Activity Based Fun
I have been an avid sports and outdoor enthusiast my entire life. It is hard to remember a time in my life when I wasn’t out running chasing a ball of some kind or exploring California’s beautiful back country wilderness areas.
I love the outdoors. Any form of adventure that challenges my physical and intellectual abilities, (read backpacking, competitive soccer, SCUBA diving, swimming, tennis, hunting, fishing, trap shooting, mountain biking to name a few) I will try. At least once.
One of my lifelong dreams has been to help my children learn to love sports. Along with physical skills, fitness and sportsmanship to be learned, the other major benefits of playing sports for life are those of learning how to work cooperatively with others to achieve a common goal, the value of good hard work and the idea of the correct way of winning and losing. Play is fun, and healthy for you. The aerobic conditioning of field and court sports prepare you for a long life of healthy, active and productive living.
Life doesn’t always deal us a winning hand. Learning that lesson about life teaches us that when we get knocked down, we get up and get right back in the game. We never give up. We fight on. We keep going until we get to where we want to be.
Learning to accept losses and get back up and get in the game is key in the development of our mental capabilities. Humans were built to compete. We are built to think, reason, and actively solve problems.
Life changing experiences
I have been playing competitive soccer for thirty six years. Although my speed is not what it used to be, I can still move around the field pretty well. One of my lifelong dreams was to stay fit enough to be able to play on a competitive team with my kids, as adults. To that extent, I was overjoyed to be invited to join my son’s over 25 soccer team a few years ago and have the opportunity to play the game at a relatively high level. I had been playing in over 35 leagues for many years and this opportunity was a step up in skills, speed and level of play. This was a tough league, with many skilled players.
I endured my share of minor injuries, but late in one game as I was sprinting to mark an opponent, I felt something snap in my right leg. My leg went limp and I went down. I could not walk. I was hurt badly and I knew it. It was not possible to stand up. I had to be lifted off the field and not thinking, I climbed into my car and drove myself to the hospital to get checked out. Sure enough, the ER doctor confirmed that I had a complete tear of my Achilles tendon. I needed surgery immediately to make the repair so I could walk again. It looked like my active days and all the outdoor activities were coming to an end.
Dr. Fortune
My Recovery
My Trainer: Don Goodwin
