Do you play a sport?

[*HJ*]

I play tennis. What about you guys???

[Graeme]

I play tennis. What about you guys???

I used to play and referee basketball, but after snapping my achilles tendon and then going to the UK for a year, I never got back into it. I haven't played an organised sport for over ten years now. At my peak, I played twice a week (two different competitions) and refereed twice a week, plus training.

 

We've told our boys that they have to do a sport. The elder is playing basketball, while the younger is still considering (he doesn't have to decide until he's finished all his certificates in swimming -- that's one thing we've insisted on, that both boys learn to swim). Yesterday, it was soccer, but he has in the past considered swimming as a sport. He'll probably finish his swimming certificates this year, so he'll have to make a decision soon. Of course, he can change his mind if he wants to We just think some sort of organised physical activity is good for them.

[Skyline]

I used to play and referee basketball, but after snapping my achilles tendon and then going to the UK for a year, I never got back into it. I haven't played an organised sport for over ten years now. At my peak, I played twice a week (two different competitions) and refereed twice a week, plus training.

 

We've told our boys that they have to do a sport. The elder is playing basketball, while the younger is still considering (he doesn't have to decide until he's finished all his certificates in swimming -- that's one thing we've insisted on, that both boys learn to swim). Yesterday, it was soccer, but he has in the past considered swimming as a sport. He'll probably finish his swimming certificates this year, so he'll have to make a decision soon. Of course, he can change his mind if he wants to We just think some sort of organised physical activity is good for them.

 

Agreed, its definitely a good life skill to be able to swim, and 2. being in some kind of organized sport is good for youngins.

 

Anyways I played school basketball for 7 years (started in grade 6), and spent most of that time playing for 2 or more teams (3 teams for most of that time period). So it was literally basketball 6 days a week for me for a long time.

 

I also have all my swimming stuff done.

 

Havent played basketball in a long time though.

 

Present day physical activities are skating/running in the summers

snowboarding in the winters.

[TetRefine]

I love sports! Over the years Ive played football, basketball, baseball, skiing, hockey, golf, and I even tried snowboarding for a year (bleh! )

 

Sadly I just finished up high school football and I will miss it dearly. So now I ski, run once and a while, and weightlift.

Edited April 14, 2010 by TetRefine

[Ramon]

I tried to play quite a few sports growing up like basketball, soccer, volleyball, golf, swimming, tennis, badminton, and track. Badminton has been my main sport for the last 4-5 years. Nice fast paced game.

[Graeme]

I've got a question, since we're discussing sports.

 

Australia has a strong sporting culture, and I got a rude shock when I went to the UK for year. I had expected to be able to find a basketball team to join, to keep up my fitness, but I couldn't find a local competition, let alone a team.

 

In Australia, sporting organisations are essentially independent of anything else. For example, there are local basketball competitions ranging from under eights, through to under eighteens, then a variety of open competitions from the semi-professional down to the once-a-week-just-want-play hacks, and then finally to, er, over-age competitions (eg. I used to ref an over thirty-five competition, which included players up to their seventies, from memory).

 

Any major city, and most country areas, will have a variety of sporting organisations and it's not difficult to find something in your area.

 

How is it with other countries? The UK, when I was there in the 90s, didn't seem to have much in the way of sporting activities for the general population. My impression of the USA is that most of the sporting activities revolve around the schools and colleges. Is that right, or is there a healthy sporting competition network outside of the education system, too?

[TetRefine]

I've got a question, since we're discussing sports.

 

Australia has a strong sporting culture, and I got a rude shock when I went to the UK for year. I had expected to be able to find a basketball team to join, to keep up my fitness, but I couldn't find a local competition, let alone a team.

 

In Australia, sporting organisations are essentially independent of anything else. For example, there are local basketball competitions ranging from under eights, through to under eighteens, then a variety of open competitions from the semi-professional down to the once-a-week-just-want-play hacks, and then finally to, er, over-age competitions (eg. I used to ref an over thirty-five competition, which included players up to their seventies, from memory).

 

Any major city, and most country areas, will have a variety of sporting organisations and it's not difficult to find something in your area.

 

How is it with other countries? The UK, when I was there in the 90s, didn't seem to have much in the way of sporting activities for the general population. My impression of the USA is that most of the sporting activities revolve around the schools and colleges. Is that right, or is there a healthy sporting competition network outside of the education system, too?

 

It depends on where you live. Where I live there are a lot of non-school leagues for just about every sport and every age group. There is also a wide range of the competitiveness, from the "Show up to just play and have a good time" (aka Beer Leagues) , to the very competitive ones. While yes, most of the competitive sports are tied to schools, there are lots of recreational sports leagues for anyone and everyone around the US.

[*HJ*]

It does depend on where you live. Normally you can find just about anything, but sometimes things are limited like in small towns. Although I live in one of those and we have a local park and a Youth Center, and their are leagues for ages -toddlers to senior citizens- for just about any sport. The baseball, softball, and football fields are located at the local high school along with tenis courts and are open to the public on weekends and non-practice days.

[Adam Phillips]

Love sports. In HS I played on the football, soccer, and baseball teams. I went to college on a soccer scholarship. I play basketball these days, I'm in an adult men's soccer league, play some handball/racquetball, and I do a little boxing. Never really got around to learning tennis.

[*HJ*]

Love sports. In HS I played on the football, soccer, and baseball teams. I went to college on a soccer scholarship. I play basketball these days, I'm in an adult men's soccer league, play some handball/racquetball, and I do a little boxing. Never really got around to learning tennis.

 

 

It is worth it. Great workout also.

[Eros]

I love being active. I grew up near the Western coast in California, so I took up surfing and volleyball at an early age. I also took part in track and field. I started Martial Arts when I was about nine or so, and I fell in love with it. I love running. Water Sports are probably my most favorite. I teach Jet Skiing in the summer, it's really good exercise, and even more fun. I even took up soccer for a while, and was Running back for my junior high football team for a while.

[Y_B]

Never was too sporty as a kid but eventually I grew into it and played a year of football in high school followed by swimming through my senior year. I was also a student athlete here at UT but got suspended this year. Totally my fault, but I'm hoping to get off my athletic probation soon.

[PrivateTim]

I've got a question, since we're discussing sports.

 

Australia has a strong sporting culture, and I got a rude shock when I went to the UK for year. I had expected to be able to find a basketball team to join, to keep up my fitness, but I couldn't find a local competition, let alone a team.

 

In Australia, sporting organisations are essentially independent of anything else. For example, there are local basketball competitions ranging from under eights, through to under eighteens, then a variety of open competitions from the semi-professional down to the once-a-week-just-want-play hacks, and then finally to, er, over-age competitions (eg. I used to ref an over thirty-five competition, which included players up to their seventies, from memory).

 

Any major city, and most country areas, will have a variety of sporting organisations and it's not difficult to find something in your area.

 

How is it with other countries? The UK, when I was there in the 90s, didn't seem to have much in the way of sporting activities for the general population. My impression of the USA is that most of the sporting activities revolve around the schools and colleges. Is that right, or is there a healthy sporting competition network outside of the education system, too?

 

The US is obviously very large, very diverse and very complicated so I'll discuss California only since it is the state I know best.

 

It is easy to find adult and youth leagues in sports like soccer, basketball, softball and volleyball and those tend to be recreational in nature, in other words, not overly competitive. I don't know that the are any adult national championships in basketball that anyone takes seriously because we have the collegiate championship and then the professional championships. Basketball is more commonly played in street 'pick-up' games, anything from 3 on 3 half court to 5 on 5 full court and since the winner stays on, those games can be uber competitive.At the youth level elite players play on club teams that go to highly competitive tournaments throughout the year and these players also play on high school or college teams depending on their ages.

 

Volleyball is highly competitive in California and some think there is even more emphasis on the club level than there is at the high school level. Club starts around 10 and goes all the way through adults and they do have national championships at all levels. Beach volleyball is largely a pick-up sport for two man competitions and there are tournaments all spring and summer and there are different skill levels AA down to B tournaments.

 

There is a large wrestling community also in CA and it competed at on the high school and college level in a style called American folkstyle, but there is also the club level that competes in the Olympic sports of freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. Not all high school wrestlers compete in the Olympic styles, but almost all the Olympic style wrestlers also compete in high school and collegiate wrestling.

 

Water polo is another big sport in CA and like wrestling it has the high school and college level, but no professional leagues like Europe. The club level is also important in water polo and the clubs go from age 10 through adult and even masters, there are national championships for older age groups all the way up to a 60+ national championship.

 

Soccer is hugely popular in CA and at the younger levels is played through club until high and even through high school, some of the elite travel teams can be more important to the players wanting to make US National teams than their high school team. There are adult leagues in soccer too and I think the US powers in soccer are baffled at how the huge popularity at the youth level hasn't translated into more support for professional leagues as the players age.

 

Softball is a very popular sport for adults, there are fast pitch and slow pitch leagues and during the spring and summer there are games going on constantly. There are national championships at both styles.

 

Swimming is another sport with lots of athletes and it is competitively split for adults (USA Masters Swimming) and for everyone else including the national teams. There are swim clubs, but no one needs to belong to a club to compete in meets, they just need to belong to one of the two organizations.

 

I haven't discussed cross country running and track and field (Athletics) or rubgy, lacrosse, crew, tennis, golf, gymnastics, surfing, snow skiing, badminton, field hockey or baseball all of which have organized teams and compete at the high school and or collegiate level in CA. The clubs are also prevalent in these sports although not so much in the individual sports. I would expect in a major CA city you can find these sports being played and clubs or competitions going on.

 

Oh and I competed in water polo, swimming and wrestling in high school, water polo in college and now I compete in open water swimming and some masters water polo. I also surf, snowboard play tennis and golf, beach volleyball and do the occasional 5k weekend run.

Edited April 15, 2010 by PrivateTim

[gabrielsknife]

Now I feel bad! I don't really do much in the way of sports. I have no interest in them anymore nor any outlets to play. I'm rather introverted in that respect.

 

However, I do a lot of walking, yard work and house repairs for my folks. Walking is the only way I can get to the internet (I have no internet at my house, so I walk to the library and steal theirs lol.)

 

When I was younger, I wasn't privileged enough to join a team. My dad was working hard, trying to put food on the table and couldn't afford any additional expenses (like gear and such.) I'd wanted to play soccer or join a dojo, but it didn't happen. I was a home-body then, and I'm something of a home-body now. Just put my lappy on my lap and give me my headphones and I'm happy .

[warrior]

Nope, have never been into sports. I was (and still am) way too shy to do anything in front of people. Heck, I used to not even talk or make eye-contacts with people, as that would have resulted me into blushing. Honestly, I'd never been interested in Sports either, never understood the big deal with it - don't even bother watching them on TV, except perhaps during World Cup. I know this will be coming up as weird to most, as guys are generally into sports and stuffs, but meh, that's just how I am.

 

I did try getting into sports once, but it ended up badly, and the bitter experiences that I had, compelled me to never try it again.

 

I feel bad about it at times, like when people make fun of me, or I feel all left alone, but on the whole, I'm happy with the way I am.

Edited April 15, 2010 by warrior

[wildone]

I guess the last five years, sports have been limited to Hockey, Golf, and some water skiing. Although I have taken a year off I hope to continue with these three again.

 

Younger I also participated in competitive Soccer, Football, Swimming, some Tennis and Wrestling.

 

Currently I am trying to get back into shape by hitting the gym up to five days a week.

[Tipdin]

I used to play soccer until a homophobe - on my own team - checked me and I fell backward, breaking both arms...

 

Haven't even so much as looked at a sport since then.

[Adam Phillips]

I used to play soccer until a homophobe - on my own team - checked me and I fell backward, breaking both arms...

 

Haven't even so much as looked at a sport since then.

 

That's too bad. I had some tense experiences in college when my team found out I played for both teams, LOL, but that was only off the field, and only in the short run. Pretty soon the team esprit de corps reasserted itself and held and I'm friends with almost every single one of those guys to this day.

 

It's too bad it's not always like that. I'm sorry to hear that it soured you on sports in general.

[Rizan]

I play two sports: Chess and Marching Band.

[warrior]

I used to play soccer until a homophobe - on my own team - checked me and I fell backward, breaking both arms...

 

Haven't even so much as looked at a sport since then.

 

I'm so sorry hearing this.

[Dargon]

yeah, I like sports. I did Judo for a about a year and a half, then did cardio. After that I played tennis for two years. When I was 17 I began lifting weights and did it for 2 years. Then I had a 3 year hiatus and now I have been swimming for a year and a half. Swimming is definitely my favorite sport. I also enjoy playing football (as in soccer), volleyball, basketball, handball and I always liked dodgeball too

[nightsky]

Tennis pretty much all my life. the outfits are cute

 

Snowboarding since I was 11. Downhill... no crazy half-pipes for me. it is probably my favorite. I get a sense of freedom when I'm up on the mountain by myself, just me, the mountain, and miles of fresh powder for me to carve up. I feel in tune with nature, my body, and my mind when I'm carving.

 

 

Lacrosse in school... club for a couple years in college. I loved the team camaraderie. And the cute skirts/kilts while being fierce on the field.

 

I tried softball (I don't have the attention span & wow. those are some ugly uniforms!), soccer (omg. you want me to run while kicking the ball in an organized fashion?), and ice skating.

 

I'd like to try surfing, I would guess some of the snowboarding stuff would translate, but sharks... <shudder>.

[methodwriter85]

I used to do cross-country. I was never that good, but it was a great experience. As for Mr. Phillips- hey, would you ever consider lacrosse? I bet you would be good at it. And lax players are sooooo sexy.

[*HJ*]

Nope, have never been into sports. I was (and still am) way too shy to do anything in front of people. Heck, I used to not even talk or make eye-contacts with people, as that would have resulted me into blushing. Honestly, I'd never been interested in Sports either, never understood the big deal with it - don't even bother watching them on TV, except perhaps during World Cup. I know this will be coming up as weird to most, as guys are generally into sports and stuffs, but meh, that's just how I am.

 

I did try getting into sports once, but it ended up badly, and the bitter experiences that I had, compelled me to never try it again.

 

I feel bad about it at times, like when people make fun of me, or I feel all left alone, but on the whole, I'm happy with the way I am.

 

Whos cares if you not inot sports? As long as you are happy with who you are nothing else should matter. As far as thos people making fun of you they are just trying to distract from their own flaws! Don't let them bring you down!

[Ramon]

I play two sports: Chess and Marching Band.

 

CHESS!!! I love chess. Some people say it is not a sport because it isn't physical but I think it is a sport for the mind.

 

I used to play in bowling leagues too.