One of my favorite stories that is UF related. I have others there were not. I was coaching a departmental team in the B league intramurals. We were playing a team called Chris Webber because they always named themselves after a really good freshman player. And they were really good and were expected to contend for the championship. We drew them in the second round. In the first half they had a three on one fast break with me as the only defender. But I knew these guys from noontime pickup at Florida gym and I fainted to go one way to pick off the pass and then went hard the other way to intercept the pass and then threw it down court for an easy basket. We eventually won a really close game. It was awesome.
Dwayne played on many of my intramural teams but I think later than that. He liked playing with us old engineering profs that could play a little bit. One time he showed up late for a noontime game with five of his football receivers and begged us to give him a game. Four of us old profs agreed to play and Dwayne said "I'll play with them. You will be surprised." We kicked their asses. Dwayne Dixon was a really good hoopster.
Played 2 years of JUCO in Washington State. Started coaching didn't play my last two years, regret that every day. Became an active rec league guy, played in hundreds of rec tournaments well into my 40s. Had a fall four years ago, fell 18 feet onto finished concrete and broke my hip back and ankle. Started playing pick up ball again last month, scared to death, but it went ok, and hoping to get back in the swing of things in my mid 40s Once played against Kevin Duckworth in the Gold Ball Tourney in Longview, WA not many years after his retirement and before his untimely passing.
One of my best friends went to UCF. He was tall, lanky, pretty pale and had a blonde mop of hair on his head. Hes about 6'4", so we would go to parties in Gainesville and tell everyone he was Matt Walsh. That was fun times. Also hung with the real Matt at a house party once, and told him that story. I hung with David Lee a few times in Gainesville. We were smoking some not tobacco one time and he sat there with his shirt pulled up over his mouth and nose, and I thought to myself, " that ain't gonna keep you from failing a drug test my dude" Super nice guy though.
I played pick-up until I was 50. I got tired of hurting every morning when I got out of bed until I got my joints moving. I thin switched to bike racing. Easier on the joints but the crashes can be nasty.
I’ll eventually have to give it up for the same reasons. 46 now… I think I have about 3-5 years left of men’s league play unless I can prolong it with surgery or rehab.
It is a young man's game. Some of us just love it so much that we play as long as we can. Added in edit: Enjoy the years you have left. One thing that prolongs your years on the court is court awareness so you know what is going to happen before it happens. All that athleticism that is long gone is replaced by knowledge of the game. I was never explosive on the court but got by with a high basketball IQ to be in the right place at the right time. That gets more and more important as we age on the court.
As Lurker said it's definitely a young man's game, but there are a lot of things you can do to prolong...sorry to hear about the injuries, hopefully rehab will do the trick. I started stretching a hell of a lot more, doing yoga and pilates..stuff i should have done when I was younger. And yes enjoy the years you have, even (and especially sometimes) the pros don't get to play that long
I’m just shy of 58, and still play every weekend. Saturday morning hoops. Every part of my body hurts, but I just can’t give it up. It’s the one thing that keeps me level during the week.
True, but I actually feel as though I am one unlucky injury (caused by someone else) away from being the best basketball player I’ve ever been… in my mid-40’s!
Lifting and rehab will get me through this! I’m still playing and competing so I can’t complain too much. I think about our guy Patric Young and I am grateful to still be able to play at all.
Side note: Wow, GC really wants to mine us. I declined all 100+ vendor requests for data. Yeah, I gave up pick-up games at around 50. Loved playing, but it was no longer worth it. You get injured more often and it takes longer to get over it.
I had to switch to the bike in my late 30s. I would literally fall down in pain when I got out of bed the next morning. My wife laughed the first couple of times. The doctor said we can do surgery and then you shouldn't run or jump or anything high impact. Or you can not run or jump or anything high impact and not do surgery and it will work out about the same. I asked him what would let me keep playing basketball. He smiled. I went with no surgery, but now I'm wondering if I should have gone ahead with the surgery when my body was better at recovering.
