My approach with Sports

Before I begin, I would just like to make you aware of who I am and my objective, as this is pretty much my first ever post. First off, I am a guy, and although it may seem insignificant, the reason why I am making this clear is because I am aware that this is a female community and I respect and will follow any guidelines and regulations that are put in place, even if my content doesn't meet up to them, in which case, I'd have to remove them. Honestly, I have no shame or embarrassment being here, I could learn a few more things about women's fashion and lifestyle tips - I am open to new things! And in return, I do hope my content does help and perhaps you could learn a thing or two from me! Secondly, baring this in mind, my aim isn't to alter any agendas or sway anyone into any standpoints or views I have, especially here. You have a right to believe in what you want. My aim is to have a platform to write and inspire my own way while sticking to protocol. Until I have my own platform to write on! Again, I'm aware of the demographic and I want to be able to help people and write while I stay aware of FP's ideals. Which brings me to my last point. Me and writing. I've been an aspiring writer for as long as I can remember. Since I was about 7, I've always enjoyed creative writing, and it certainly reflected in my school work. I would consistently get high scores and grades in creative writing and just Literacy as a whole. Top of the class! In fact, my Year 6 teacher once said that he hopes that "one day, he would see one of my books in his shelf"! Can't really say the same about comprehension, but we move(!) Lastly, I actually didn't encounter Fashion Potluck on my own. It was through another blogger who is part of this community who is pretty close to me. She's told me about how supportive the community was and I couldn't have been prouder for how much recognition she got! Initially, I wanted to further encourage my support to her, but I recently began to tap into my inner primary school self again and just wrote in many forms, such as: letters and storylines. And that's why I'm here! So if there's anyone you should credit, it's the girl who told me about this platform - her blogs brought back the inner writer in me! And also my younger brother, who is an animator and an aficionado on storytelling! Anyways, this was just an intro briefly describing who I am and what the heck I'm doing here! Put it simply, I came across Fashion Potluck through a close friend who I wanted to help out but then rediscovered my passion for writing. All I need to do now is try and make my own platform! I hope you can take something from what I produce. Thank you for attending my little TEDtalk, now onto the ACTUAL post:  

If you know me in person, you know I enjoy getting active. There's always something awesome about getting your heart pumping, and muscles sore after a good exercise. I thought it would be great to share some of my exercise habits, and whether you're a guy or girl, it really doesn't matter. Please note that I am no qualified personal trainer or fitness expert. As time goes on, I increasingly implement new ways to expand my regimen.

Overview

For starters, I have no sport that I master in. That's right. There is no sport that I am classified a "maestro" at. I would consider myself a somewhat sporty person, but it's mainly because, again, I like to get active. The sports I usually partake in are: football, athletics, swimming and even table tennis. Growing up, especially in England, a country where football is probably the most played and most popular sport, I've always been able to kick a ball and do a few tricks with it, thanks to the influence of my dad who would take me to the park to play, and at school where I'm surrounded by guys who are invested in the sport, some of which are semi-pros and upcoming talents! That said, I am far from the professional level or even a semi pro. I never really took the sport super seriously, despite playing for one or two Sunday League teams and clubs in primary school. A factor being that I was too ashamed of my abilities at the time that I did not want to embarrass myself. And good lord, have I embarrassed myself! My close friends and I would organise football sessions, and we wouldn't care about skill level or abilities, because none of us are "pros". We simply play it for the fun of the sport. With an aquatic sport such as swimming, like with football, the basic skills came naturally to me. Point is, my approach with a sport is that regardless of your skill level, you should go for it. And if you do it regularly, you may just be good at it. There are other ones that I've tried, such as: Tennis, Rugby, Hockey etc. and ones I haven't tried, such as golf. It depends on your character and what type of sport you'd like to get into, whether it'd be a physical contact sport or a sport that requires teamwork. Of course, there will be sports that will put you off from the get go and that's fine. If it doesn't tickle your fancy, then you don't have to do it. But if you're debating on taking on a sport and trying it out (perhaps semi seriously), here are a few things to consider:

1) Look into it. Do some research about the sport you'd like to try. Look at some notable icons and aficionados who excel at it, the ruleset and guidelines and take note of the play style.

2) Get set up: So now you have an idea of what sport you'd like to try. If you've got the doe for it. buy the necessary equipment. If not, you can try and put your crafting and creativity to work. For example. if you're getting into football, you won't always need two parallel goalposts on either side to make it work or training drills equipment. You can make your setup as makeshift as possible and work your way up as your progress. Start with two bags or bottles and get a friend or relative to act as a goalkeeper and place the objects between them. You don't require professional equipment to become just that, even if the quality of the material is better or proves to show different results.

3) Get a friend to help you out: This goes in hand with the former step where I mention getting someone to act as a keeper. That example can be applied here. With a majority of sports, there will be other competitors, whether they are an opponent or a teammate. Your friend or relative may act as the former or latter respectively, depending on the nature of the sport you're interested in. This step doesn't have to be fully taken into account, as you may want to master the skill independently.

4) Rally, rally, rally! Practice makes perfect. If you feel like you're not making progress, keep going and don't give in. If your form seems off, follow some tutorials on how to improve form. When I mentioned "rally", you could apply it to a game of tennis or table tennis. So suppose you're getting better and you'd like to see how far you've come, have some practice games or rounds with an opponent and see how many times or how long you can keep the flow going without breaking the pace. This will naturally improve form and you can figure out what it is you can improve on.

5) Game on!: You've made some progress and you feel like you're ready for a real game situation. Invite a few friends, particularly the ones who might know more about your sport and even ones who might not know so much and organise a regulated game. Similarly, you could think about joining a club and showcasing your skills to a similar demographic of likeminded individuals. This is something I failed to do often growing up, but I feel like as I'm going into university where there will be many societies available, I can become more proactive.

6) Do your best, give it your all and enjoy it! No need to explain further here.

So there you have it. Some things to consider when looking into and approaching a sport. Getting into something so expansive and vast can be daunting especially when you have competition and people judging you, but everyone has to start from somewhere. As of now, I'm still looking into other activities, in fact, I've now signed up for a volleyball club at my university! I will update this post when new ideas come to me. Sports and activities may have guidelines and rules to adhere to and people who are competitive and skills to learn, but at the end of the day, they should be fun and engaging!