Perhaps you dreamt of becoming an athlete like Mickey Mantle or Margaret Court?
Despite my current scribbling in this domain, I never imagined myself becoming a sportswoman. However, I was always intrigued by Katherine Hepburn in the curious movie, Pat and Mike. In it, she portrays a champeen tennis player and golfer – and did all the “stunts” herself!
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As was the case with me, the vast majority – 84% - of interviewees in the Age-Defying Athletes Project (ADAP) did not picture themselves as future athletes.
But of those 16% who did, a couple were on Olympic Games tracks, and had rationale for this perspective.
Natalya
One of these individuals is 55-year-old Natalya who lives in the southern US.
“I did [expect to become an athlete]. My brothers and I would stand on three large rocks in our backyard, pretending to accept Olympic medals. They were in soccer and track.”
Natalya discovered that childhood aspiration is always subject to the vagaries of chance.
“I was a competitive swimmer from age five through high school. I loved swimming, actually was on an AAU track to the Olympics when I missed the trials by 1/100th of a second. One bad day and my career crashed.”
Despite this disappointment, Natalya stuck with sports. While still in high school, she moved over to cross-country and track.
She continued to run for another 15 years, and then had an epiphany. “After high school, I ran 5K, 10K until [my] mid-thirties, then realized I didn’t like running.”
Following that, she played no sports, just swam and worked out. (Swimming is in her blood, however, as she continues that sport to this very day.)
Sports are all about functional fitness
Despite all this athletic participation, Natalya never played ball sports. “I had no hand-eye coordination.” As you will see in WIIFY? below, this would come back to haunt her.
About two-and-a-half years ago, Natalya decided to give golf a try. “My husband had been playing four or five years. He took lessons in a nearby town. By then I had stopped teaching [history in high school] and my husband wanted me to play, but I kept saying ‘no’.”
In fact, it took her almost twelve months to decide to take the plunge: “The most difficult aspect of starting was just knowing that I had to make a four-and-a-half hour [time] commitment.”
Confounding her reluctance, she explains, “I didn’t know what club to use, how to score, nuances, distances. All this took awhile to master.”
Finally, it dawned on her “that I would have to try because I didn’t want to be a golf widow. So, I started playing and took some lessons, and then it clicked and I loved it.”
Natalya says, “I participated in ‘Bad Moms’ golf and it wasn’t intimidating. I took lessons about every six to eight weeks. I hit balls on the range.”
This retired teacher needed knowledge about the game’s mechanics. “I love learning, so there’s no half way for me. I read about golf, ask[ed] lots of questions.”
“Once I understood why the ball would fly the way it did or why something else worked as it did,” Natalya continues, “golf clicked for me.”
And it wasn’t just the technicalities that she grasped. There were some fundamentals she discovered along the way.
Not everything in a sport unfolds linearly! To wit: “Additionally, I didn’t realize there was a nine hole option. My husband just focused on 18 holes. But at first, by about hole 12, the game seemed obnoxious.”
Over time, she realized she could move from nine to 18 holes “and that also helped me. Now my husband is jealous that he cannot play as much.”
Discoveries
Quite a number of ADAP participants have discovered things about themselves by playing a sport.
Natalya did, too. “I discovered that my patience is not what I thought, and I am hard on myself. I wasn’t competitive with other people, but with myself.”
Another thing she discovered is that women can be friends.
Like many women, Natalya had always avoided drama and females with attitude. As she puts it: “Before [golf], I didn’t necessarily like women in general because some of them can be catty,”
Through the game, however, she has “met the most amazing women.” Her Ladies Golf Association “has encouraging, loving ladies, and I’ve made lots of friends. Great clinics and the PALS mentor program is wonderful.”
A surprise discovery was “that I could do it and that I would like it… Plus, I am thankful to see older women healthy and playing. They are role models, and I hope to continue golfing into my 70s. It’s been fun.”
Not surprisingly, this retired educator appreciates the brain-side of the game, too. Natalya notes that “Golf sharpens mental acuity.”
And today, despite her year-long reluctance to even consider attempting the game, she plays tournaments with her husband.
She tries to help new players in her Ladies Golf Association. “I want people to be the best version of themselves…I love encouraging [them]”.
WIIFY?
What’s in It for You?
Take comfort in the fact that athletes at all levels – beginner, intermediate, advanced – experience lousy days – especially when they cross over to a new endeavor.
Consider Natalya. She grew up a stellar athlete, but never played any ball sports, so her hand-eye coordination had a lot of catching up to do.
Perhaps due to that, this one-time Olympic hopeful is stymied by golf - even though she loves the game. (A not uncommon conundrum expressed by many ADAP interviewees.) She claims, “I’m a terrible golfer, [with a] 42 handicap at the start of [2023]. My goal was [to reach] a 36. In the last six weeks, my handicap is at 34+. The next goal is to break 30 – leagues outside my club require a lower-than-30 handicap [to compete].”
Natalya adds that “I need to keep myself motivated because I get frustrated. But that’s when I tell my husband to just drive the cart and I’ll play another day.”
The corollary: develop techniques to give yourself a break on bad days.
When your drives shoot off in weird and wonderful directions, or when your pickleball games all seem to go 0-11 on your service side, you need a psychic and/or physical boost.
In the mental column, remind yourself that there’s more to life than athletics (even though this site is totally enchanted with sports!). Reminisce about some difficult problem you once solved. Contemplate what you will do to celebrate the end of this round/set/game/competition.
In the physical column, when you’re between innings, or resting at the end of the pool, or whenever your game reaches a natural break, do what Mom suggested: close your eyes, inhale for a count of five, and then exhale for the same length of time. Subtle stretches and marching in place are also good.
Additionally, identify some options for your sport. Natalya was considering 18 holes of golf to be “obnoxious” but then discovered the nine hole alternative. If marathons have become too time-consuming and demanding, fall back to 10Ks. If drop-in pickleball has become more competitive than you like, start a fun pickleball group.
Discover new aspects of your personality.
Natalya reported not being particularly keen on some members of her own gender, due to their tendency for cutting remarks. But she discovered that not all women are divas, and has become good friends with a much larger pool of females. Remember that your brain enjoys being unfolded and fluffed on a regular basis.
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