Hobbies

At recess on Thursday, one of my students was lingering by the jungle gym where I sat looking out at the group of boys playing soccer.

“So, _,” I asked, “what do you plan to do over your long weekend?”

He grabbed onto the bars above him and swayed a bit as he replied.

“Play basketball, probably.”

“Basketball? What happened to soccer?” He’d been newly into soccer for the past few months, so I was surprised to hear a new sport take the stage.

“Yeah, it’s all basketball now,” he said decidedly. “I mean, I’ll probably still play soccer at school and stuff, but my new focus is basketball.”

It reminded me of my own rotating carousel of hobbies, specifically with sports.

As a kid, I played soccer from 4 to about 16, when I developed a Haglund’s deformity in my right heel and couldn’t play anymore because of the pain.

After surgery and physical therapy, I was able to run, and I got into long distance running after graduating college. I ran four half marathons between 2014 and 2019, among a slew of other 5ks, 10ks, and other races. I love running, how it’s like meditation, but the high-impact of road running left me with shin splints and other aches and pains.

I have always done yoga on and off, but usually only about once or twice a week.

I love to bike.

Just before and during the pandemic, I started the Vertue Method, a 12-week, at-home, low-impact strength-training program, and was very committed to this until I’d seen each video enough times that I’d memorized all of Shona’s jokes and wanted something new.

Moving to Miami, I was inspired to pick up rollerblading again, an activity I hadn’t done since I was a kid. I took classes that helped me to feel more confident on the wheels, and which also incorporated extra fitness like squats. I was obsessed for a while.

But, some hip pain in the summer kept me from working out for many months this fall.

Finally, once I was feeling better, a friend introduced me to pilates reformer classes. I took it up with gusto.

This weekend will be a slow one, without any fast movements, as I recover from vertigo. But I smile thinking about all the sports I’ve done and can do, a variety of options I can choose from to keep my body active.