Getting older (English translation of "Diventare vecchi" post)
When I saw the movies more than a quarter of a century ago, the two players made me so tenderly and found them also a bit pathetic in their stubbornness to keep playing despite worn and felt by so many injuries and physical stress.
Even though, deep down, I always admired them for their very Japanese stoicism (in fact the film starring Tom Selleck was set in Japan) to go against the social conventions related to their old age to be still an athlete and to pursue their goal of helping with a decent performance to the success of the match, putting for the team.
I also feel a little like them, in the sense that, having reached the age of forty and played volleyball for at least twenty-odd years, my tired body is gradually falling apart. From the right shoulder that begins to make strange noises and it hurts like hell the day after the sporting performance (so much so that I find it hard to play two days in a row, even if I make some exceptions during the summer) to my left knee, which ligament pulsates as soon cooled, to my back that "pulls" for days, I'm increasingly convinced that my volleyball days are going to be over.
Of course, I'm not a professional sportsman and my career has been mostly amateur (though I played a couple of seasons in Italian D series, especially as a reserve of opposite but at least fifteen games was made by me) but I begin to perceive myself as an athlete who is very near to retirement. And this triggered the old issue: better to leave when you are still competitive, while maintaining in people a good memory of deeds and for yourself too, or you must continue until an "internal" failure will not preclude the possibility of continuing?
There is my team-mate who at 52 is a phenomenon since is still fit and plays without issues; however, is a person with an outstanding body, who has got no family and then have the time to keep toned and agile. Not that having a family is an excuse to not keeping fit, there are many persons who succeed very well in reconciling the two issues. But if you read a couple of posts before you know I've recently become father and the first months are the most hard and casting doubt on all family structures and then I have to say that I could not (but should I say "would") do much in sporting terms. In any case, due to the physical matters mentioned above, I feel that if it goes well I could still play five, maximum six years to my favorite sport. So the question of whether to leave now that I still play with the people of twenty / thirty years or go ahead and suffer an inexorable decline is currently project to debate.
One might even say who cares, keep playing until you have fun and that's okay, you do not make too many problems. And this is the spirit that I try to have in every game but, sometimes, especially in the fifth set of a tense match, I happen to think about those two"old" baseball players who drag tired on the diamond in search of a little of that glory that makes them feel still young and vigorous.
I'm still here, trying to play the best I can, often rushing at the end of a particularly tight match. The Pandemic we have experienced has partly helped to preserve my joints and back for a few months: in my case the forced immobility has had positive implications, at least from a physical point of view, even if in the end, causes by my "old age", it took me many months to get rid of the accumulations of fatness that had begun to manifest themselves and only in the last period I’ve got back to an acceptable body shape...
What to add: the next volleyball season starts with good potentials. The past teammates are back (thanks to my strenuous work of persuasion, one of the few things I'm good at), we finally have a solid sport Society behind that also supplies with equipment, as well as suits for training and matches... The group is cohesive and united, someone is still missing to have enough numbers to face a championship, but the bulk is done!
I would like to make just one last side note. A few weeks ago, we had a triangular tournament with teams made up of young people. I'm not a person who feels envious, but seeing the elasticity and power of these new generations made me feel a little melancholy... For the good old times when I managed (occasionally) to place good shots, while now I'm always late during the action and drag myself wearily across the field.
What I have reluctantly noticed, however, is that we are gradually moving towards overcoming a sort of sports education. Obviously, it is the result of a hedonistic and narcissistic society beyond reasonable limits, but even if in a sport-team people want to stand out for their individuality, they have, in my opinion, chosen the wrong sport, or society is heading towards a worrying drift, starting from whom should teach respect and education to those who approach a physical activity...
I'll give an example, to clarify better my subject: when you have to dunk in the opponent's field and for the most varied reasons there isn't a suitable wall (or there really isn't a wall at all) and on the other side you have elderly people and maybe even a little "broken" ones, what's the point of shooting full arm and making a hole in the ground, also risking your opponents safety?
Even when I was younger and relatively at my best, I had the good sense to adapt the play to the opponent’s level either to the type of match that was taking place and also to other variables that may affect sporting performance. It wasn't because I was particularly sensitive, but it was simply a sort of respect for others, we had fun, nobody got hurt or had anything to complain about...
Today, unfortunately, I see that no longer exist such kind of precautions, at any level.
Is it a "boomer" speech (even if I'm from X generation, but it doesn't matter much)?
Maybe, but I hope that by reading these reflections of mine, someone can identify with them and perhaps even find a reference to values that are, in my opinion, guarded by few during these times...
Commenti
Posta un commento