I played broomball last night with my co-workers on my new project, and it was different than the previous times I had played with my previous project. Part of it is a demographic shift: my new group is decidedly younger and so they are, generally speaking, more athletic. But another part of it is cultural: my new project is made up of consultants (except for me) and, stereotypically or not, they played a little more aggressively than I was used to. That's all great (I'm pretty competitive myself), but it meant that I was no longer among the top 1 or 2 players. I was top 40%, I think, but not top 10%. Part of it, however, is me. I'm 7 years older than I was the first time I played, and my body just doesn't want to do what I think it should do in all cases.
I wore polyprene knee wraps under my jeans to give them extra support, but that still didn't keep me from having a nasty fall during the game. I was moving along fine with the ball, when suddenly I fell, pretty much on my own accord. It felt like I twisted my knee, and must have looked pretty bad, since everyone stopped playing to make sure I was OK. It felt fine after a few minutes, though.
The other injury I incurred isn't attributable to my lack of skill or youth. Someone whacked my thumb with their stick. That hurt for a while, and started swelling almost immediately, so I pressed it to the ice at every opportunity.
So today, my right knee is good and swollen and rather sore, which was a surprise since it didn't feel at all when I went to bed. My thumb looks swollen and bruised, but I think it's going to look worse tomorrow. It's only slightly sore.
It may sound like I'm complaining, but I'm not, really. I'm realizing that I ain't as young as I used to be, and that I may have to start scaling back on what I try to do. But I don't think I'm ready to give in quite yet. I'm still going to get out on the ice the next time a Broomball event comes around.