Aching All Over After My First Footsal Game In Six Months

I really wasn't expecting to be playing footsal in February, but I was out on the razzle with my young pal Shaun (the bloke in the yellow shirt in the photo) on Sunday and he said they only had nine players and needed an extra body to make up the numbers...

Being somewhat in my cups, I nonchalantly agreed to be that body.

Recovering from that debauch on Monday morning, the idea of playing football, or moving at all, seemed frankly absurd. Hiding under my futon seemed a much more tolerable way to spend the day.

Actually, that was how I did spend much of the day, but the footie didn't kick off until nine o'clock in the evening, and the ignominy of pulling out seemed worse than the pain of playing, so as evening approached I girded my loins and caught the train into town...

It turned out that the search for the tenth man had brought in a couple of other guys so we made up two teams of six. That also gave us a bit of leeway, with the option of playing five-a-side if a couple of guys (i.e. me and somebody from the other team) needed a break!

I look as happy as Larry in the top photo, but that is because I'd survived the evening and it was all over!

Actually, I really enjoyed it and was relatively pleased that, after a six month break, I was able to play to some degree, preferably in defence or in goal. In this photo I'm where I want to be, between an attacker and the goal:

One thing I like about this group is that I am not the oldest geezer on the pitch. Two Japanese players are well into their sixties, and the fellow in the next photo has excellent ball skills and is pretty nimble too. I was happy if I could keep goal-side of him...

At the end of the session there was some kind of penalty shootout. To my consternation, I was also expected to take a penalty... All I can say is that I was quite pleased that (1) I hit the ball and (2) it was on target, but an easy save for the goalkeeper!

All in all, I had a blast, and am pleased to report that the group leader invited me to play again next week. :)

I'm aching all over, but more or less #alive if not #aliveandthriving ... Even so, I'm happy to have an opportunity to play some footie during the college vacation.

Cheers!

David Hurley
#InspiredFocus