I grew up on a ski team. From the time I could walk, my parents strapped two planks to my feet, brought me to the top of a mountain, and said "go." I've had my fair share of race-related thrills, nerves, and injuries.
None of that compares to the world of Adult Intramural Dodgeball.
I'd like to think of our team as one out of your typical underdog movie. A rag tag group of players enters a tournament to save their beloved gym from being taken over my a huge conglomerate. Wait, that's already been done you say? Okay, what about, an ex-baseball player, current alcoholic coaches his son's team of misfits in order to prove that if you've got some heart, you can play some ball. Oh, that's also a movie? With two terrible sequels and a kind of decent remake? Well, what about a small group of strangers that came together as some sort of respite from this cold Chicago winter and somehow became friends? Oh, okay. There is it.
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| Yep, that's me fixing my hair while everyone else gets ready to play. |
Our injury count was high, and the number in the wins column was low, but we had a hell of a time playing. I guess I realize why my parents put me on a ski team as a kid. A team brings you together. You make friends. In this case, I also learned a thing or two about adults. There were weeks we played with other teams that were just out there for the fun of it, and then there were weeks where we played against the most competitive group of grown ups to ever assembled gather-and-throw-things-at-other-adults. I'm really not kidding when I say that I'm pretty sure Jaws was on the other team one week.
But I digress. I was talking about making friends, not putting up with people who never learned how to be good sports. Or why it's not fair to draft a Bond villain. As I approach my one year anniversary in the city, I'm hyperaware of the life I've built for myself here and that includes the wonderful people I've chosen to surround myself with. With each new thing I decide to try I realize that no one is ever in a position to turn down friends, and I'll also suggest that if you ever get the chance to join a dodgeball team, say yes.
I think Team Super Stretch Armstrong will rise again.
But I digress. I was talking about making friends, not putting up with people who never learned how to be good sports. Or why it's not fair to draft a Bond villain. As I approach my one year anniversary in the city, I'm hyperaware of the life I've built for myself here and that includes the wonderful people I've chosen to surround myself with. With each new thing I decide to try I realize that no one is ever in a position to turn down friends, and I'll also suggest that if you ever get the chance to join a dodgeball team, say yes.
I think Team Super Stretch Armstrong will rise again.
And if we don't, at least we know how to throw a heck of an after party.
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