Smells like team spirit: it’s never too late to join in

People leave group sports behind as they get older, but the rise of ‘veteran’ clubs prove you don’t need to sit on the bench, says Katie Russell

As we all focus our excitement on the return of day trips and plan our garden gatherings according to the “rule of six”, it would be easy to overlook that nestled in the new guidelines is the fact that, from Monday, group sports will be permitted – provided they are played outside. This will be welcome news for the 7 million adults in the UK who played a team sport in the past year.

It’s not just young adults who enjoy sport: last year, almost half a million adults in the UK over the age of 55 played a team sport, according to Sport England’s Active Lives survey.

The advent of “veteran” and “development” teams for older players, and new variations on sport, such as walking football and walking netball, means that age is not a barrier.

Even so, people tend to leave sports clubs behind as they get older, and instead focus on more solitary exercise such as swimming and going to the gym. According to Peter Dutton, project manager of the wellbeing department at Age UK, this is partly due to the fear that sports might be “too taxing” to take up now, and a fear of injury or exacerbating existing health conditions. (If you have existing health conditions, he recommends speaking to your GP before taking up a sport.)

Confidence, or rather lack of it, plays a role too, according to Sport England’s director of insight, Lisa O’Keefe. “There is a perception that team sports are something you play when you are younger – perhaps a feeling that the team won’t want you when you get too old,” she says.

For others, it’s simply the case that they don’t have the time. However, you should carve out the time, says Dutton, who points out that exercise has significant physical and mental health benefits as you get older. It can reduce depression and dementia by 30 per cent and the chance of cardiovascular disease by up to 35 per cent, according to research cited in the UK chief medical officer’s Physical Activity Guidelines.

Team sports offer their own unique advantages, too. They’re a fun and rewarding way to stay active. “It’s a chance for someone to feel like they are achieving something; reaching a goal,” Dutton says. “On day one you

‘Everyone enjoys the camaraderie and the chance to have a laugh with other people’

might not be able to pass to a teammate, then a couple of weeks down the line you’ve achieved that. There’s that constant feedback and reward of playing team sports.”

Most importantly, people often make friends through team pursuits – and that friendship also carries on off the pitch. “One of the big bits of feedback we hear is camaraderie and having the chance to have a laugh with other people,” Dutton says.

This comradeship has wide-ranging benefits, according to O’Keefe. “It can bring people from diverse backgrounds together as part of a community, which in turn can help motivation, inspire confidence, reduce loneliness and enhance our quality of life.”