Day 20 ! Squish-Squash

Me (to The Boy): Do you know what hockey team I played for at school?

The Boy: Nope.

Me: Do you know what team my L'il Sis played for?

The Boy: Yep, the 1st Team.

Me: How can you not know what team I played for but know what team L'il Sis played for?

The Boy: Because I know she was one of the best at school and you were not. Sorry.

Ouch. I mean, it is true I was in the 4th XI. Which actually wasn't that bad - there were 6 teams after all. Though, in hindsight, there were really only 6 teams because the school made enough teams for however many people wanted to play. Too kind to say to anyone that they didn't make the cut and should take up knitting as their extra-curricular instead.

But, The Boy did ease the pain by saying that I wasn't bad at sports in general. (And didn’t even add a "for a girl" at the end). (Except for cycling. I am awful at cycling and it is my nemesis sport). And it's also true, I never excel at any specific sport but am never awful either (except cycling) - in particular for racquet sports, I can always hit a ball. Now, credit for this has to go to Big Bro who would always take his 3 little sisters to the local sports club to play tennis and actually play with us patiently as we hit some balls over the fence, some into the river and many onto the neighbouring courts. It did occur to me at one point a few years later that that really can't have been much fun for him (or the unfortunate people who were on the neighbouring courts). He also arranged basketball games and let us tag along, took us to laserquest (and let L'il Sis shoot at the enemy's base while he protected her. The game makers did raise an eyebrow when the 6-yr old came out with one of the top scores) and also tried to teach us squash.

Now, Squash was a tricky one – I never really got it, maybe it was just too fast for me at the time (I was a bit chubbs). But as time passed, I lost my puppy fat and as the work gym had squash courts, I tried it again a few times with some colleagues and really quite enjoyed it. Compared to banging it out on a treadmill for 45-mins, it was much more entertaining not to mention interactive and social. And with 45-min courts, it’s a good lunchtime fitivity. An incredibly hard game but great fun to learn and even if you’re no good, it’s still excellent for cardio – imagine running around a room like a headless chicken for 45mins…

There are quite a few places where you can rent a squash court in London - many of the Better Leisure Centres for example (see Day 14/ 15! Legs, Bums & Tums And Dance Aerobics). Today, I played at the old work gym with L’il Sis, it’s not open to the public so a bit against the rules but my membership is expiring and so I wanted to play one last time *sniff*. And so we played our best, hit the wall only a few times and then had a well deserved thai green chicken curry reward after. Mmm mmm!

The Need To Know:

- Where: Can play at various Better leisure centres

- Nearest Station: Everywhere!

- When: Open courts

- How Much: Varies depending on location

  

The Want to Know:

- Who’s it For: For those who like racquet sports and lots of running

- Sweat Scale: 7/10. If you run for each ball, you will sweat a.lot.

- Strength / Cardio / Flexi / Tone: Cardio (and skill)

- Complexity: 7/10. Quite tricky!

- Fun Factor: 8/10

- Changing Facilities: n/a

- Instructor Inspiration: n/a

The Stats:

- Total Time: 36mins

- Calories Burnt: 163

- Average Heart Rate: 118

- Max Heart Rate: 146

Bye Bye Old Work Gym!