Back into competitive soccer at 35yo.

[Icy]

My 35th birthday was a month ago, i'm 20 pounds overweight according to standard charts, my last soccer game played was around 10 years ago and i have decided.... to join an highly competitive (amateur) soccer league!

This should be fun, so i have decided to write it as a dynasty, mixing soccer and my desire to lose those 20 pounds from now to the end of the season.

CHAPTER 1 "The team and the league"

I'm not that crazy as it sounded in the intro. I have been always in good shape besides my overweight, that in part is due to being a guy with big bones and muscular body type. In the past years i have been working out at the gym, running, biking etc, with some regularity, but just not enough to compensate the 10+ hours i expend per day in front of a pc.

I also knew that i was going to join this league since June and since then i have been running 3 or 4 times per week to the point that i can jog now 50 minutes without stop and mixing some sprints in between. I have lost already 6 pounds besides being in summer where i drink beer (that i barely do on winter) or eat more outside and less healthy. It's the first time in a lot of years that i lose weight instead of gaining it during summer.

The league:

It's my city's official amateur "Futbol 7" league. "Futbol 7" is exactly as the soccer you saw in the WC, with same rules (only a different one, all fouls are direct kicks), but in an smaller field and with 7 players per side instead of 11. So the game style is faster and with more movement that standard soccer due to the smaller field/less players, a mix between indoor soccer and soccer, played on grass or artificial grass.

The league follows a ladder system like most of sport leagues in Europe. There are 6 divisions (steps) in the ladder. From top to bottom are named "Division de honor", 1st division, 2nd division etc until 5th division. Each division/level has 14 teams, that play each other twice during the season. At the end of the season, the top 3 teams of each divison move up to the upper one, and the 3 worst teams do gown one. Each team plays one game per week, either on Wednesday or during the weekend, usually at nights for those who have a job.

The category is Senior, so minimum age is 18 years old, but i would say the average is around 29 or so, with some guys in the mid 30's like me, but also some in their early twenties. The official competition starts mid October, but there are a few friendlies/preseason games starting today.

Games are played on grass or astroturf, there are several fields in my city that are rented for this league. There are official referees who get paid (hope only by the league and not by one of the teams ). There is no cash price, but there are economical fines for game misconducts, fights, a whole team not going to a game, etc. So besides being amateur, it's a serious competition that has been running for a few years already.

The Team:

The team i'm going to join currently plays in 1st division, so an step under the top one. The league in the top divisions is highly competitive, with a lot of players who once played soccer at semi-pro levels or that played in the youth teams of professional soccer teams in Spain a few years ago but that did not follow their soccer career for different reasons. In my team there are some players like those.

This team ended 10th out of 14 teams past season, so they avoided relegation but not by much. That means it's going to be a really tough season with the objective again of avoiding relegation. Most of the team is the same that past year, with some retiring due to injuries or real life/family/work issues and some new faces including me.

Our roster will contain around 15 players, even when only 7 play at a time, but unlike in standard soccer, in Futbol 7 you can switch players anytime during the game, think on hockey. Also due to all us being adults with jobs, family etc, there won't be 15 players at every game.

We have recently found a local company that will sponsorhip us, paying the league fees (that include the fields renting, referees salary and medical insurance). So we will have wear their name in our jerseys and will probably change our team name and colors (that were green/white in the past and that will probably be blue/white now). I don't know all the details yet, will add them in the future.

Why did a good team like that sign a guy like me? more about that in chapter 2!

So next chapter will be about me. Then chapter 3 is about our first friendly game, that will be played in 1 hour from now!! I'm so excited and nervous and even when the field is not far from my home, i'm leaving now as i want to be fully ready.

Hope you will enjoy this as i'm sure i will.

[the_meanstrosity]

Sounds cool Icy, good luck!

[cubboyroy1826]

That is awesome Icy. I have played a couple times in the AYSO U90 league here which features young whipper snappers that are just teenagers playing soccer in high school to old farts like me in their 40's. I will definitely be reading.

[Pyser]

good luck! im in a sunday 11v11 league and monday 7v7 league, same rules as yours. its the best way to stay in shape ive found.

[Pyser]

so i guess, a few days later, its safe to assume icy didnt survive the game

[Icy]

Lol i'll keep writing during the weekend, the little free time i have had was to play NHL11.

But yeah, i'm still so sore 3 days after. It's not the same to run alone than the constant start/stop and lateral moves etc. I have pain in some muscles i never thought i had

[Icy]

Ok sorry for the delay, had a crazy week. Here goes the next chapter, a little intro about myself and my goals.

CHAPTER 2 "The season personal goals"

Getting into the team and the goal:

As i wrote in the first chapter, the team plays in the 2nd from top division, so the competition level will be hard, specially for me that have not played soccer for 10 years. In fact i wouldn't have been invited to play in this team under normal circumstances, but i was lucky after all.

The main reason of me being invited to join them is, that with most of the team being over 30 years old, with jobs, kids, more injure prone, etc, they had problems filling a full team at the end of the past season, so they wanted a deeper roster for the new season.

I have a close friend in the team, some other guys that know me through that friend, and even a couple who played against me 17 years ago, when i was the Goal keeper of one of the top teams in the city's indoor youth soccer league.

So one June's night, having a bbq at this friend house, they were talking about the team and the troubles they had, so i said more as a joke than for real, hey, if you need a player, i would like to play.

They looked each other and said yeah, why not? you used to be a good GK and ours broke his leg past year and is not sure if he will play again, plus we know you already so it's not like getting an unknown guy in the team where we have already good chemistry. Then they shoot the question, are you in good shape? have you been playing lately?

I thought i better don't lie, so i said i have not player soccer for like 10 years, and that i'm in an ok shape, abut with the summer in between, i could get in better shape before the season.

I also made clear that i was a good indoor soccer keeper as they knew, but it was mainly because i had good reflexes and agility, that are the main skills for an indoor soccer GK. But that for a 7 a side soccer GK besides that, you need also positioning and anticipation (those who play FM know what i mean), as the nets are double size than the indoor ones, so you can't cover the whole net just with your reflexes. As i have zero experience in those bigger nets, i would need to adapt my playing style and probably wouldn't be a really good GK for the level they play at least at the beginning.

They agreed, they probably still need an starting GK if past year one doesn't return, but if i get in good shape, i could serve both as backup GK and as defenseman due to my strength and size, that most of them lack. My friend also vouched for me being a guy who won't fail them and miss a game unless i have a very good reason, so they accepted me!

So i was in the team, but i need now to make sure i won't disappoint them, and that will be my goal, to get in good shape to play well as backup defenseman or GK and to manage to attend to as much games as possible if not all. That way i'll get as much playing minutes as possible, as the starting job at any of those positions will be pretty hard to get at least just based on my skills, but i'll do my best to compensate it with dedication and hard work.

Weight loss intro and goal:

As i said before, i have always kept a good shape, used to be a gym rat for years, but for the past 3 years or so, i have expended too much time sitting in front of a computer, even when i forced myself to go to the gym, workout in the static bike or run at least twice per week, but that is not enough when stay in a sit for 10+ hours per day.

So over the last years, my weight have grown up to 215 pounds, when it should be around 187 pounds for my height 5'11" and body style. It was the weight i had in the twenties, when was in top shape.

After the summer, when i have been running more in preparation for the soccer season, my current weight is 209 pounds, so i need to lose 22 pounds during the next 9 months (the season duration). The average loss shoul dbe around 2 pounds per month. It will be probably faster at first and slower as i get closer to my goal.

Maybe the goal is a bit hard, as at my 35 years old i can't lose weight that fast as i used to, but i'm going to try my best and i hope writing this thread will keep me motivated.

[Icy]

CHAPTER 3 "The first game"

It was Oct, Tuesday 14th, I was so nervous the whole day. It was just a friendly as the season doesn't start until October 19th, but i wanted first to show my team that i have done my homework during the summer and that i'm in good shape.

I was told to be at the field at 8:30PM, but i went 15 minutes earlier. It was going to be my first game ever in a grass field (astroturf) so i put my new plastic claws boots (addidas predator) and did a few runs to feel it. It felt a little weird at first, mainly because the lack of air chamber in the football boots compared with running shoes for example.

Then the rest of the team came, and things started bad for the team, from the 15 guys in the roster, only 8 were present including me. So it meant we would have only a backup for the whole game, that scared me a bit, as even when i have been running during the summer, it's not the same to jog for 50 minutes than to play 50 minutes of competitive soccer with constant sprints, kicking the ball, etc.

To my surprise, i was told to start as central defender! i was physicality the tallest and strongest man from the 8 present, and most of the players that were missing from the game played as defenseman, so it was the perfect time to test me as central defender. I was going to have a big chance on my first game!

Early in the game we noticed that they were a better team than us. One of the midfielders looked old but very technical and they had two very quick forwards in their twenties, and they were 13 guys, so they would have plenty of backups to share time. so we decided to stay back and play counter, as else those quick forwards would have too much space to run against us.

To make things worse, one of our guys injured his ankle after like 10 minutes, and he couldn't play anymore, so we had no backups, nice.

We managed to end 0-1 in the first half, with only one goal against that came on a corner kick. I played good defense, besides being slower than the forward i had to cover, but i played conservatively, keeping always a good position to not to get past on a long ball to him. I made some good passes keeping things simple, not trying to dribble or keeping the ball a lot and only lost the ball once with a bad pass when under pressure. Of course most of us were pretty tired already of playing vs a faster team and with no backups.

Then the second half was a disaster, they started to press us pretty high, knowing we would be so tired already, and it worked for them. They scored 5 goals more on us, while we missed a few clear chances on counters. Towards the end of the game one of our forwards was really tired and told me to go up and play as target man (for those not really into soccer, it means as strong forward who plays with his back towards the opposite net, using his strength to keep the ball while your team mates run forward). I had a good chance when my close friend and I played a good one on two pass, he passed me, i passed him back and turned around my defender to get open, then my friend passed back to me but i was so tired and was a bit late on the ball, so my shoot went outside at about 2 feet form the net. It could have been a great first game if i scored that one.

So the game ended with us losing by 6 goals, and we were totally wasted. It was a full game without backups and running behind younger and faster guys. I asked after the game and they told me that the team we faced was one of the good teams past season, and to not to get worried about the big loss, it was just preseason and vs a team that was not going to compete with us to avoid relegation this year but to be at the top of the table.

My team mates congratulated me at the end of the game, while i was not a big factor, at least i played good defense and made zero mistakes. I was so tired but proud, specially when as joke they started to say that they had found a Metzelder on me (Metzelder is a german defenseman known for not being very quick but so strong and reliable).

I saw some good players in my team, and i think that when playing with backups to give us a rest, we could be a good team at least to avoid relegation, in fact we managed to only allow one goal from this good team until our energy drained.

Next chapter will be about the week after the game, and about how i was so sore and feeling pain in muscles i didn't even know i had

[hoopsguy]

Will be reading along. I jumped into a soccer league last year (age: 37) after having not played competitively for over 20 years. So I can certainly sympathize with your position here, although not the level of play that you are undertaking.

Hope you have fun with it and make a good run at your fitness goals. And don't end your season with a fractured thumb like I did ...

[Icy]

Thanks hoopsguy and the rest of readers!

[Icy]

CHAPTER 4 "the week after the game"

Uff the day after the game i could barely move. I was so sore, specially in my back. I guess that running during the summer prepared my legs for the effort, as i was not so sore on them, but the rest of my body, ouch.

I had big pain in my whole back, i guess from the constant sprints and changes of directions that as i said, are not the same than straight running at constant and slow speed. Also had pain in my ankles probably for the same reason.

My original idea was to rest one day and go back to running in my usual 3 days per week schedule, but after 48 hours the pain was even worse, now also in my legs. So i decided to rest another day.

And the 1 day planned rest turned into 2... Saturday i still felt a little sore, but i went out and ran for 40 minutes at very slow speed, just to make my muscles to move again and to help the recovery.

Then i rested on Sunday and on Monday decided to run again as i felt totally recovered. Started with 30 minutes slow running, and then decided to do some series of sprints to work on those rhythm changes that i'll face all the time during games.

And then the worst came, in the first sprint, when i was getting close to my top speed, i felt a huge pain in my left quadriceps and had to stop suddenly. I knew something was wrong, so i decided to go back home, but the pain was big and i was limping. Probably my muscles were not fully recovered and i have asked them too much too early.

My guess was that i had a little fibrillar rupture at the top of my quadriceps so as soon as i got back home i put ice on the painful area and took an anti-inflammatory, that is the standard treatment.

The day after (yesterday) i still had pain there, but it was lower, so i kept putting ice on it every 3 hours and taking the anti-inflammatory. Seems that the injury is not as bad as it looked, and is a really small fibrillar rupture or not even that.

My friend called me asking if i was going to play next friendly, the following day. I told him about the little injury, but that i was going to try to be there.

Today Wednesday i feel way better, the pain is so low or almost inexistent and i'm right now deciding if to go to the game or not. I think i shouldn't, as even when i'm recovering fast, another big effort could lead to a worse injury as it's been only 48 hours. But on the other hand, i don't want to miss my second game.

A few hours later i have tested myself with some running and it hurts as soon as i try to accelerate or sprint a bit, so i have called them saying that i can't play as i don't want to risk a big injury now that we are still in the preseason, they totally understood it and also told me to rest as this is a friendly anyway. Now i'll have a whole week to recover slowly and to get in shape for next week friendly.

[rjolley]

Reading along as well.

I have a goal of playing basketball competitively again after 14 years, but have a larger weight loss to get to a decent playing shape. Been working out steadily for about 4 months now and I'm at a good point. Need to find a league here and see how I do.

[Travis]

Sorry to hear about the injury, that really sucks. I was dealing with an aggravated hamstring over the last month of our ball season and limped my way through our last tournament to avoid having to sit out the end of the year but have been very happy to have a couple week break before ball hockey starts back up. Amazing how long those types of issues can take to go fully away, especially if you try and push them a little too soon.

[Icy]

Go for it rjolley, it's a great way to motivate yourself to get in shape again.

The pain is almost gone now from my quadriceps, i'm going to try to do some static bike today and if all is ok, i'll run again tomorrow, but without sprints this time.

Even when i really missed to play that game, i think it would have been worse to play it as it's hard to control yourself and to not to force things when you are into a competitive game, so i'm sure i would have made the injury worse.

Not being a young kid means you need to take more care about your body and to know you can't recover as fast, lesson learned.

[Pyser]

quad injuries are AWFUL. not only can you reaggravate them from running, but also kicking from a standstill (think a corner)

rest it entirely, otherwise it wont go away all season

good luck!

[Icy]

CHAPTER 4 "End of pre-season"

3 weeks have past until last update, i didn't write as there was nothing really important.

My quads injury lasted those 3 weeks, i kept running every other day, but just jogging, as soon as i tried to sprint a bit i noticed some pain so decided to not to keep trying and to let it heal better for the start of the season.

The team played one more friendly (another was cancelled because heavy rain). They won that friendly 5-3.

The weight loss didn't advance either, i'm stuck at 209 pounds, but between the injury, my kid starting in school for first time, etc i haven't really been motivated to do any diet, at least i have not gained weight thanks to the running routines.

We have the new unis, changing from green/white from past years to navy blue/white as those are the colors of the new sponsor.

The new unis look like these (besides the sponsor logo/text that will go in the middle) that i build in the nike website:



I'll wear #25, it was free and it's my kid birthday.

and here are the new boots i bought, Adidas predator.

[Icy]

CHAPTER 5 "Game #1"

The season started yesterday Sunday Oct 17th.

Our first game is a really tough one, vs the team that ended #4 past season, and knowing our goal is to avoid relegation (to end over #13), this team is out of our little personal league. A loss was expected, a tie would be a great accomplishment.

From the 15 guys in the team, we went 13 to the game, including our two goalies, good start, so unlike the first preseason game, we will have 6 backups to share game time.

I started as backup, but one of the good things i have seen so far is the good team spirit. As soon as somebody is tired, we ask for a player switch, so there is going to be plenty of playing time for everybody and it will help to conserve energy as i see that with most of us in the mid thirties, its going to be our biggest issue.

Our formation was a 2-3-1, two defenders, a central midfielder, two wide midfielders and one forward. They used a similar one.

The first 10 minutes started well, with us well positioned and not allowing them to build their attack, as the team we faced was formed by guys in their twenties, faster than us and probably with more stamina, so we had to play to our strengths.

Then after a long ball to our forward from the defense, he managed to control it, drible the last defender and then the keeper, who rushed out desperately. The keeper hit our forward, on what would have been a penalty, but before falling down our forward could kick the ball and score the first goal! we were ahead on what could be a huge upset!!

Then they noticed that we were too conservative, especially our wing players that were playing almost on line with the defense (my fault too as i was playing at the left wing), so they started to press us high, pinning us in our field and only allowing long balls to our isolated forward.

The happiness didn't last much. Due to the high pressure, our defenders were forced to become the playmakers, distributing the ball, and two consecutive mistakes from both central defenders in less than 5 minutes, lead to two goals, leaving the game at 1-2 (note that in European sports the scores are reversed, displaying first is the home team and then the away team) until the end of the first half.

In intermission we talked about how to improve. They weren't really that much better than us, just that we were playing scared and too conservative, and as we were losing already, we should start to push up and go for the goal, even when that would leave us more vulnerable to counters, specially with them being faster than us.

The second half started way better, with us pushing up with our forward and midfielders, while the defenders covered their forward to prevent counters. I was playing as central defender, that suits me more than playing on the wing.

For around 15 minutes we played really well, this time it was them who were pinned back and only kicking long balls, that both the other central defender and me were stopping easily as it was only one forward against us. We had at least 2 clear chances, missed by little.

Then just when we were dominating my defender partner committed a foul close to our area. They shot it hard, our keeper stopped it but they got the lucky rebound to score the 1-3.

It was a hard hit for our moral, we were also pretty tired from that high pressing effort, doing constant player changes to try to recover a bit on the sidelines.

The last 5 minutes were horrible, with counter after counter by them running faster at us and with our players unable to keep the pace, so they scored 2 more to end with a disappointing 1-5.

It was a disappointing loss because we could have won it if not because the two early mistakes by our defenders and specially after we put the pressure up in the second half, but on the other hand, despite the high score result, we played really well vs one the top teams that will fight for the championship and for the promotion to the top league, while we are fighting for avoiding relegation.

Our main problem is the physical form, specially late in games, so for next games we need to press up and score quick early in the game, and play conservative at the end, exactly the other way of what we did yesterday.

We need to also play with more confidence and going up, specially our wingers, as else the forward is too isolated and we can't create any dangerous situation.

We are also missing a left footed player to play in the left wing. Luckily there is little or no scouting at this level, else we would be very predictable with right footed players playing at the left wing, as most of the time they will play cutting in instead of crossing the ball with the wrong foot.

About my own performance i would give myself a 5 in a 1 to 10 scale, the average of 4 as left wing, and 6 as central defender.

I started bad when playing at the left wing. I was not confident enough about my speed and stamina, so i didn't want to push up too much to be caught on long balls to my back. Also i'm right footed, and felt a bit weird on the left side. Because that, i didn't commit any mistake and played good defense, but i didn't help the attack a lot, and when you play with only 6 fielders, the positions are not as specific as in standard 11 vs 11 soccer, and everybody needs to help on both phases, that i didn't.

On the other hand, when i played as central defender i did way better, not allowing any goal while i was on the field in that position. There i felt more confident and used good positioning against the faster than me forwards. At least i had zero mistakes and my +/- if that stat was used in soccer, would be -1 and with that goal against scored when i was in the left wing.

Today i'm not as sore as after the first friendly. It seems that my body is getting used to the effort as i keep running every other day and i'm now mixing speed changes in my routine.

I have also decided to start from today a harder low carbs diet (not on game days when i'll eat rice or pasta), so the weight loss should be faster now that the season has started.

Next game is on Saturday 23rd versus a team that was past season in a lower division and was promoted to ours.

Here is an screenshoot of the week 1 results and current league table from the league website, our team name is the sponsor company name , i have highlighted it on red.

Notation: PTS=points, PJ=Games played, PG= wins, PF=ties, PP=loses, GF=goals scored, GC=goals against)

[Izulde]

Tough start to the season, but at least you guys learned a lot from it and showed you have the ability to play with the top teams.

[Icy]

CHAPTER 6 "Game #2"

Past Saturday we played our second game, this time vs a team that was promoted from division 2 and that seems to be in our "avoid relegation" little league. At first sight, their strong point will be youth (just in their twenties) and conditioning, some of them looked ripped and in really good shape.

We had a good talk before the game, to decide our strategy. We decided to play this time an 1-2-1-2, with one central defender, two fullbacks, 1 central midfielder and 2 wide forwards. The idea was that the single CD would stay back all the time, to protect against counters, the wide players going up and down and pressuring the opponents high in the pitch and the central midfielder to be the reference in attack, starting in the middle and going up to become a 3rd forward.

This time the team decided that i would play in the right wing up instead of in defense. I was not sure as i think i can play better as defenseman, but on the other hand, i would feel less pressured as a mistake up in the pitch is less dangerous than a mistake on defense (and my goal this first season after 10 years without playing is more to avoid costly mistakes than to be a difference maker).

Game started well, we put a lot on pressure on them so they were forced to play long balls, easy for us to defend. The formation we chose was a perfect fit, as they had only 1 forward, so our single CD could man mark him.

I felt good at the right side, and made some good passing combinations. I had also a good chance when i recovered a ball close to the opponents area, but i took the wrong decision of trying to dribble the last defender, when i should have shoot as i was close enough to try the keeper. I tried to dribble to the outside to cross the ball to a team mate rushing inside the area, but the defenseman managed to put the feet in the middle and the ball went out of bounds.

We had a couple of good chances more, that we couldn't finish.

Then close to the end of the 1st half, they kicked a long ball, our defenseman jumped a bit early and the ball went a bit over him, the opponents forward managed to head it himself with a bit of look not even looking at the goal to score the 1-0.

In the we talked about keeping up with the pressure and our goals should come, as we were dominating and that goal was just an unlucky one.

The second half started even better for us, we had 3 straight chances, two stopped brilliantly by their keeper, and the third one hitting the post. They looked really nervous and unable to keep the ball.

I was feeling really well, my form is improving fast, and i noticed i could run up & down without being that tired as in the preseason, that gave me also more confidence. As they covered us wing players closely, we started to move to the middle, opening holes to out wing backs to come up. I made a good play moving to the center, the opposite fullback followed me as i wanted, i received the ball from my side fullback and passing it again to him who was unmarked as the defender was with me, he had a good shooting position but the shoot went out wide.

As they started to feel dominated, they started to use nasty tricks, to kick the ball out to lose time, making a lot of fouls and receiving 3 yellow cards, disrupting our playmaking all the time and frustrating us.

The end of the game was getting closer, and we started to feel more tired, specially our fullbacks, and then they caught us in a counter, two of them vs one of our players, they passed each other and scored the 2-0.

We kept the pressure but they also kept losing time, arguing with the ref, with us, trying to pick up fights, losing time on every dead ball etc and with that the game ended in a disappointing 2-0 loss.

We were pissed of, we should have won this game as they were not better than us, just beat us on a lucky play and then on a counter using their better speed and stamina towards the end of the game (that is going to be one of our main problems vs younger teams as i said in the preseason review). This loss also hurt as they will probably be a competitors to avoid relegation, and those 3 points loss could be decisive.

At least in this second game we dominated, but lacked goal scoring. We seems to a be a good team when we play organized, but lack an star player who can finish plays. Also we need better conditioning, but that will be hard to fix as it's hard to compete with guys in their twenties when we are in our mid thirties, with kids, jobs etc.

This week is a bye week for us, so we won't play again until Wednesday Nov 3 vs the team that just had the bye week (Team named Abaco). I don't know how good they are, but so far they have 1 win in the first game by 2-1.

On the weight loss i'm going slow, only losing 0.3 pounds this week, but it doesn't help that yesterday it was my kid 3rd birthday, so we had a party where i couldn't resist to eat unhealthy stuff. I have have ran 3 times plus the game. My current weight is around 208.7 pounds (hard to say exactly when translating kg to pounds).

As i said before, i'm feeling how my form is getting better and better, and i was not that sore after a game even when i played more minutes on it than in the first one. I'm probably one of the less technical guys in the team, but if i can keep up with this training, i might end being one of the best physicality, as only a few of them also do any training besides the weekly games.

Let's see if this bye week i can lose a couple of pounds at least while i keep improving my form.

Here are past week results, current standings, with us second from the bottom and next week schedule (we are the team in red).

We can see here that the team that won us 0-5 in week 1 also won 5-0 this week, so they are showing that there are a really good team and makes us to feel a better better at that loss

Notation: PTS: points (Win=3, Tie=1, Loss=0), PJ: Games played, PG: wins, PF: ties, PP: loses, GF: goals scored, GC: goals against