One thing that I miss the most about college is one minute I could be sitting on the couch with no plans. The next thing I know, I am grabbing my boots, racket, or ball and off to play a sport. Playing a sport usually came out of no where. I text or see a friend and we are off to play tennis or going to find a group playing soccer in the fields. It was easy, fun and free.
Did I still have organized sports? Certainly. I played probably 5 different types of intramural sports. I also had several activity classes that got me active and playing sports with others. These were still affordable and low key(well I guess the classes were expensive, but I got credit). It also gave us a way to meet new people that play the same sport, so we could have even more people for pick-up games.
Maybe its the city life vs small town life. City people are busy and live by schedules. Small town people just step out the door and find something to do when they're free. Maybe my sports friends have moved away and its harder to meet to play. It seems like if you want to play a "pick-up" game, you have to send a facebook invite 2 weeks before and text 2 times to make sure they're coming. Not very "pick-up" game like. Maybe its the busy life of the 20-somethings out of college person. So people turn to organized sports.
I can't tell you how many times I have been asked to play on a team (particularly indoor soccer). I ask how much and its over 60 or 70 dollars for 8 games! My response, I would love to but that's too much for me right now, sorry. Obviously, I just need to get a job and I could afford to play with some teams. I have been blessed though to play on an outdoor soccer team for free because our team has a sponsor. However, there's still something special about pick-up or unstructured games that start out of no where that I miss.
I have replaced this missed unstructured play time with lots of running lately. I absolutely love running, don't get me wrong, but give me a group of friends and a ball of any sport and I would take that in a heart beat. I can run on my own any day, but its getting competitive and socializing with good people that I miss from unstructured games.
