Just curious if anyone felt they were getting too beat up in contact sports (my case hockey) and hung them up?
The tri training has made me a much better hockey player, but I got blindsided hit so hard Friday night that I ended up with concussion, rib injury, torn back and whiplash. The hit made my bike crash feel like a picnic.
We have a non-contact league, and the kid who leveled me just came out of Junior A.
I’m the oldest dude on the team, probably the league now at 54, so my days are numbered, most likely to “0” but I am having a hard time with the thought of no more games. Had a good season so far.
Could you switch to some sort of senior league or more relaxed environment? I think it would probably be best not to give up hockey completely if it’s what you enjoy doing. Nice to have some variety.
Down to 1 day a week hockey for me, and I really wouldn’t be bothered if it was less. It’s more about the social and not really a workout.
I figure the risk of injury in sports like hockey or skiing is just like riding a bike, accidents do happen. Although there are definitely more knee injuries, muscles pulled etc but usually that happens for guys that are fairly out of shape and that is their one hour of power for the week. That sucks what happened to you, I’d consider a different league if its common that you are playing with plugs that still think they are going to make it to the show.
I do have some friends that stopped playing rugby after a buddy broke his leg, but that’s more to do with the financial risk of what happens when you can’t go to work for 6 months.
Just curious if anyone felt they were getting too beat up in contact sports (my case hockey) and hung them up?
The tri training has made me a much better hockey player, but I got blindsided hit so hard Friday night that I ended up with concussion, rib injury, torn back and whiplash. The hit made my bike crash feel like a picnic.
We have a non-contact league, and the kid who leveled me just came out of Junior A.
I’m the oldest dude on the team, probably the league now at 54, so my days are numbered, most likely to “0” but I am having a hard time with the thought of no more games. Had a good season so far.
Yup. Once i started sinking some serious money into training and racing fees etc, I said good bye to hockey. I was in a leagues for older doods (still some uber fast guys) and the rules were no slapshots when someone is in front of you and we had guys lining up at the blue line like they were going to score one at the buzzer in the Stanley Cup. I took one off the ankle which put me out of training for weeks so I decided for now, I was going to focus on triathlon and ditch the hockey.
I stopped playing hockey for that reason. I have to go to work the next day, i cant be missing teeth. that kid is a dickhead. If i was on your team i woulda been off the bench gloves off.
either way, i gave it up and coach now. Im still on the ice and shoot a lot pucks and get in some of the drills we do which is always fun.
Just curious if anyone felt they were getting too beat up in contact sports (my case hockey) and hung them up?
The tri training has made me a much better hockey player, but I got blindsided hit so hard Friday night that I ended up with concussion, rib injury, torn back and whiplash. The hit made my bike crash feel like a picnic.
We have a non-contact league, and the kid who leveled me just came out of Junior A.
I’m the oldest dude on the team, probably the league now at 54, so my days are numbered, most likely to “0” but I am having a hard time with the thought of no more games. Had a good season so far.
I usually just play drop-in for that reason. People still get out there and skate hard, but there’s no game on the line to bring out the extra competitiveness. You might get rubbed into the boards, but definitely no major contact going on. Mostly, I just play November-March here in Houston, so it doesn’t impact the summers. But if I’m being honest, that’s because 10 minutes into a session when there’s 90% humidity and 90 deg temps outside, the ice is so bad it feels like you’re skating in sand.
I still play because I love the sport too much not to and have been a hockey player since I was 3. But I play in a league several divisions down from where I am capable of playing when I’m just focusing on playing hockey. I’ve gone from 190lbs when I played hockey as a teenager to 165lbs and just can’t compete with the bigger guys anymore! (I could shoot harder when I was 13) But playing down a few divisions doesn’t change my enjoyment of the sport. I just tell people that tease me about my point totals that you can’t be good at everything
Do what you love but maybe switch to playing in an oldtimers league that is less competitive? You still get out on the ice and can enjoy both sports during the offseason.
Tough to move on and give up the game (at least for a little while), but it may be best in the long run. I would maybe finish off the season and sit the next one out to see how you feel about it. Also, as a guy who played Junior A myself, that guy who took you out in a non-contact league sounds like a tool and shouldn’t be in the league anyway. I quit playing men’s league three years ago for that same reason. You get these kids thinking they are playing for the Cup and even at 32 years old it stopped being worth the risk for me. But then again, I was pretty burnt out anyway. Good luck and remember there is always another season just around the corner should you change your mind.
I stopped playing 1.5 years ago because i didnt want the chance of getting hurt, not so much from a hit but catching an edge and snapping an ankle, etc… Miss it a lot though
Two consecutive winters I messed up my ankles playing soccer then bball. Once a town ligament and once a broken navicular. Each time I ended up in a boot druding through Chicago winters in the snow
I’m happily now sticking to SBR in a straight line, and haven’t been on crutches since. Occasionally I’ll miss playing but for me the risk is not worth it.
I am an adult onset hockey player, but hung up my skates this year to concentrate on Tri and marathons. I still hang around with the guys, since my son plays on the team now, and they give me a bunch of crap about being 40lbs lighter. But I didnt want to take another puck to the throat and miss any of my races or training this year. Of course 6 weeks before my first IM race I got the dreaded old man calf strain, and now with just 2 weeks to go its still there bugging me, so of course the guys gave me lip about only getting hurt during running, and not during hockey haha.
I gave up my weekly basketball game a year ago but recently came to miss it. I’m making a winter return with the idea that I’ll bow out again in the Spring or Summer as I get closer to my main races.
I know a couple of guys in their 50’s who used to play one night a week in a senior no-forechecking, no-slap-shot rec league. They still got beat up a lot and one guy tore up his knee, pretty much ending his tri career also.
At the end of the day I think it’s a personal decision. If you enjoy it and it’s worth the risk to you, then carry on. Your call.
In my case, I was forced to give up contact sports many years ago due to fused C6-C7 vertebrae & dislocated knee cap as the result of playing football & wrestling. Hindsight’s always 20/20, but if I had it all to do over again, I would have gone out for the cross country and swimming teams instead.
Could you switch to some sort of senior league or more relaxed environment? I think it would probably be best not to give up hockey completely if it’s what you enjoy doing. Nice to have some variety.
I agree…keep playing…excellent as you age for coordination and also keeping your anaerobic system in good shape which is what old guys lose. Try to kind a more relaxed group.
When I got a little more serious about triathlon training I went from 2 games per week to 1 per week. I sometimes think about giving it up, but I feel like if I did and changed my mind it would be way too hard to get back into it. I justify it as a nice change of pace and good social gathering that is still keeping me fit. I cut out the post game beers and wings which made it more compatible with my triathlon related goals as well.
That being said, I’m a lot younger than you (35) and have never suffered a serious hockey related injury so as to think about it. I know the league we play in is quite strict in terms of officiating and penalty limits. While this sometimes works to my own detriment (more “pest” than “goon”), I find that as they have stuck to their guns on these issues the likelihood of seriously risky play has decreased markedly. Including modifying my own playing style to tone down some of the aggression. If your league isn’t supporting these kinds of measures, probably time to find a new league.
Could you switch to some sort of senior league or more relaxed environment? I think it would probably be best not to give up hockey completely if it’s what you enjoy doing. Nice to have some variety.
I agree…keep playing…excellent as you age for coordination and also keeping your anaerobic system in good shape which is what old guys lose. Try to kind a more relaxed group.
This. Try and find a skate without the BS that comes from league play and guys who don’t get that winning a game in mens D league isn’t worth crippling someone. I gave up on league play years ago and found a couple of good pick up skates instead. Assholes aren’t tolerated and asked not to come back. Still play 3-4 hours a week and would hate to give it up for any reason.
That being said I acknowledge injuries can be part of it even in a good non-contact friendly game. Shit happens. I’ve separated my shoulder twice (don’t play with shoulder pads anymore so that’s partly on me) and had more than one concussion over the years. The reward still outweighs the risks to me.
Interesting. I know a couple of former pro hockey players who picked up tri since retiring. One has been out of tri the last year due to a concussion. I think like anything there is nothing saying you can’t do both. I mean you could get a concussion in a bike crash and not be able to play hockey
Go with what you love. If you love hockey, you know the positives and negatives. If you love tri, you also know the plusses and minuses. If you love hockey more than tri, have that as your main focus and fit in tri and your hockey injuries allow. If you love tri more, then get in as many hockey games as your tri life allows.
I was a skier back in the day. I LIVED for skiing. Then I retired and just skied for fun. I found god, I mean tri, and skied a whole lot less. I’ve been getting into skiing more these days as skiing can be done purely for fun. While I have enjoyed my tri training, there is always the expectation to be going harder, to get more benefit to be able to race faster. That got boring for me and skiing is more fun in my mind these days.
Go with what you love. Tri or hockey, only you can decide, but I would suggest that one bad incident shouldn’t be the decider. If it was, I’d have given up skiing years ago. I would have given up tri before I even started, and I’d be sitting on my couch with my hand stuck in a bag of Doritos!
i play once a week pick up hockey. its usually pretty calm but can get chippy. Once winter hockey ends (april) i stop playing simply due to the fact that i can get gooned or freak accident (catch an edge and pile into the boards). By september (after tri season) i am chopping at the bit to get back on the ice
