Adult Sports Leagues Provide Camaraderie AND Exercise
By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
If you would like to improve your fitness, you could walk. It’s weightbearing to build bone and improve balance. Walking involves major muscle groups and costs nothing.
If you walk outdoors, it provides fresh air and sunshine. You can even wear weighted vests and carry hand weights to challenge yourself.
But joining an adult sports team offers benefits beyond these.
Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham, president of Women TIES, LLC and the Women’s Athletic Network, has made it her life goal to try every sport at least once. She encourages other women to join her.
“Over the past 10 years hosting group sporting and adventure events for women in business, I’ve noticed how much they love the camaraderie, bonds and networking that occur during these unique opportunities,” Higginbotham said.
The team sports she has tried have included curling, field hockey, rugby and more. She enjoys the confidence, energy and camaraderie team sports offer adult women, along with the “rewards of staying physical as they age, which is instrumental in keeping chronic illness, menopausal changes, weak bones and muscle weakness at bay,” she said. “These benefits help the average woman age stronger and more confident. Group sports also provide a new community for women to enjoy, too.”
Isolation is a known risk factor for depression and, in older age, cognitive decline. Team sports provide the benefit of the enrichment of meeting new people and building relationships, according to Higginbotham. These feel-good moments make exercise more enjoyable than slogging it out alone on a treadmill with little immediate reward.
Although exercising solo at the gym or on the hiking trail fulfills many aspects of fitness, group fitness through joining a team can help keep you accountable. You know that your teammates are counting on you to show up. It’s tougher to skip a session if you feel like you’re letting others down. You play hard to score and succeed. It’s also motivating to practice outside of scheduled times to improve your game.
If you have played team sports before, reviving your interest can be mentally stimulating as you recall old skills and sports memories. But learning new skills can also engage your mind, which is associated with maintaining cognition later in life.
Although playing a team sport can help you get in better shape, consider any health considerations such as previous injuries that a sport may aggravate. Check with your doctor about any health concerns before you sign up for a sport. You may need to participate in something less intense before joining the sports team of your choice.
To find area team sport available, check out your municipality’s offerings and teams that play at local sports complexes.
Some Organizations Offering Team Sports
Syracuse Sports Association, Liverpool
Syracuse Indoor Sports Center, Liverpool
syracuseindoorsportscenter.com
The Central New York Family Sports Centre, Syracuse
City of Syracuse Adult Athletic Leagues, Syracuse
YMCA of Central New York
www.ymcacny.org/programs/sports/adult-sports
Accelerate Sports, Whitesboro)
Salt City Sports, Syracuse
Legends Field, Oswego