One of the issues I have with being in Maryland so often is that I am unable to develop my interpersonal skills in casual, team building extracurricular activities. One such activity just happens to be recreational league softball. Around the start of my constant travels to Maryland, some of my fellow co-workers banded together and started playing in such a league. I was despondent because I had been looking for an activity to get back into that could call upon my previous athletic experience, and now that one had presented itself, I could not participate.
However, I did manage to make it to at least one game when I happened to be in town to cheer them on, but also to evaluate the skill of the team as a whole. Overall, they were about what I would have expected: a large range of talent bounded by the skilled and the inexperienced alike. If there was anything I learned from my years of baseball in High School, it would have to be the fundamentals and techniques critical to success. Some of the players exhibited these qualities, but others needed work. Of course, this was mainly from an observer’s standpoint. The goal that I felt should be held in utmost importance in such a league would be to have fun.
As the months passed, I would occasionally converse with some of the players while at work to see how the team was doing. Generally, they were getting in better shape, physically; they had won a few games; and they seemed to still be having fun with it. I had expressed my interest to join the team from the start, so as my rotation in Maryland started drawing to a close, I started looking more seriously into when I could join the team. Initially, I thought that I could join if the team took on a fall season, when I would actually be present to participate and contribute my past experience. However, fate gave me a chance to get a taste of what I would be getting into.
On this recent stay in Huntsville for a few weeks worth of training, I was contacted by the captain of the team in regards to an opportunity to prevent their team losing by forfeit. It seems that they would be short a few players for one of the games, and I was asked if I could step in and help out. I was thrilled at the opportunity and immediately responded in kind. Now in my mind, I felt that I had the proper background to provide adequate assistance to the team, as well as the added benefit of weight training over the past few years, a luxury that I did not have while I played in High School. However, there were two issues that I had not accounted for.
First off, the last time I had done any extraneous physical activity would have to have been over a year ago when I climbed my last 14er. Even then, I was merely walking up to the top of a mountain, so no running was involved. I learned quickly that in the 5 or 6 years since I had played baseball that my endurance was severely lacking. Perhaps it was that I haven’t been working out to improve my endurance, but instead to prevent it from atrophy. Perhaps it was the fact that we only had the 9 players, so I was either in the field or batting/running, with minimal breaks in between. Perhaps it was the second issue I was having: the environment.
I know that Alabama is more humid and feels much hotter than Colorado does because of it, but that point is highly accentuated when physical exertion is introduced. There has been only one other instance in which I felt I couldn’t breathe, despite there being plenty of air around me, and that was at a particularly intense rock concert. I would have to conclude that my issue would mainly be the humidity. The humidity and the heat combined together with the physical exertion of athleticism caused me to sweat more than I ever have since arriving in Alabama. Even so, I feel that I managed to hold my own against this group of colleagues who have been playing since the early months of this year and are accustomed to these issues.
In terms of my defensive contribution in left field, I didn’t directly influence any outs. However, I did manage to put forth my best effort backing up center field and bringing in balls that had passed the infield. My only faux pas came when there was a pop fly hit past me and I ended up taking a step forward instead of the correct first step backward. Also, the extra inning we played did give me many chances to field the ball, not that I necessarily had the energy to do so.
Of course, I felt my strength was usually in offense. I struck out once, but managed to contact the ball the rest of my at bats for the game. In fact, my first at bat was somewhat humorous because I had yet to get the slower timing of softball into my swing. I ended up swinging to early, but tipped the ball to make it go one or two feet past home plate. The real humor came when the opposing team missed the throw to first base and I was able to get a double out of a pathetic hit.
It was interesting to hear that I was making a lot of the mistakes and having a lot of the troubles that the rest of the team had early on in the season. However, being the “ringer”, as I jokingly called myself, did not end up in a win for our team. We were doing well up until the last inning, when we managed to tie the score. The extra inning was just depressing as our opponents managed to score over 20 runs. At any rate, I had fun getting back into athletics, which was my goal from the beginning. I shared in the camaraderie that had been established, became stained with blood, sweat, grass and dirt, and realized that I need to work out more seriously.
The next day I was sore as all get out. I was reminded that I hadn’t used some of these muscles in a very long time and my joints told me that I no longer have the body of a teenager. Still, would I do it again? In a heartbeat. After all, there’s always next spring.
