Weekend Warrior

Many years ago, I got into the habit of hurting myself.  It wasn't something I did on purpose, but I just seemed to have new bruises, sprains, and strains every week.  I've always been a relatively athletic person, but it seemed like I lost all coordination overnight.

During this time, my dad made a comment I didn't particularly appreciate.  He said the reason I kept getting hurt was because I was just a "weekend athlete" who was trying to do too much and was deluding myself into thinking that I was still an athlete.  Sports have been a part of my life and a part of me for as long as I can remember.  I didn't like this comment and was determined to prove him wrong.  Forget the fact that I worked in an office 8 to 5 every day and only got active during the weekend.  Forget the fact that those weekends were when I managed to do something not so smart to end up with the bruises, sprains, and strains.  I was an ATHLETE, not a WEEKEND ATHLETE!!  So I kept doing what I was doing and kept getting hurt.  Eventually I learned that my dad might have been right, maybe.

I have to laugh as I think about that conversation.  At the time, I couldn't believe he would make such an insensitive comment.  What I heard was that I was lazy, out of shape, (maybe) fat.  What I now know he was saying was if I wanted to do things on the weekend, I needed to do something during the week or my body was simply going to break down.  If I sat on my butt for 5 days a week, I couldn't go out and play a tennis tournament on Saturday and a soccer game on Sunday without there being some consequences.

So what have I learned in the many years since?  Well, this weekend I have a tennis match Saturday morning and a soccer game Sunday evening.  In order to prepare, I've done ..... absolutely nothing.  Instead of sitting in an office, I spend most of my days during the week either in class or preparing for class.  Looks like not much has changed.  Luckily, I now play in over-30 leagues, so everyone else is a "weekend athlete" too.  It's easier not to get hurt when you're playing with other people who are also out of shape and somewhat delusional.  ;)