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November 5, 2009
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Be a team player We did not all make it onto the varsity team. But whether it was in gym class or in years of being on soccer teams, many people have childhood experiences with being on sports teams, getting out and running around while playing a game, be it competitive football or a pick-up game of kickball. Once you leave college, however, all that running and kicking often comes to an end. Maybe there’s an occasional office softball game, maybe there’s some football with the kids, but often all those kickball and dodgeball skills go to waste. They don’t have to. If you’re in search of a physical activity that doesn’t involve a treadmill or as a way to meet new people while stretching out your cubicle-stiffened limbs, you might consider joining one of the many groups that offer team play — mostly for fun and bragging rights — to grown-ups. Some activities, like the pickup basketball nights at local gyms, are casual; some, like the local roller derby teams, have set schedules and require commitments to practice. And many offer you a chance to play sports you might never have tried before. Looking for a new way to work it out? Join the team. Dodgeball: no skills required The rules are largely the same in the YMCA version of the sport made popular again by the 2004 movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. The perfectly sculpted muscles and ultra-competitiveness are missing from the YMCA sport. And the spandex hopefully is too. Athletic ability is certainly not a prerequisite for dodgeball with the YMCA either. “Almost none, really,” said Chris Webster, who runs the Manchester YMCA’s adult sports program. “You need some throwing ability, but other than that...” If players want to be successful, they just have to remember the movie’s Patches O’Houlihan’s five Ds of dodgeball: dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge. Really, they just need to figure out how to dodge the balls coming at them, and how to throw them back at the opposing team. Recreation departments, YMCAs and other entities, such as the New Hampshire Sports and Social Club, are trying to find ways to get people involved in sports for exercise, for fun, to work off the frustration of a tough day and to get those competitive juices flowing. Dodgeball has quickly become a particularly popular way of drawing people out. With no prior skill set required, it’s an opportunity to play a simple, fun game while getting a workout. “The movie sparked some people asking me about it,” Webster said. “It doesn’t really take any ability but it gets you out of the house for a couple hours.” Dodgeball was extremely popular for the YMCA right out of the gate, with 10 teams in a season the high. Now, the league averages about four to six teams each season. Webster said the YMCA is looking to build more interest in dodgeball again, especially since it does require little athletic experience. Having fun For some, winning will pretty much always be everything, but for the masses, it’s about being part of a team and having some fun, organizers say. The social component is a big one too. The NHSSC, which has coed sports programs in Manchester, Nashua and Portsmouth, encourages teams to meet at a local pub following games or matches. The league is also looking to plan some group trips to further embrace the togetherness of team play. “It’s more than a sports league,” said Elijah Quimby, NHSSC general manager. “It’s a chance to play games, make friends, some contacts, and to go out and have a couple drinks. It’s always about the social, more than just playing. It creates a team environment.” (NHSSC members get discounted drinks at the sponsor bar following sporting events. In Manchester, the sponsor bar is Murphy’s Taproom, where a couple weeks ago the discount was $1.50 Bud Light and Budweiser drafts.) “It’s a great organization to be with,” said Bryan Lee, who has participated with the NHSSC for a couple years now. “The tons of people you get to meet. I played with a bunch of people who don’t have an athletic bone in their body, but they all have a blast.” For him now, the club offers opportunities for exercise and socializing and is something to look forward to during the week. The club offers recreational and semi-competitive leagues, which Lee said “gets a little more of the competitive juices flowing.” “It’s great to take off some steam after work,” Lee said. While some may treat games with a win-at-all-costs attitude, it doesn’t have to be that way. “Some teams, every game is the Super Bowl,” Webster said, speaking of dodgeball. “Every team is different. We have a team of teachers, team of painters, landscapers, a team of lawyers. Anybody and everybody can do it.” Winning isn’t the only thing “There’s no animosity between teams on the floor before or after,” said Victoria Gailinas, of the Manch Vegas Roller Girls, a roller derby organization. “I don’t know any other sports that are like this.” The Manchester YMCA offers dodgeball, two basketball leagues (over 18 and over 30), volleyball, tennis, swimming, gymnastics, ultimate frisbee, wiffle ball, and for the first time this spring, kickball. “We definitely offer the gamut,” Webster said. “Get them doing something, recreation.” Brigit Ryan hopes people will think outside the box if they’re considering joining a sport. Most people have played or watched basketball, baseball, soccer or football. If people need to get their blood flowing, why not try rugby? “One of the great things, there really seems to be a position for everybody,” Ryan said. “It’s starting to become more popular, but it hasn’t been for a long time. Because of that, there’s so many people with little experience.” No experience is no problem for the women’s rugby team. No athletic experience at all is required to join. With the help of some coaches who work with the established men’s team, players learn the fundamentals. (The men’s club team is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.) “Even with the experience that some of us already had, having the coaches we had, it kind of helped us all develop our skills and it helped a lot with the new players,” said Ryan, who began playing rugby in college and has stuck with it ever since. Her father and brother had played, so she at least was aware of the sport. Even with a sport like basketball, Webster said there are typically one or two players per team in Manchester YMCA leagues that never played growing up, though he said most do come from an athletic background. In the swimming program, 90 percent of participants do have some level of prior ability, but ability or not, instructors can help participants refine their strokes. The ups and downs of recreation Overall, the Manchester YMCA has seen a slight decrease in competitive sports over the past few years. Especially with basketball, lots of athletes, having played competitively growing up and in college essentially year-round, are a little burnt out once they finish college. There have also been other outlets for basketball in the area in recent years, Webster said. “There are a few competitors, so market saturation does hurt a little,” Webster said. Other sports, like tennis or volleyball, require little athletic experience as well. Volleyball is taking place right now at the YMCA and the dodgeball and basketball leagues will get started next week. Basketball and volleyball leagues begin with a blind draft to divvy up teams. Teams are entered as units in the dodgeball league. Tennis takes place year-round, while swimming and gymnastics are currently in action, Webster said. “You don’t have to be at any level to get your hands and feet wet,” Webster said of tennis. In its entirety, Webster said the YMCA’s sports programs can cater to people of any age. Every day, the YMCA has open gym in the middle of the day and he sees 20-year-olds playing pick-up basketball with 65-year-olds. The biggest demographics in adult leagues at the YMCA are mostly men, ages 24 to 35 and most are former athletes, Webster said. Likewise, most players are in their 20s and 30s in the NHSSC, but Quimby said there have been players in their 40s and 50s. About three years ago, Keith Murphy, owner of Murphy’s Taproom on Elm Street in Manchester, and his friend, Karl Beisel, decided they wanted to do something that combined socializing with being active. That thinking created the NHSSC. At first there were just four teams for a dodgeball league. But it’s grown every year since, Quimby said. (Murphy now owns the league with his wife Kelleigh, a former Manchester alderman.) In Nashua, the league is starting to pick up steam as well, with about two to three sports per season. Quimby described the sports scene in terms of the NHSSC as “up and coming.” In Manchester and Portsmouth, the club sustains four or five leagues per season. “We have players who literally play every single sport,” Quimby said. Lee has pretty much played in every league the NHSSC has offered — dodgeball, softball, flag football, kickball, basketball and now volleyball. Lee, 27, who works at State Farm Insurance, moved to New Hampshire from Massachusetts a few years ago. He decided to join the NHSSC as a way to meet people. Now, he said he hangs out with the same people he plays sports with. He saw the club as an outlet for exercise and socializing. “I saw it through Myspace, they friend-requested me,” said Lee, who played a variety of sports in high school and mentioned softball as his favorite in the NHSSC. “At that time, I was looking to do some kind of softball, just as a way to be active on a weekday. Me and my neighbors started playing. We loved it, the social aspects, meeting friends. Most of my friends I met through the sports league.” Quimby has seen interest grow consistently. People like that there’s no pressure to have been a college athlete. It’s about fun, he said. Leagues run eight weeks and the ninth week is typically playoffs. There’s a pre- and post-season party at sponsor bars as well, Quimby said. “Everyone gets to play,” Quimby said. A sport for everyone “It’s done very well,” Quimby said. It’s another offering where no prior experience is needed. Some of the players have played before, “but definitely there are quite a few players who have never picked up a stick before.” There’s no contact and players can sign up individually, as a team or with one or two friends. For those who like the sound of the NHSSC but would rather try a different sport, the organizers are always interested in adding new sports, Quimby said. Ultimate frisbee is a byproduct of popular demand, as is horseshoes in Portsmouth, likewise for beach volleyball in Portsmouth. “We’re always open to suggestions,” Quimby said. The club is trying to take the social aspect to another level as well, as Quimby is looking to schedule group activities outside of sporting events, such as ski trips, he said. It’s all about getting off the couch, maybe slightly out of the comfort zone and trying something new, or refreshing something old. “I don’t see why they can’t,” Quimby said of getting off the couch. “Everyone who has done it has had a great time. It’s for the everyday person.” For those thinking of joining a league through the club, Lee mentioned players can get credit toward different leagues by serving as referees for certain sports. (The club uses professional referees for softball, football and basketball.) Each league through the NSSC costs $50 to play. Roller derby “It is a full-contact spot,” said Jennifer Waltner, who participates in the New Hampshire Roller Derby League. “There’s a lot of positional blocking. They’ll skate directly in front of other jammers. Two will “wall up” so they can’t get around the two of you. There is hitting — it’s more along the lines of hockey. There’s shoulder checks and no clotheslining or punching or kicking. If you do any of those things, you’ll get sent to the penalty box.” Gailinas said getting used to being hit wasn’t a big deal, but it did take a bit of an adjustment to get used to hitting other players, especially people she knew and was friends with — and in particular when the other player was Gailinas’ daughter. “But once you get past it, you don’t even think about it anymore,” Gailinas said. There are two main forms of roller derby, flat and banked tracks. There are nearly 300 flat-track leagues in the United States alone, though Gailinas said it is expanding to other countries. Gailinas said she’d like to bring a banked track to New Hampshire within the next few years. Banked tracks are more popular in the Southwest. The Manch Vegas Roller Girls, the Manch Vegas Men in Black and the Monadnock Region Roller Derby, a women’s team based in Peterborough, fall under the same umbrella. The Peterborough team is coming up on its first full year of practice and will start scrimmaging in 2010, while the Men in Black are just starting their first year of practice. All three teams recruit year-round. The Manch Vegas Roller Girls have 50 members, and 20 or so make up the travel team. The league accommodates people ages 21 and over. Gailinas said she’s looking to start a junior league for people ages 14 to 20. There are two forms of derby for the Roller Girls: recreational and aggressive. The travel team is aggressive and everybody else is recreational. The recreational option is for people who are just learning or for people who are trying to focus on the exercise component while avoiding extensive physical contact, Gailinas said. “The philosophy is to open it up to any and everybody,” Gailinas said. For newbies, it can take about four to six months before they’re going to participate in their first bout. Gailinas mentioned the league’s philosophy is to support small businesses. They do events for nonprofit organizations as well, but she thought the league was unique in its focus on small business. “It’s our way to give back to the community,” Gailinas said. Waltner says she loves the high energy of the sport, which is featured in Drew Barrymore’s latest movie, Whip It, which premiered last month. Skaters also get to develop derby personas — Waltner is Hazel Smut Crunch. The league will take anyone who wants to try derby and no skating experience is required. Waltner said she likes to tell incoming skaters about how she couldn’t skate when she started. She says it gives them hope. The league, which had its first full season this past summer, now has more than 50 members. “We’re really a friendly group,” Waltner said. Gailinas just finished her first season and said she had a fabulous time. “I found out it’s possible for anyone to do this, learn how to play and to not get killed,” she laughed. Gailinas said the pace to learning the sport is such that people can come in with no prior athletic ability and find themselves picking it up bit by bit. As new skaters get used to being on skates, the pace starts to increase, and before they know it, they’re getting a pretty serious workout. “It’s like having a personal trainer at a gym,” Gailinas said. Beginners are going to feel soreness in the thigh muscles and in their rear ends. Gailinas said the lower back is going to be sore for some time, but she said playing will build the muscles in the back that surround the spine that actually carries peoples’ weight, and “now you get to carry it properly.” “You will get a rock-hard behind,” Gailinas said. “It’s unavoidable. Skating just does it.” Gailinas said $400 would cover all the equipment needed to play roller derby, but she said it’s rare for beginners to have everything. The league lets people borrow as much equipment as possible until they get their own. The $400 covers skates, a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards and butt pads. Mouth guards cost 99 cents at Walmart. Gailinas said the league doesn’t care where new players buy equipment, but they shouldn’t buy anything without talking to the league first. Rugby “It is definitely a physical sport, but it’s not necessarily as dangerous as it may look,” Ryan said. “The techniques that we learn are put in place to keep it safer. I’ve seen players who have played for years and they’ve never broken anything, but again, I’ve seen people walk down the street and fall and break their ankle. We tackle the person who has the ball. There is physical contact.” With the team just starting up this fall, Ryan said they were able to play against the Seacoast women’s team. They’re hoping to have their own schedule in the spring. Right now, the team practices, mainly conditioning, at the Youth Development Center in Manchester on Wednesday nights. They’ll begin indoor practices once the snow covers the ground, and they’ll be back outside again in the spring when the snow melts. Ryan said bonds between teammates have remained strong even years after playing together. Players on the new women’s team in Manchester would likely develop some of the same types of ties. Ryan said the team often goes out for food and drinks following practices. “We’re out there getting to know each other, team-building,” Ryan said. “We’ll continue to do that.” But there is a certain degree of hard work required of players, not just physically but mentally. For many, it’s an entirely new thing. “I think you have to be willing to put some effort into it, be willing to learn something new and different...,” Ryan said. “It can be confusing. It can be a little frustrating at first to learn. A lot that were new...once they were in a game, it all will make sense.” “I love being active,” Ryan said. “I love the team experience. You’re out there with 14 other players all working together for the same goal.” Get ready for physical activity Getting on the right track can be simple, said Joil Bergeron, who owns Next Level Performance (www.nlpstrength.com), a performance training center located at 31 South Commercial St. in Manchester. Bergeron is also the state director for the National Strength and Conditioning Association. While many leagues don’t require it or even suggest it, people thinking about joining an athletic team of any kind may want to get themselves into at least slightly better shape before they arrive at the first day of practice. Before people do anything, Bergeron recommends meeting with a physician just to get checked out before starting any new physical activity. Once cleared, he suggested simply incorporating more “regular daily activities” into people’s days. Park at the far end of the parking lot. Take the stairs. Rake some leaves. Shovel snow. Go for an extra walk around the block with the kids or take the dog for a walk up a steeper hill than usual. “Those are really all good things that get the body moving again,” Bergeron said. Once people are ready for practice or a workout, Bergeron suggested warming up with about 10 minutes of light activity. He said it should be continuous, full-body movements with large ranges of motions. The warm-up should induce a sweat, an “exercise-induced sweat,” he said. Once done with a workout, Bergeron said, people should cool down with some stretching, as that’s when people can improve flexibility. He said it could raise some eyebrows, but recent studies have shown stretching before exercise can increase the risk of injury. Still, Bergeron said people who haven’t taken part in much physical activity in a long time should consider doing some light stretching ahead of time. Don’t bounce when stretching. After a layoff, Bergeron said, people should ease back into activity. He said soreness is an indicator that a person’s body is healing itself. If you are very sore after a workout or practice, don’t be afraid to ice the sore area for eight to 10 minutes, but make sure to keep up with some light activity. Doing nothing can make it worse. To really get back into shape, perhaps trying out Next Level Performance’s eight-week fitness boot camp is the way to go. Call 627-7500. While many sports work the body in similar ways, there are some areas people can target depending on the sport they choose. Bergeron had some suggestions for prospective athletes. Consider getting some professional guidance before trying any new exercises to ensure exercises are done correctly. • Rugby – Work shoulders, back, hips and neck, as those areas can be susceptible to injury during collisions. • Basketball – Develop muscles around knees and ankles and work the lower back. Bergeron said it’s not a bad idea to work on the triceps and shoulders to help with shooting. • Softball – Work the shoulders and trunk. Work the obliques for rotary movements that help players throw and hit with more power. • Kickball – Work the front of the hips and the thighs, as well as the hip flexor, which is the muscles in front of the thigh. • Dodgeball – Lots of lateral movement, cutting and turning. It’s not a bad idea to work on the arms and shoulders for throwing. Consider doing interval training and sprints as well. • Floor hockey – Lots of sprinting. Work muscles for grip strength and shot accuracy. Work the trunk to increase power in shots. • Flag football – Similar to rugby without the contact. Bergeron suggested working on agility, sprinting, cutting and turning. Focus on total body workouts. • Soccer – Lots of cardiovascular exercise and sprints. Consider full-body exercises. Also consider doing pull-ups, squats, dead lifts and any type of rowing activity. • Roller derby – Work the lower body and trunk as much as possible, as well as knees and shoulders. Work the lower back and incorporate cardiovascular training.
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Join the team The Amoskeag Rowing Club promotes rowing on the Merrimack River. Visit www.amoskeagrowing.org. The Bow parks and recreation department offers adult volleyball Wednesdays, from 8 to 11 p.m. throughout the year at Bow Elementary School. The program is free but participants must fill out a waiver. Call Pete at 228-5227. Visit www.bowparksandrecreation.com. Call parks and recreation at 228-2222. The Concord Recreation Department offers pick-up basketball for ages 18 and older at the Green Street Community Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays year round from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 8 to 10 p.m. It costs $4 per person per session or $65 for a 25-visit pass. Visit www.ci.concord.nh.us/recreation. Visit the Greater Manchester Family YMCA at www.gmfymca.org. Call Webster at 232-8632. The Manchester Freedom women’s tackle football team, which is part of the Independent Women’s Football League, plays home games at West High School. Visit www.manchesterfreedom.com. They recently held a recruiting event at Jillian’s in Manchester. The Manch Vegas Roller Girls will skate outdoors on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. at the Public Service of New Hampshire parking lot, as long as the weather holds, Gailinas said. New recruit nights are Mondays at 7 p.m. Register online. Visit the Manch Vegas Roller Girls at www.manchvegasrollergirls.com. The team has standard practices Mondays and Thursdays from 8 to 10 p.m. Beginners practice on the same days from 7 to 9 p.m. The facility is located at 177 East Industrial Park Drive in Manchester in the rear of the Bedford Design building. Membership fees are $45 per month, but the league is looking to drop it to a $35 monthly fee. The Monadnock team has their own venue and members pay $25 per month, while the Men in Black pay $35 per month. New Boston’s recreation department offers men’s and women’s basketball and adult softball. Visit www.new-boston.nh.us. Call 487-5504. Visit the New Hampshire Sports and Social Club at www.nhssc.com. Call 413-6632. Participants must be at least 21 years of age. Leagues cost $50 each. The Club provides essential equipment, aside from gloves for softball and rubber cleats for flag football. Visit the New Hampshire Roller Derby League at www.nhrollerderby.com or send mail to freshmeat@nhrollerderby.com.People thinking of giving derby a try can show up at Roller Kingdom in Tyngsboro, Mass., the first Friday of every month. Membership costs $55 per year. The league looks to practice three nights a week.
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