Let’s try a visualization exercise: close your eyes, take a deep breath and remember a warm, sunny day when you were a kid without responsibilities like paying bills or doing yard work. Remember how you used to hang out with your friends and kick a ball around or shoot some hoops? Just memories, you say?
Not necessarily so. Team sports are fun and recreational, and they’re for adults. Best of all, they’re great for our physical and mental health.
It’s more than just fun
Team sports teach us values that are important to our work life: teamwork, fair play and relationship development and maintenance. Participating in team sports also keeps us engaged in positive pursuits with like-minded individuals.
It’s physical
Physical activity directly correlates to greater physical well-being, more robust heart health and added functional longevity. Plus, a little physical contact alleviates stress and increases physical performance.
The kicker? This contact can be as brief as the common sports phenomenon known as the high five. Team sports are the perfect way to get your fill of high fives, fist bumps and full-on hugs.
It’s psychological and neurological
Adults who participate in team sports as well as individual activities are less likely to develop mood disorders in their later years.
In addition, the adaptive requirements of team sports (both reactively and emotionally speaking) will force your brain to strengthen and create new neural connections that will keep you sharp both mentally and physically. Remember, your brain and your body both adhere to the use-it-or-lose-it principle.
It’s confidence boosting
Along with providing the opportunity to belong and serving our innate need to identify with a group, participating in team sports offers a sense of collective achievement.
You work as part of a whole toward the achievement of a common goal. Winning is not necessarily the object; it also involves the cooperative evolution of the team into a functioning unit. The added bonus: you make a few friends and share a few laughs.
Get started
Most cities have community centers that offer affordable social recreation at reasonable prices.
While open gym times where anyone can participate are offered, times for various skill levels, from absolute beginner to competitive, may also be designated.
Community centers and companies that provide adult recreational leagues offer an astonishing variety of team sports: basketball, volleyball, indoor soccer, floor hockey, badminton, pickle ball, squash and ice hockey are just a few examples.
The great thing about dropping in for team sports is that you don’t need to organize a team beforehand. You simply show up and make teams at random with others who are participating.
Whether visiting your local community center or contacting a private operator of adult recreational sports leagues in your area, choosing to play team sports just makes sense. There is a sport and a level of ability for all participants, so get out there and get your high fives!
