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I’ve recently started playing basketball on a women’s pick-up league on Sunday nights. When my good friend first told me about it and asked me if I wanted to play, I believe my initial question was, “Are you out of your mind?” I’m going to reveal my age and throw out some dates, but I had not played a full-court, competitive basketball game since 1996 – yes approximately 14 years ago. And that was in the Whoopers and Hoopers tournament. Well after high school and intramural college regular play.

After some convincing on my friend’s part that it was o.k. that I was old and o.k. that it had been so long since I’d played, I decided to just bite the bullet and give it a try. I’ve played driveway basketball with my kids pretty regularly, so it’s not like I hadn’t touched a ball for a while, and I jog on a regular basis, but I soon remembered how different it is.

I arrived to find way too many women that were nearly half my age. But I was there and committed so I stretched (yes, I was about the only one that needed to stretch) and grabbed a ball to warm up. I dribbled out to the elbow and put up my first shot. hoosh. Nothing but…air. I had become accustomed to shooting on our lowered hoop in the driveway and forgot that regulation baskets are several feet higher! After a few warm-up shots I found my bearings and it was time to choose teams. We had 11 women, so I very quickly volunteered to sit out and be the first sub. Give me a chance to watch for a minute and see what the pace of play is, I thought. As the women ran up and down the court it wasn’t long before someone called for a sub. “Here we go”, I said to myself and ran out on the court. The first couple trips up and down the floor weren’t too bad, I was hustling and things were coming back to me. All of a sudden I was starting to have trouble breathing. “My gosh, why do my lungs feel like they are going to explode?” “Dang, it’s a fast break and there goes my girl streaking down the floor for a layup” “Come on Beck, you can do this, suck it up and get moving”. Finally someone called for a water break. “Thank goodness” I thought, “I can go in a corner and do some heavy breathing”. I got a drink and walked around for a minute and then we returned to the floor. This time though, my breathing had evened out. I made it past the lung burn! I was going to be o.k! I got back in and was starting to feel comfortable. Suddenly my 18 year old basketball brain recognized a move I should be making. “Go for that ball” it said to my legs. Unfortunately, my 38 year old legs did not respond well. “No” they said, “we are just going to stand here and wait. They’ll all run back to where we are eventually.”

The evening ended, and I went home on a high. “What a rush!” I told my husband. “I can’t wait to play again.”

The next morning arrived and I stumbled out of bed mumbling “Ouch, ouch, ouch” with every step. Hmmm, muscles I haven’t used since 1996 either. Great. Four days later the pain had subsided and I was ready to go again. Fortunately, subsequent weeks of playing have not produced the soreness that accompanied the first week.

I am so glad that I decided to go ahead and play. I know I’m by far not the best player on the floor, but we are all there to play some ball and get some exercise. It is fun to step out of my physical activity pigeon-hole and try something I haven’t done for a very long time. I would encourage you to do the same. If you are not doing any physical activity or are bored with your current activity, find something new. Find something fun. There are so many opportunities out there. Sometimes you just have to make it past the lung burn!

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About the author: Becky Sullivan

Becky Sullivan is the Business Health Coordinator at Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital. She earned a Master of Science Degree in Health Promotion from Nebraska Methodist College. In her role at the hospital she works with local businesses in setting up wellness programs and activities, coordinates community health education programs and directs the MLMH employee wellness program. She is also co-chair of the Hastings Chamber of Commerce Wellforce committee, member of the Hastings Health Ministry Network and member of the Healthy Hastings coalition.