Lifestyle Essentials

Be a Team Player

It’s February, the worst month of the year, a time when spirits and pocketbooks are low and a goofy holiday dedicated to romantic love serves no real purpose but to increase our chocolate intake. By now, most people have reneged on their New Year’s promises to go to the gym twice a week. Who could blame them? The weather outside is frightful. The Olympics are on TV (and in a convenient time zone, too).

But it’s also Heart Month, and many desk-bound business people know it’s time to take better care of their health. One way to do it is to let a little peer pressure into your life: join an indoor rec sports team. It’s easy to stay home from the gym, but when your team has a practice and you skip it, you’d better have a good excuse ready.

“The treadmill is far less exciting than a game,” says Edmonton financial consul-tant Dan Meyer. Part of his fitness routine includes playing in North of 50, a men’s hockey league whose members are all over 50. The level of play is pretty high. “Most of us played competitively when we were younger,” Meyer explains. “The casual hockey players have dropped out by now. It’s all the fun, with none of the hitting, pushing or holding.”

Less regimented are the regular Friday lunchtime shinny games he also plays, organized by 56-year-old communications consultant Wayne Telfer. Telfer contracts 27 weeks’ worth of ice time from the City of Edmonton and splits the cost among a couple dozen players; each pays about $150. “It’s cheap,” Telfer says. “There are no officials, no refs. Just hockey.” The group has a mix of skills and ages. At 27, Telfer’s son Jon is one of the youngest players.

Rec hockey has always been around, and now other sports are gaining popularity. Indoor soccer is not just for the seasoned vet. “When I started, it was the first time I’d ever played,” says Gail Fraser-Steffler, 56, a manager at Atco Gas. She’s always been physically active and, like many women, she developed an interest in the sport from watching her kids play soccer. Now she plays on a “classics” team – women over 35 – in the Edmonton and District Soccer Association. Rec soccer, she says, has gained in popularity even in the eight years she’s been involved. The association has 73 classics teams alone.

Other sports, with an even stronger emphasis on the fun and social aspects, are coming to the fore. The Calgary Sport and Social Club (it has a newer Edmonton counterpart) has been around for more than 14 years and boasts winter leagues that include such favourites as floor hockey, volleyball and even dodgeball.

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