Make Your Comeback : Why we should all participate in sports at any age

My interest in sports began as a kid. I played soccer when I was younger, and then tennis and volleyball in high school. Back then, sports was where I met my friends, and it gave me something to look forward to in my life other than school.

But after high school, sports just dropped out of my life. I’ve exercised over those 25 years, going to the gym or taking walks, but it was never the same.

So, last year, a month before my 42nd birthday, I started my own personal comeback by signing up for my first triathlon. After completing 3 triathlons and 1 5K running race this year, I’ve concluded that it’s the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I believe that every one of us should do a sport, regardless of our age, and here’s why:

Sports allows you to challenge yourself by creating a goal, higher than you think you can achieve. Pete Rose once said “You owe it to yourself to be the best you can possibly be - in baseball and in life.” We’re all more capable than we think, and participating in events like triathlons and bike or running races allows us to demonstrate that to ourselves.

Committing to doing an event gives you the motivation to train and exercise. From personal experience, without the external motivation it’s very difficult to make the time to go the gym or take that run. Now that I compete in these events, I almost always find a way to do my workouts, whether it’s getting up earlier or squeezing it in between work and dinner. I never did that before.

And we all know that regular exercise is good for us:

1. Many psychological benefits:
o Manage stress better
o More productive
o Improves mood
o Reduces risk of depression

2· Many physical benefits:
o Weight control
o Lower blood pressure
o Prevents diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers
o Reduces risk of osteoporosis
o Live longer

Training for an event also creates perspective and balance. You’re part of something bigger than yourself. Things at work no longer seem so important. You always feel like you’ve accomplished something after a workout.

Participating in events trains your body to deal with nervousness. Before my first triathlon, I couldn’t sleep the night before I was so nervous. But, I realized that it happens to everyone. By my 3rd event, I was still nervous, but much better. The more you do, the more at ease you are, and this helps you learn to deal with stressful situations in other areas of life as well.

Participating in sports also teaches you to put yourself out there, to take a chance where you might fail.

Michael Jordan once said “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

You have to try, or you’ll never succeed at anything.

Sports also teaches you to never give up. Lance Armstrong said “Anything is possible. You can be told that you have a 90% chance, a 50% chance, or a 1% chance, but you have to believe and you have to fight.”

Sports gives you confidence that you can do anything in life. That deep level of confidence only comes from achieving something that intensely challenges you.

Most importantly, when you do something challenging, you inspire other people around you to do something challenging in their life.

After 7 years in retirement, Dara Torres competed in the 2008 Olympic games at the age of 41, winning a silver medal. She said that one of the most profound things about her experience were the thousands of middle-aged people that wrote to her, saying that her comeback inspired them to make a comeback of their own.

It’s never too late to start your comeback. If you start training now, you’ll be ready for that first race in the Spring. You never know, it could change your life. It did mine.

Contributed by C. M. Bordonaro, 3Talkers - Club Secretary