I play medium tier co-ed soccer, have for the last dozen years or so. I just hit 40, am slowing down and taking longer to recover from injuries. I know my time at a fun sprinting competitivish level is coming to an end but… Sure, I’ll miss the new dope friend aspext of it but equally importantly, 3 nights a week for years, I’ve been so happy to play and for a few hours a week the world, the future, politics, none of it mattered, all that mattered was stopping the bad guys from putting a ball in the wrong place and hopefully making it go to the right place (I’m defence, that half of the field is up to the other 6)
I dunno. Hoped maybe one of you has had to do this before and can share some thoughts. (I just had my foot clipped pretty bad, know I’m out for a few weeks but just came back off another injury etc…)
Edit: Goodness gracious, you folks are all so kind and supportive. Thanks so much, I’m definitely feeling less dejected and much more hopeful about the next stage of living an active and wild life.
I switched to lower impact sports like kayaking/paddling and cycling as I aged. Still can be social, especially biking, but hard to replace a dedicated league soccer. Do y’all have pickle ball? That is pretty social in my area and probably will feel low impact compared to soccer.
Those are really great suggestions, especially as I already enjoy or have enjoyed half of them. I haven’t kayaked in at least a dozen years and I live on Canada’s West freakin’ coast!
Pickleball seems like a slower and thus lifelong version of tennis, is that kind of the idea? Can you just not smash that sort of ball very hard/far?
I play disc golf as my low impact sport. Super chill, most courses are public parks so they’re free, and it’s a great excuse to go walk around a park for a few hours
Oooh, we do have a few of those around. Honestly, should probably try that and give in and give actual golf a try too.
Low impact, high damage
I have only seen it played and have not played it myself. It does seem like slow tennis to me too. I’ve seen people of all ages and apparent fitness levels playing each other though so I mentioned it.
Canada’s West Coast seems like a great paddling area. Lakes and big water rivers. Plus all the wildlife and nature.
Yeah, I’m similar in that I’m aware of pickleball but know nothing about the actual game.
And yup, the West Coast is amazing for paddling! I’ve only ever done ocean kayak trips which are great but there is a lot more to explore!
I’ve always wanted to properly ocean kayak. I used to whitewater mainly but I got injured (and scared lol) and now I do flat water paddling. High mountain lake paddling is fun too if you are a hiker. Packraft is the product category you’d be looking for if that interests you.
Oh cool, I’d never heard of a packraft but they seem awesome!
Fully recommend ocean kayaking. My buddy had an attachment so he’d basically be trawling a fishing line behind the boat so more often than not, we’d have fresh caught, ready for dinner when we landed.