Footy and friend in 2019 Amazing Stories!

The weekend isn’t over yet folks, but an entry is due because the weekend has been SO FULL even though I told myself I would commit to no social events after my introduction with Australian Rules Football (footy) on Saturday.

Yesterday I showed up early to the park before the game and met with the person who I know who plays for the team and is responsible for planting the seed in my head to try it out. She used to play tackle football for the Portland team and I briefly met her during a season. Most of our “acquaintance-ship” (how we actually know each other) has been through FB. So anyway, I got to the field early, introduced myself to the coach and the other teammates. They were all super chill, and I told them I was interested in learning the sport and they were ALL for including me in the skills drills, warm up drills, and giving me a brief rundown of how the game would be played. I did do my own research and watched some video clips prior to arriving to the field, so I wasn’t completely useless or clueless. I wasn’t expecting them to give me any game time, but after all the drills (and we did A LOT of them because it was 55 degrees and downpouring and we had to stay moving to stay loose and warm), coach came over to me with his magnetic field board and showed me my new name magnet labeled “B Beast” (short for baby beast, which I had previously told him was my football nickname) and told me I was going to be starting at the forward position 😱. And then I was given a jersey and pair of shorts to use for the game. Y’all, I went to kickboxing that morning because I wasn’t expecting they’d actually play me, and I wanted to make sure I got a workout in that day. Y’all, I did NOT need to go to kickboxing that morning because coach played me ALL 4 quarters. It’s four 15-minute quarters and play time doesn’t stop except for at the end of each quarter.

I scored two points for the team, and our final score was a win of 18-16 over Edmonton (Canada), so those two points mattered! I actually got more play time than the friend who invited me out 🤷🏻‍♀️ Like I said, most of what I knew about her prior to Saturday was what I’ve learned off her Facebook. She seems to do a lot of talking about how great she is and how aggressive she is, but she was actually shying away from contact on the field and was getting subbed off for it. When the game was over, she said her knee was hurting and that’s why she didn’t want to play at all during the second half (which she didn’t), so I don’t know.

Also, after the game she told me she had an extra ticket to the Seattle Seawolves rugby game today (Sunday) and asked if I wanted to go with. I was worried she’d be jealous that I got to play the entire game, but that didn’t seem to be the case, and I agreed to go with her because I HAVE been wanting to check out one of their games. Y’ALL. I now have a much better idea of who she is now as a person/personality-wise. You remember that kid in Elementary school who was ALWAYS trying to get the teacher’s attention and then ALWAYS telling other kids how great their own accomplishments were (real or not) and then trying to tell other kids what to do and how to do it? She’s that grade school kid.

SO I thought boozing her up would calm her down and slow her talking but it only made her talk more and more. Which made me try to zone out more and more, which made her try to get my attention more and more. I was already socially wiped out from yesterday, but now I’m just BLAHHHHHH don’t talk to me anyone!

Since she was the one with the tickets, I offered to pick her up and provide the transportation. Worst passenger seat driver ever. I’m 31 years old, I think I can navigate lane switching just fine. I was already exhausted by the time we got to the stadium, which is when I remembered why I’m okay attending sporting events alone. She didn’t stop talking throughout the entire match. The booze approach failed big time. I was told which players I should like and why. She apparently played for the women’s rugby team and she’s apparently played at that field before, so after the game she had to show me the EXACT spot on the field that she hurt her knee playing rugby, which is why it hurts when she tries playing Aussie Footy. She told me which players I needed to get a picture with after the game, which I wasn’t interested in. When I asked her to take my picture of me with the mascot, she wouldn’t. She’s a strange creature indeed. For the record, my two favorite players of the match (they had the best hairstyles) weren’t on her list of players that should my favorites.

I feel like my social game “isn’t that bad” in comparison. I was sooooo ready to drop her off at home after the game and round two of passenger seat driving.

I am attending the next Footy practice, which is on Tuesday. I DO want to play for the team. I had a blast. The players and coach seem really cool. So if this practice goes well, I’ll more than likely officially join. I will have to leave work early for it, but I’ll tell them I’m going to swing my day so that I come in and hour early and leave an hour early for an appointment. They only have one weekday practice and those are always on Tuesdays, so if Tuesday goes as well as I’m hoping, I’m going to probably have to ask work if I can work an earlier schedule on Tuesdays. I don’t think they’ll have a problem with it since it’s only an hour swing.

I am soo exhausted and sore. The good kind of sore though. It’s been awhile since my body was last contact-sport-sore and it feels good. So good. I have come to the conclusion that i do need to be on a sports team to feel “whole”. But it needs to be a “healthy” environment. And it’s hard to find adult teams as one gets older and isn’t already “involved” in a league from like their college days. But I’m doing it.

P.S. I wrote this entire thing on my phone so I apologize for any weird typos