Back in the game
I am sitting here feeling sorry for myself. After a rigorous game of road hockey tonight, it occurred to me that I am getting old.
When my friends Jack and Brynn asked me to join them in a friendly game with a few friends, I did so without hesitation. Last time I had done something like this was about 20 years ago. At the ripe old age of 38, my brain was still thinking I was in my late teens. My body let me know very quickly that it was realistically feeling 38.
At first it felt great to be running along with these young kids and showing them I could still move quickly and dazzle them with a few of my favourite stick handling, passing and special plays. For the first little while, I think I actually impressed them. Then everything started to fall apart and the next thing you know, I was volunteering to stand still and play goalie.
In the little courtyard under the stars buffeted by a strong wind off the nearby farm fields, I did my best to keep up with the younger ones. It brought back a lot of memories to be facing dedicated players trying to get a few shots by me. Every once in a while, I would decide to get a burst of speed and run as fast as I could, stick handling the rubber ball. Most of the time, I was just gasping and trying to catch my breath.
Suddenly, it dawned on me while standing at goal trying to take a discrete break, that I had experienced this scene many times before but in a different way. When I was a teenager in Attawapiskat, I recall my friends and cousins Lindy, Thomas, Anthony, Joey, Terry, Mike, Hubert and three to four lines of Kataquapit boys of varying ages, playing their hearts out at the local gymnasium in the old JR Nakogee school.
Many times, we were joined by some of the old guys, or what we thought were old guys. Physically fit middle-aged men, like Henry Kataquapit, Chis-teh-mah-oo (a Cree name that translates as tobacco) and Pepe, would join us and we were impressed at how fast they were and what a physical game they played. Often, what they lacked in speed, they compensated with hard checks, a rough game and more efficient plays.
I imagine there were a few times tonight when Jack, Brynn and their friends were surprised that this heavy middle-aged Native with a long ponytail was able to put on a burst of speed and come up with a few tricky plays. Then again, maybe all that laughter I heard had to do with my gasping for air and heading to the goal net for a break.
This fast-paced game of road hockey reminded me of just what fantastic shape those middle-aged guys were in that I played with so long ago. They would join us three or four times a week for very intense games that lasted for an hour or two. The best thing about those games was that no matter how competitive they were we all had some good laughs and went home feeling a really good kind of tired.
Tonight was much the same for me. I drove back to my place feeling exhausted yet exhilarated. I was happy for just spending an hour chasing a little ball around on a road with some fun company. It was like a bit of meditation. It also reminded me that I have to eat better and move more.
Too many First Nation people are like me with a less-than-perfect diet and not enough exercise. We are paying for these choices with heart disease and diabetes. I plan to get back to some better food choices like veggies with a boiled egg, beans, lentils and chickpeas. I am doing my best to stay away from soda and rich sugary desserts.
If I can get back on track, I am hoping that I will be at least in as good shape as Henry, Chis-teh-mah-oo and Pepe were when I played ball hockey with them so long ago.