The Good Old Hockey Game!!

Well, all in the name of athleticism and health, of comradeship and socialization, i have joined a ball hockey team! I was asked by Carina, my roommate, if i wished to participate in such an endeavour and at the time it seemed like a spendid idea.... would help me achieve many things if not increase my athletic profile significantly. So there we were, two silly chicks, quavering in fear the evening of the first game, foolishly attempting multiple excuses to get out of their commitment but knowing deep in our hearts that we needed to do this crazy thing. We knew only a few souls at the gym and were surrounded by many others who appeared to be much more proficient at appearing to be expert hockey players. Both of us on the other hand hadn't played floor hockey since around grade five so any muscle memory that may have developed was definitely not in play anymore. We furtively peered around at our fellow team members and soon-to-be opponents, sizing them up and trying frantically to look like we knew what we were doing. We sadly lacked our own sticks and knee pads and so looked sorely out of place with bare shins and plastic gym stock room hockey sticks. I didn't even know what side of my body i was supposed to hold the stick on... was i a leftie or a rightie? I'm still not convinced that i've made the right choice but for now i'm sticking with the old rightie - seems the least awkward to me - that's what it's all about right? We ran onto the gym floor apprehensive about what to do and how to do it... where should we be? why is the other team scoring on us already only two minutes into the game? With our intrepid coach/organizer shouting out encouraging comments to the members of our team (most of whom had not played in many years either thankfully), our team replicated the Tim Horton's junior soccer leagues where all the players follow in a nice little clump behind the ball and don't spread out on defense. We have learned better since then but we still have lots of skills practise to work on. But to our shock and horror, it was the sad lack of physical shape that was the big problem. I experienced jello legs, a stitch in my side and complete breathlessness within the first 2 minutes of running around - how was i supposed to last beyond that time? But as all things in life should be - we took things a minute at a time, coming gasping off the court yelling "switch!" with the last remnants of breath in our lungs. We unfortunately lost our first game to the merciless score of 13-2 if i'm right (it's possible it was higher than that but i think they might have stopped counting at some point!). Our second game, last week, was a little better as far as skills goes and strategy - our team scoring right away 2 goals in the first few minutes (mine being one of them!!). Our opponents quickly pulled together and defeated us handily 11-2 but we did feel somewhat more into playing this time. So all teasing aside, it is a great exercise experience, we have met new people but we still have a long ways to go before the Women's Olympic hockey team is sending their scouts to watch our performances!!!