Sitting at my desk today and thinking about our young members facing their dreaded exams tomorrow reminded me of the relationship between the body and the mind. “Mens Sana in Corpore Sano” is a line I learned in my Latin classes many, many years ago. A sound mind in a sound body.
It was something I messaged Club Parents and Guardians about back in my coaching days when I noticed a significant drop off in the number of players around State Exam years. Unfortunately, many of them never returned to the sport.
Serendipity kicked in tonight when I checked my personal email and read my regular newsletter from National Geographic. It was so serendipitous that I just have to share it with you. The science is growing. Mens sana in corpore sano is true. But being physically active has many more life-long benefits.
I want to share this with you because it appears that as ordinary human beings, we only begin to appreciate physical fitness in our later years. Old geezers like myself and older people in their 70s and 80s understand the importance of fitness in prolonging an active life. In contrast, those actively rearing children in their 30s, 40s and 50s are less aware of it.
Whether you are a child or an elder, the message is to get fit and stay fit. I don’t want to seem like I’m boasting, but I can now run faster and further than I did in my thirties. The older you get, the harder it gets to recover those lost abilities and the harder to recover from injuries (I know, I’ve been there).
I won’t go on any further, but here is the link: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/new-clues-are-revealing-why-exercise-can-keep-the-brain-healthy?rid=24FFCC10C11A8640B72AE2028D1D83D1&cmpid=org%3Dngp::mc%3Dcrm-email::src%3Dngp::cmp%3Deditorial::add%3DPlanet_Possible_20220607
Do yourself a huge favour and read it. If you are a parent, you can do two things, make sure your children keep up the sport while you are in charge of their wellbeing. The second thing is that you can recover some of the lost vitality of your youth and become a role model for them.
Don’t go all gung-ho and try to run a marathon, join a club, join a gym or follow a Couch to 5K and get fit at an appropriate pace. With the right programme, you can gain the strength to avoid injury. It took me several injuries and a heart condition to learn that lesson. WHC runs fitness hockey programmes during the training season for parents, and you might like to try that out next season.
