Finding a hobby. Getting into sport at 17?

Nowadays, I often find myself regularly bored. I spend most of my time playing games on the computer (or the reality is, most of the time browsing pointless internet sites ie Twitter, Facebook, etc, and then playing games a fraction of the time), and honestly want something to break this routine. I've never been particularly athletic, and never really shown any interest in any sports. Now, the thing is, I've come to a point where I'm willing to try out sports and see what I can do and whether I'd like to do them. Now, I have a few issues with this however.

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I'm 17, and feel like I've missed a crucial period in which people learn a sport (ie people join teams for their chosen sport and get better at them whilst they're young - junior school or secondary school). So, I'm worried that anyone I play with will be substantially better and the difference in ability will be massive and somewhat embarrassing.

•

In addition to that, I won't be able to join any school teams due to only having a short year left at my school.

•

Not being athletic or showing interest in sports in the past, I'm worried that whatever I try I'm, obviously, not going to be particularly good at. So, I'll find it difficult to join any clubs or teams. I'm pretty skinny considering I've never had any interest in any sports, and have never really worked my body at all.

•

It's the start of my second year of school, I'll soon (hopefully) be moving on to go to university. With this in mind, I'm worried I won't have the time to devote to a sport (and yet, I really want to).

I'm not particularly interested in football, never been a fan. I'm incredibly bad at tennis (as well as the table variant). Things I expect to have an interest in (off the top of my head) are baseball and badminton. Saying this, I don't have athletic / sporty friends. And I also don't think they'd be particularly interested in playing sports with me.So, what are everyone's thoughts and comments on the situation? How should I approach the situation? What other sports would you suggest?Thanks in advance for all your comments, - Angelo.

Reply 1

Kenan and Kel

19

Original post by AngeloHague

Nowadays, I often find myself regularly bored. I spend most of my time playing games on the computer (or the reality is, most of the time browsing pointless internet sites ie Twitter, Facebook, etc, and then playing games a fraction of the time), and honestly want something to break this routine. I've never been particularly athletic, and never really shown any interest in any sports. Now, the thing is, I've come to a point where I'm willing to try out sports and see what I can do and whether I'd like to do them. Now, I have a few issues with this however.

•

I'm 17, and feel like I've missed a crucial period in which people learn a sport (ie people join teams for their chosen sport and get better at them whilst they're young - junior school or secondary school). So, I'm worried that anyone I play with will be substantially better and the difference in ability will be massive and somewhat embarrassing.

•

In addition to that, I won't be able to join any school teams due to only having a short year left at my school.

•

Not being athletic or showing interest in sports in the past, I'm worried that whatever I try I'm, obviously, not going to be particularly good at. So, I'll find it difficult to join any clubs or teams. I'm pretty skinny considering I've never had any interest in any sports, and have never really worked my body at all.

•

It's the start of my second year of school, I'll soon (hopefully) be moving on to go to university. With this in mind, I'm worried I won't have the time to devote to a sport (and yet, I really want to).

I'm not particularly interested in football, never been a fan. I'm incredibly bad at tennis (as well as the table variant). Things I expect to have an interest in (off the top of my head) are baseball and badminton. Saying this, I don't have athletic / sporty friends. And I also don't think they'd be particularly interested in playing sports with me.So, what are everyone's thoughts and comments on the situation? How should I approach the situation? What other sports would you suggest?Thanks in advance for all your comments, - Angelo.

Join your local cricket club. They usually have a lot of XIs, so you can start at the lowest one and work your way up from there. Season's just ended so you can train with them in the winter, and be ready for the Summer.

Reply 2

Liv1204

19

Well, you're certainly not 'too old' to try a new sport! Put aside the fact that there will be people who have been doing that sport for a long time - you won't be the only one who's trying something new and hasn't played that sport before, and I've never met an experienced sports player yet who cares that they are better than a new person. In fact, it can be really helpful for all levels of experience - I do kickboxing, and one of the important things we learn is how to start coaching through pairing up with a new member and teaching them the basic skills while the club's coach is teaching the class as a whole. It can be really helpful to actually explain how to do the basic skills, it helps you to reinforce them and why certain techniques are important.

I was never athletic at all at school - I hated PE (to the point where my school let me stop going to PE because I was so distressed about it) and I always assumed I 'wasn't sporty'. I'm not a fan of things like netball, hockey etc like we did at school, but there are so, so, so many sports out there that could be really interesting to try! You could try an individual sport rather than team sport if that feels easier, or just have a look into the baseball/badminton clubs in your local area. I recommend martial arts to anyone, but there's so many other things out there too - cycling, climbing, golf, whatever floats your boat really. And honestly, I went from thinking I hated sports to now graduating from my MSc Sport & Exercise Psychology - so just because you didn't enjoy it back then, doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a go now. There are so many sports around, it's worth a try, and it's great for sociability.

And definitely don't think you won't have the time to devote for a sport - you will! You can always ease off from it a bit before exams if you're worried about getting all the work done, but it's a great time to try a sport. And even if you choose not to now, try joining sports clubs if/when you get to uni. Uni is amazing for trying new sports - there are so many clubs that you probably wouldn't even think of, and there are masses of people all trying something new for the first time (uni was where I really fell in love with kickboxing, but there's all sorts - badminton, tennis, swimming, equestrian sports, snow sports, Ultimate Frisbee, judo, jitsu...etc etc).

Give it a go. :smile:

Reply 3

jonathanemptage

21

Original post by AngeloHague

Nowadays, I often find myself regularly bored. I spend most of my time playing games on the computer

(or the reality is, most of the time browsing pointless internet sites ie Twitter, Facebook, etc, and then playing games a fraction of the time), and honestly want something to break this routine. I've never been particularly athletic, and never really shown any interest in

any sports. Now, the thing is, I've come to a point where I'm willing to try out sports and see what I can do and whether I'd like to do them. Now, I have a few issues with this however.

•

I'm 17, and feel like I've missed a crucial period in which people learn a sport (ie people join teams for their chosen sport and get better at them whilst they're young - junior school or secondary school). So, I'm worried that anyone I play with will be substantially better and the difference in ability will be massive and somewhat embarrassing.

•

In addition to that, I won't be able to join any school teams due to only having a short year left at my school.

•

Not being athletic or showing interest in sports in the past, I'm worried that whatever I try I'm, obviously, not going to be particularly good at. So, I'll find it difficult to join any clubs or teams. I'm pretty skinny considering I've never had any interest in any sports, and have never really worked my body at all.

•

It's the start of my second year of school, I'll soon (hopefully) be moving on to go to university. With this in mind, I'm worried I won't have the time to devote to a sport (and yet, I really want to).

I'm not particularly interested in

football, never been a fan. I'm incredibly bad at tennis (as well as the table variant). Things I expect to have an interest in (off the top of my head) are baseball and badminton. Saying this, I don't have athletic / sporty friends. And I also don't think they'd be particularly interested in playing sports with me.So, what are everyone's thoughts and comments on the situation? How should I approach the situation? What other sports would you suggest?Thanks in advance for all your comments, - Angelo.

Badminton is nice and easy and pretty easy and cheap to get in to loads of unis will have clubs with social games so that would possibly be a good one to get in to.

loads of unis also have ski and snowboard clubs many people who join have never don it before and it's a really fun sport to do also rock climbing is fun and you will get much fitter without even knowing it.

um yeah so hope that helps.