GAME NOT OVER

While the choice of the game changes as you grow older,don’t let age play spoil sport
Former diplomat PC Bhalla was game the instant his nephew suggested a round of squash at the Delhi Gymkhana Club. Though it had been two decades since he last played anything significant,he used to play a lot of cricket in school. By the end of 30 minutes of squash,Bhalla,who was then approaching his 40s,was huffing and puffing,exhausted beyond imagination and “had to spend the next two days battling body stiffness and joint aches”. He ditched his squash racquet immediately and played nothing for the next few years. Bhalla,say doctors,had fallen into the common trap of the mind willing but the body not playing along. And he isn’t alone — many adults keen to improve their fitness ratings learn the hard way that plunging headlong into a vigorous game after a long gap isn’t the best medicine.

“Once you hit your late twenties,your body mechanism begins to slow down. Keep this in mind if you are planning to start or resume sports after a break. The choice of the game has to change as you grow older,” says Dr Yash Gulati,senior consultant,orthopaedic surgeon,Indraprastha Apollo,Delhi. He prescribes low-contact games like swimming,golf,badminton and tennis and warns against soccer and rugby. “Many a time,men in their 40s or 50s think they can get active by joining a local football team. They start playing soccer with their peer groups or even with their teenage children. Unfortunately,their fitness levels aren’t what they used to be and a competitive game of football can leave an unaccustomed player with injuries ranging from breathlessness,muscle pulls or ligament injuries to shin splits and other stress injuries,” he adds. Take it slow,is his mantra. It is important to build stamina through jogging,swimming and stretching before gradually increasing the physical demands that come with a new game. “Even with safe games like golf,it is advisable to take things in small doses if one wants to avoid ailments like Golfer’s Elbow (pain on the inside of the elbow),” he says.

But many exciting sports,generally associated with the youth,are surprisingly suitable for older people. Vicky Kapoor,director and chief instructor of the Krav Maga India,an organisation that teaches the Israeli self-defence form,says that “anybody from five to 55 can learn the moves if they aren’t suffering from serious heart or joint problems or abnormally high blood pressure”. At the organisation’s Delhi centre,older students get a separate set of strength training and stamina building exercises until they are ready to push the limits. Even Parkour,the rapid obstacle running sport that Daniel Craig made famous in Casino Royale,can be practised by fathers and sons alike,though at different levels. “An older person might not be able to do the front and back somersaults or leap from one rooftop to another,but he can jump over park benches and take on obstacles like trees if he is fit enough. Of course,one needs to hit the gym and exercise regularly,” says Amlen Singha of Parkour India.
PC Bhalla,now in his late sixties,has found that the perfect place for older men and women is the golf course. “One spends close to four hours in the open,amid nature in the company of like-minded people,” says Bhalla,who visits plays twice a week. Gulati agrees,adding that attitude change is imperative as one grows older. “It’s important to enjoy the game,not compete.”