Taking up a sport in mid life, if no or little activity has been taking place previously can involve a great deal more than just learning the rules of the sport. There’s the small matter of getting fit to start again. When you think of sport, if you do at all, you tend to consider things you were either good at, or not too terrible at whilst at school. For example, my mind automatically shunts back to netball and rounders in the winter months with the addition of high jump and hurdles in the summer. Our school did not feature heavily in the county league tables for any sport as far as I know. In those distant days the object of the exercise for the schools was to get us all out there for our double period of PE, physical education, to comply with the current school rules as laid out then. There were many students who excelled at sport and they were encouraged to pursue their talents, to a limited extent. Being a fairly average secondary establishment, it did not employ physical education tutors of very high calibre who had achieved anything remarkable themselves.
Today the schools are always looking for the next champion and will have the staff and know how to seek out and promote a youngser who looks hopeful. Ther are many more avenues to follow for any aspiring leader in the team and the explosion of talent in womens’ football is an excellent example of the improvements all round.