How combining fitness and a sport can improve your health

On a Saturday afternoon, Tommy was at the football pitch watching a friend play football. Twenty minutes into the match, Tommy’s friend got a free kick right outside the penalty area. The pitch was silent as Tommy’s friend started running to the ball. He kicked it right over the wall into the goal, bringing his team ahead 1-0. 

After 45 minutes, the referee blew the whistle to signal halftime. Tommy had 15 minutes before the second half would start. Tommy went to the toilet and got himself a new water bottle. He still had 10 minutes to despair, so he was walking around on the football pitches, where he saw a match that didn’t seem organized. The players were either wearing black or white, but the shirts were not the same. He went behind the goal to ask the goalkeeper “Which teams are playing?” The goalkeeper just responded, “We just play for fun as a group of expats. We have a WhatsApp Group to coordinate a match every Saturday, where people sign themselves up for the match.”

 

“Interesting. How long are you playing?” replied Tommy. “About 2 hours. Would you like to join a match someday?” answered the goalkeeper.

 

Tommy looked a bit hesitant. Thinking to himself that he doesn’t know anyone on the team, and would he even be good enough to play. Tommy responded, “I’m not sure. I haven’t really played football.” 

 

“That you shouldn’t worry about. A lot of us only play when we are here. Some people are in good shape and know how to play, but others don’t. We mix the teams to make the skill level fit” said the goalkeeper.

 

“You will get better as you play. Mostly it is just about tackling and blocking the opponent from shooting the ball toward the goal. Of course, pass the ball. You don’t need to dribble or anything, simply passing the ball around is enough.”

 

Tommy knots his head in acknowledgment of what the goalkeeper said.

 

“Alright, how can I join the next game?” asked Tommy. The goalkeeper took his phone to open WhatsApp saying to Tommy that he should enter his phone number here and he can sign up again. 

 

Tommy took the goalkeeper’s phone and entered his phone number. “Here you go, I have to get back to my friend’s football game,” said Tommy. “Alright, that is cool, see you next Saturday” responded the goalkeeper. 

 

Tommy walked back to his friend’s match and looked at his watch. Apparently, he had already missed 15 minutes of the second half. Not that it was that exciting as the game finished 1-0. 

 

A few days later, Tommy received a WhatsApp message from the football group of expats. He could see the sign-up for next Saturday had already started. He thought to himself if he should not sign up, but it looked fun to play. Tommy copied the message to add his name to the list. After work, he went to the local sports shop to buy football boots, socks, leg braces, and a white and black shirt.

 

The football game approached, and it was time to play the first match. Tommy showed up in the park to meet the other guys at the pitch. Everyone greeted Tommy and welcomed him. 

As they were getting ready, Tommy began to warm up his legs so he could start running and avoid injury.

 

The game began, Tommy received the ball immediately and for a moment he didn’t know what to do. Tommy quickly passed the ball backward to one of the defenders. 

 

After playing for 1 hour, Tommy could feel he was out of air. The constant running back and forth with pauses and sprints, made it very hard. It was a full-on cardio workout for sprinting.

 

It made Tommy think that it might be good as it is conditioning his body to another type of work that is much longer than just going to the gym. It is the constant effort you have to put in over time, which is really good for you.

 

The next day, Tommy could really feel how sore he was in his tib raises and just felt it in his entire body. He decided to continue to combine sports and strength training to improve his overall health.