant ache, a lot less than I expected actually. But I might have to look into a chiropractor if I want to continue playing soccer.
There was one really nice guy named Andre that I liked a lot. He said he plays with another group and that it's NEVER this intense! I actually ran into him today at lunch because he has a class near my work, and he invited me to come to practices with his league, because they're just fun and lowkey. I think that sounds fantastic and will probably take him up on it! Good times, good times.
All in all, I'm really really glad I did it! Something about playing soccer just feels right. I hope now that I've taken the plunge, this will be something I genuinely take up as a hobby. This could very well motivate me to get in shape again, and perhaps eventually I could really play on a team again. Fingers crossed!
♥
As SOME of you may have noticed, I caught a bit of the soccer bug during this here World Cup. :) It has always been far and away my favorite sport, both to play and watch, but this World Cup was a really exciting kick in the pants and revived my interest in a very real way. I played soccer in high school - varsity for four years - and it's one of my favorite parts of my childhood. I haven't played since then though (five years) and I miss it a lot. So I got the idea to join a league, and I'm so glad I did!
I was really nervous because it's co-ed and my team is mostly dudes. I also had no idea what skill level the league would be at, even though it's called "recreational". Well, as it turned out, I was on a team at a similar level as me - had played in high school but not much since then. But we were up against people who obviously play competitively on a regular basis - they were so good, holy crap. (One guy reminded me strongly of Connor from Angel - with the lanky and the haircut and the MOVING FREAKILY FAST.) So it was a pretty intense and fast-paced game, which I don't think any of us expected. We lost 8-0, haha. I still had a lot of fun though, and WOW was it good to get my foot on a soccer ball again! I even loved putting on shinguards and soccer socks and indoor soccer shoes - so many memories just came rushing back, and it was amazing feeling.
The main problem was that I am so out of shape. I'm terrible at exercising for the hell of it and have only been in shape when I participated in organized team sports. As a result, I was huffing and puffing within 10 minutes, dripping sweat and actually a little dizzy. It was not so awesome. :((( One problem was that our team had only 3 girls and the rule is that 2 girls need to be on the field at all times for fairness' sake, so we actually ended up working harder! I did get to play defense though, which is my faaaaavorite position (one of the many many reasons Philipp Lahm is my VERY FAVORITE). I didn't play as well as I would have liked, mostly because I was so out of gas and just could not go everywhere I wanted to, but I was pleased to find that I still had a pretty good instinct for the game, and a decent touch on the ball. By the end of the game I had gotten more of a sense for things and was even making good passes. My roommate Emily came to cheer me on (♥) and one guy on my team got injured so he was next to her on the bleachers; she said he was grumbling about how our team was playing, but that about me he said "She just needs to loosen up." That made me smile, because he saw potential in me! In my first game in 5 years! Yay!
One awesome thing about playing co-ed is that you get to play with hot dudes. :D Case in point: our goalie looked like IKER CASILLAS (Spain's goalie). Not as devastatingly attractive, of course, but still very cute. He even played amazingly even though he'd never played in goal before - he's the only reason the score wasn't 15-0! AND we had a midfielder who looked like ARNE FRIEDRICH, my daaaarling, so I was very charmed by that as well. They were for the most part nice dudes, if a little dismissive of the gals, but a couple of them were really sweet and I think it'll be a fun team to play on. A bunch of them already know each other so it's a little hard to break into that, but I think I might be able to. We'll see! We have one game a week for 8 weeks. Should be a good time.
OH AND WE PLAYED WITH A JABULANI! Hee! I don't think we got it up to 40 mph, so I didn't see the beach ball effect, but I was so pleased to be playing with one. :D
Another funny thing about all this is that when I went shopping for soccer gear, all I could buy was Adidas! I mean, I've always been an Adidas fan - in high school my socks, shinguards, and cleats were almost always Adidas just because I think the three stripes is such an elegant design, and they're good quality - but this time I was like "My Germany bbs looked so good in it, must have!" *facepalm foreverrr* I can't believe branding worked on me, oh my god. /o\
SPEAKING OF GERMANY CLOTHING, I bought myself a Lahm away (black) World Cup jersey!! *happy dances* Number 16 baby! I hilariously bought it as a replica from some random person in Thailand on eBay, so it was only $6 plus $21 shipping, which is kiiind of awesome. They had a lot of good reviews on similar jerseys so I'm hopeful that it'll look fantastic! I CAN'T WAIT to represent my bb captain! \o/
The worst consequence of launching back into things is that my back hurts like a MOTHERFUCKER. I permanently damaged my back in high school when I tried to dead lift a stupid amount of weight (the chiropractor x-rayed me and one of my vertebrae isn't properly in line anymore /o\) so I've had chronic lower back issues for years. Even just sitting still for an extended period of time is uncomfortable - at the movies I have to continually shift my angle because my back starts to hurt. :( So you can imagine that doing a twisty, physical activity for the first time in a long time might have done a number on my back. Aaand it did. I have felt like an old lady today. D: You know how you have to lift boxes with your knees, not your back? Well I have to lift my OWN weight with my knees now, hahahasob. It's not cool at all. The rest of me is a more pleasant ache, a lot less than I expected actually. But I might have to look into a chiropractor if I want to continue playing soccer.
There was one really nice guy named Andre that I liked a lot. He said he plays with another group and that it's NEVER this intense! I actually ran into him today at lunch because he has a class near my work, and he invited me to come to practices with his league, because they're just fun and lowkey. I think that sounds fantastic and will probably take him up on it! Good times, good times.
All in all, I'm really really glad I did it! Something about playing soccer just feels right. I hope now that I've taken the plunge, this will be something I genuinely take up as a hobby. This could very well motivate me to get in shape again, and perhaps eventually I could really play on a team again. Fingers crossed!
♥