Ultimate- My Way Of Being Healthy And Sporty!

Ultimate Frisbee helps Daanish stay fit and feel happy. What is your fitness story?

Happy World Health Day to one and all 🙂

What does being healthy mean?

The definition may vary from person to person, but for me, it is a feeling. Feeling fit, mindful, strong and most importantly happy. People talk about a few stereotypes and misconceptions about the way of being healthy but I wouldn’t call them so. As being healthy is perceived differently by different people. Some prefer hitting the gym and some follow a better diet.

I’ve chosen sports as a way to lead a healthy life.

I’ve been playing cricket and football all my life and now have a new-found love for Ultimate Frisbee.

I have been playing Ultimate for over a year now with the club called Thatte Idly Kaal Soup(TIKS).

Playing sports has its pros and cons. Let me start with the cons, firstly, it is difficult to start playing a sport as it requires a certain amount of skill to enjoy it.

Secondly, it’s not an individual activity; at times, you may not find people to play with. (Thank God for Playo huh! *Shameless plug*)

Hence, the regularity of the how often you play depends on others as well and not just you.

Thirdly, while playing, you tend to get injured for various reasons like not warming up enough.

So, why do I play?

Let me now compare the cons of playing a sport with the pros of it.

I had no clue how to play Ultimate Frisbee a year back (Skill Level= 0!).

The sporting world is such that when you walk on a field and announce that you don’t how to play a certain sport, I guarantee, people will voluntarily and enthusiastically teach you.

At least, I learnt that way.

Sport is not an individual activity. That’s the best part of it, ain’t it?

You hang out with like-minded people and on days, when I love my bed more, these folks make sure that I get up and keep going.

Spending time with people you like and doing something you love gives immense happiness and I say, this offers me the healthiest start to my day, just ‘coz I start happy.

Sports is more injury prone than other fitness options, agreed!

But with the right amount attention given to warm up, strengthening and cool-down exercises, your body can stay injury free for a longer time. So, don’t start playing straight away, do certain exercises before and after the game.

Playing a sport has brought a lot of discipline to my life. Also, I have yet another reason to wake up and Ultimate definitely brings out the best in me for the rest of the day.

Here’s a quote to live by:

“Sports is the place where I started valuing my body for what it could do rather than what it looked like” – Hana Kawai, Ultimate Frisbee Player (Seattle Riot)

Hence for me, healthy is not about how you look or what you can do, it’s just about feeling good. So, do something that makes you feel good, fit, strong, mindful and HAPPY!