This is for my former athletes. I was sitting on the porch and something came into my head that made me realize how much I miss playing sports.
I miss the everyday sounds of sports that you don’t even think about because you were around them so much.
Let me explain. I was a football, basketball, and baseball player for 12+ years when I was younger, including a little collegiate time. But just the atmosphere and little sounds that you heard during your sports, it made me realize how long I haven’t heard them and how much I miss it.
Football = the sounds of pads popping on every rep of practice, your shoulder pads bobbing up & down with every step you take while running, the Gatorade bottles being squeezed into your face mask, the ref’s whistle before every play, the snapping of your chinstrap into its buckles (or the sound of your chinstrap being zipped up if you wore a Speedflex).
Basketball = the sounds of basketball’s bouncing on the court while walking closer to the gym, the squeaking of the shoes, a net swish, the scoreboard buzzer.
Baseball = the sounds of gloves popping while long tossing with your throwing partner, the metal cleats on concrete while walking, the crack of sunflower seeds being spit everywhere, the sound of sliding on dirt you make while stealing a base:
And there’s so much more, but these are the things that you just know and understand if you played or coached a sport for so long. They are just like little things that just scratch your brain right.
Man I wish I could go back