Lament of the Athlete

Hard to give up the sports that we love…

I live in a retirement community, largely dominated by white-collar managerial types. Many of the people in my neighborhood are self-made, ambitious people.

I was one of them.

Pickleball, golf, and tennis are popular sports down here. I’ve seen many of my friends injure themselves as they attempt to dominate the courts the way they mastered the boardroom.

Because of my competitive nature, I have played a number of sports, and over-exercised for many decades. I always thought that physically, I could do anything.

Now, my body doesn’t move as easily as it used to. But I have slowly come to terms with this. I’ve had to make amendments as I transition into other activities to keep me healthy.

Do I miss the competitive sports that I used to play? I miss them terribly. But that’s the way life goes sometimes. We have to change as we age.

Maybe life is full of contractions and expansions, and adjusting is just what we have to do. These haikus are devoted to other athletes who have had a hard time adapting to the aging process.

Ambitious people
Have a hard time accepting
The aging process

Keep trying to play
Your body doesn’t want those
Old games don’t work now

Why don’t we see
Seniors jogging uphill
To reclaim their youth

Top of your food chain
You hit the courts with gusto
Like it’s a merger

I move in water
Which embraces me with wet
And welcoming arms

Now retired but
You still have to prove yourself,
Who cares if you win

Got to stay limber
That’s what I have to do now
Keep moving stay strong

Six decades of sports
Hard to get out of bed now
Body in revolt

Your body won’t heal
Unless you leave it alone
So it can renew

Limbs creak with the years
Can’t accept that you are old
No wonder you fell

They don’t tell you that
You will have to pay for all
That exercising

Can’t jog anymore
My body doesn’t like that
Must move in new ways.

I told you not to
Play like you are still thirty
That’s why you tumbled

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