Sunday while sitting in Susan’s hot tub after a grueling hot hilly ride Sam turned to me and said “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about soccer.” All eyes shift to me and David laughingly says “Soccer intervention!”
I had been struggling with my right calf after pulling it the week before in soccer. It slowed me down and triggered cramping. Not fun.
Sam went on to explain how things had gone with her knee (read more here). To put it shortly:
Akido-yes!
Cycling-absolutely!
Running-we can work with that!
Soccer-have you thought about quitting that?
I can’t remember what Sarah and Susan said but Cate asked me about injury rates on my current team.
They are high and someone does get hurt every week. It’s one of the problems of mixing skilled and unskilled players together. The poorly skilled are likely to hurt themselves and others.
Sarah pointed out that skilled players are more precise. Sam offered they manovre the ball away rather than whack at you.
Cate mentioned she felt the same way about downhill skiing, fun but too high an injury price to pay.
It did get me thinking. I had hoped I’d adapt to the sudden starts and stops. Sam offered that one never gets adapted to that.
I couldn’t play this week as I still can’t run on my calf. It’s too bad, I do enjoy the camaraderie and teamwork.
I’m not sure that I will sign up next season. What about you? Are there some sports or activities you deem too risky to do?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’ve been having this conversation with myself for some time now. I’ve been playing over-35 soccer for probably 14 years and played very competitively as a kid. I’ve had some serious ankle injuries in the past few years, that have nearly put a stop to all activity. I’m still playing this summer, but have tried to back off a bit ( though an inability to back off is probably one of my problems). I always wear my ankle brace now and am playing defence, which involves less running, but the end is clearly in sight. I’m 52 and don’t want another knee or ankle injury to stop me from participating in any activities. The problem is it’s been my FUN for so long, I have to find something to replace it. Good luck with your decision . 🙂
I had to give up ski mountaineering a few years back as the frequency of knee arthroscopies was increasing. I also stopped skiing about the same time although I switched to snowboarding for a few more years – it avoided the injuries I got with skis but I reckon there was a higher chance of a serious neck injury. Eventually I found I’d lost interest in the travel involved, which wasn’t so much of an issue when I lived in Switzerland. Now I also don’t run any more, which I do miss terribly. However, cycling is still a joy into my 60s along with open water swimming. I speed walk with poles when the weather is too bad even for mountain biking (I’m not much of a mudplugger), which gives me the necessary weight-bearing exercise.
Nat — great post. It’s all your choice of course — some people would tell me running is injurious — but with running what goes wrong is gradual, not usually abrupt. Except the time I fell in a hole.
Please blog about the time you fell in a hole!
Great post. Tough choices. I’d never thought of soccer as such a risky activity. Doesn’t it depend on the person? I avoided running for a long time because so many runners I knew had running-related injuries. But I love it now and think there’s a way to be safe with it and reduce the likelihood of hurting myself. Other than running I gravitate towards low risk stuff like swimming, yoga, walking, and weight training. After many years of snowboarding I gave it up because it hurt my hips. The only thing I’ve given up purely for safety reasons was my motorcycle.
Soccer is hard because it’s multi directional running, a lot of running and stopping and turning. A lot of forces on knees and ankles. Even when I was running lots, everything hurt the next day after soccer.
Yes! I just started playing soccer again this summer, and keep tweeking my ankle (which my RMT thinks is actually something in my calf). It’s not enough for me to go down on the field, but then it hurts to walk (especially down stairs) for a couple days.
There are at least 1-2 injuries on our team each week (our average age is much higher than other teams in our league).
I’m pretty sure I’m not going to do another season.
Yes! I just started playing soccer again this season and I keep re-tweaking my ankle (which my RMT believes is actually an issue in my calf). It’s not bad enough that I go down on the field, but it hurts to walk (especially going down stairs) for 1-2 days after each game.
There are usually at least 1-2 injuries on our team each week, and our average age is much higher than the other teams in the league.
I don’t think I’ll be signing up for another season 🙁
Wait, why would you never get used to the sudden stops and starts? (“cutting”) I used to have a very strange *BOING* feeling down the back of my leg that would happen now & then. It was always early in a game, when I was about to dash off from a stop. It never hurt or left any lingering pain, but it always felt…risky? like it could have been a bad injury, but each time I’d gotten away with it. I finally realized that if I did a warm-up jog, it didn’t happen.
Would love to hear more about people whose legs don’t acclimate to cutting–either the stops and starts or the quick direction changes or side to side movement. Is there any reason for this?