Generally I hate pure exercise in the form of jogging or ones that make up repetitive muscle-building routines such as those dip things I found out about the other day on here, or weights and so on - although I do recognise that these things have their place, especially now that team sports are banned they become even more important. Apparently the government have now actually gone around removing goalposts from public pitches to make sure that no-one is tempted, which seems like yet another huge inconsistency - if La Liga can play 11 v 11 with refs, linesmen, coach, physios etc etc then I don't see why my mates and I can't have a 5 on 5 kick around... but whatever, we can't so no point complaining.
Anyway, I do like many games in which you chase a ball, but most of them always seem like a poor substitute; a few years ago I remember playing tennis with a friend on Caledonian Road, we had a cracking game that was closely matched with some (by my standards) great rallies in perfect weather - but next to the court was a footie pitch with a game playing and all I could of think of was how much I would rather be on the other side of the fence playing football. I think if one of them had gone off injured I would have dropped my racket mid-point and begged to be allowed to join in....
But, I have to say that, these days, I truly love squash, it's the one sport I enjoy playing almost as much as 5-a-side (which in my opinion is the ultimate form of football, for playing enjoyment at least).
I really like the way that with decent hand-eye coordination you can start having rallies almost straight away and so it's instantly more rewarding than tennis. And also, cos of the enclosed nature of the court you don't spend ages chasing after dead balls between points (OK, that's not fundamental to tennis - if you have hundreds of balls and some ballboys to chase them for you then you won't face this problem, but most often you don't). In short, if you play squash for an hour you will spend a much greater proportion of that time actually PLAYING than you would with an hour of tennis. A big plus for me - that's why American football (to name one thing) seems so boring to us over here I guess, the game clock runs for one hour but the whole thing lasts closer to four, a very clear demonstration that three quarters of the time nothing is happening. That's why you need cheerleaders and so on I guess... but I digress... squash is a game that is a lot of fun and easy to pick up the basics, but that's not to say that it's an easy game, the fact that you can get started so quickly means that, as long as you are evenly matched, you are quickly looking for more and more ways to win the point, more and more types of shot and so on.
And famously squash is recognised as a very demanding game. Continual high intensity bursts of sprinting and changing direction and so on means as an aerobic sport it's a killer, and of course it's good for increasing the strength of your legs, especially your thighs and the (technical term) back of your thigh muscles. And this is what I want really, I've never aspired to be muscular, but I do want to be slim and fit and feel that I can run for a bus or up some stairs without getting out of breath.
In short, I love the game, but there is one aspect in which it really differs from football and regarding which I don't know how I feel. I'm referring to the one v one competitive nature. This is something I've often read about with people explaining how they prefer, say, boxing, to a team sport precisely because it is down to you and you only. If you win, you are better than the other guy, if you lose you are worse. Whereas in football you can have a shit game and know that you were totally outwitted by your opposite number (or lot of players on the other team even) and yet still win the match cos one or more of your players have carried you. Or it can be the other way round, you score a hattrick and yet that useless bunch of cunts who are supposed to be backing you up somehow contrive to give the baddies four.
I've often found this prioritisation of individual over team slightly problematic. I like teamwork. I like the fact that one week you might have a bad game and feel that your team covered for you, but next week you make up for it. I like the way that you learn your players' strengths and weaknesses and they know yours and together you help each other exploit them. I enjoy the way that the greater number of variables in a team allow for more sophisticated tactics and so on. Intellectually at least, I like the idea of preferring team sports.
But I learned to play squash because a friend of mine from my football team used to work near where I did and we realised we could play at lunch break. We were super competitive and we were desperate to beach each other and that is precisely what drove us to get better. We neither of us had any coaching but simply our desire to beat each other drove us to improve - I think - very rapidly.
So, now, while football is banned, I'm booking a squash court two or three times a week and I've got a list of ten or eleven people who play on the basis of who replies first. And it's great, I'm enjoying it a lot, I'm getting fitter and so on. Basically everyone who is playing is new to the game and so I'm teaching them (as much as I can given that I've not really had any coaching myself) and that's rewarding in itself and so on.
Today for example was a great game. I think I said before that when this guy Manuel played for the first time a week or two back I was impressed by his fitness level and speed and even more impressed at how quickly he was able to pick up the game and learn what shots to play when, and, especially, how good he was at figuring out how to improve his returns against tricks that bamboozled him the first time. So today was his second game and he brought along his flatmate who had also never played before and who arguably picked it up even more quickly than he did. As a result the whole thing was a fantastically good run out for all of us.
Buuuut, because of the way I'm playing with a load of new starters, and, even given how good a couple of them are for how long they have played, that competitive element which I had when I played before in London is missing. I really enjoy meeting these guys, the club is lovely, the courts are perfect, the beers afterwards (and kebab in fact today) are wonderful - sitting in the shade on the terrace as the day just starts to cool, watching the top tennis court (the Portuguese number one was playing there the other day) is great. But to really elevate it to the ultimate fun, I need competitiveness.
And this is interesting to me. I didn't realise how much competition mattered to me in sports/fitness. And I guess I put those together like that cos I only really enjoy fitness if it's a sport. Is this a failing? Is it even more of a failing if it drives you towards individual sports in which your pure superiority can be most explicitly demonstrated? Do other people feel like this?
I feel that DannyL for instance will be towards the other end of this spectrum having long ago achieved a zen like maturity that means he can easily rise about something so banal and earthly as trying to beat someone at something.