The "Way Over 40" League

Boot camp ended Friday - just as our co-ed outdoor soccer season began on Saturday. A friend was asking me if I played in the "over 40" soccer league. "We're way over 40!" I said - and thought, now that would be the right name for our league. The "Way Over 40" league.

Our league's technical name is "Grand Masters" - a euphemism for "old people." At 48, I'm one of the youngest on my team.

But we have such a good time! Though we lost this past Saturday. Without one of our players, we would have been skunked. Thanks to him (and the assists he got), we scored 3 goals - still lost, but with a little dignity intact.

Boot camp seems to have agreed with me. Though it was about 85 degrees on the soccer field Saturday afternoon, and though I don't play well in the heat, and though we were playing without enough women again (which meant all the women on the team played the entire game) - I never really got out of breath. This - borders on a miracle.

I usually play fullback - not halfback, not even forward - so I should always be able to say, at the end of a game, that I did not struggle, since fullbacks do the least amount of running. But usually I am too out of breath to say anything, much less that I "did not struggle" (irony sounds).

And if I wasn't in too bad of a shape at the end of a hot day... Boot camp has made its impact.

So, let's see - highlights of the game... Well, one of our players scored a hat trick (three goals), as I mentioned above. Our goalie did an amazing job... We had a couple new women who played valiantly - one of them has an amazing "cross" (she played wing - which means, forward and on the side). She needs to play up there all the time.

I had a couple headers (well one header and one noser - mmm hmmm, that means I got to the ball, only it missed my forehead...) And I think I had a couple of hippers, too (again, this is not a real term, but is descriptive of what actually happened on a couple of occasions, when the ball came sizzling towards me and my "stop" of it involved sacrificing my side rather than my front - or my back! I wasn't totally chicken! Um- or, maybe I just didn't twirl around fast enough...) Oh, and I did suck the ball once out of someone's foot as she tried to get by me. I love that when it happens. It's like I am a vacuum, and the other player has just stepped out of their shoe (and sock), so surprised they are that they no longer have the ball at their feet.

And then there's Zumba - which I'm starting on Tuesdays and Wednesdays... This apparently is a dance class, with Latin flavor. I'll find out more tomorrow night.

Between boot camp and walking, soccer and zumba - I'm calling this the "Season of the Body." It's been a long time since I've taken the time to get in physical shape. Usually I'm too busy with all my mental responsibilities to take the time to care about my physical being... But I'm 48, and it's now or never. Or, well - it's now, anyway.

And here's a funny thing that's happened on that way to that forum... My entire right side (not just a little noggin of a lower back) is in some sort of traction. It would be funny, if it didn't hurt from my rib cage down to my knee cap. Ha ha. (Actually, it is a little funny, and I've been laughing, trying to imagine what exactly I might have done to have caused this new, expanded ailment.)

But then, here's the good thing - I'll make an appintment to see my chiropractor. Maybe it is just my body's subtle way of encouraging good care all around.

'Tis the season!