On the day that, 2008 years ago, three wise men arrived in Bethlehem from the east, eight almost-as-wise men gathered in a Leiden sports arena for the first baseball practice of the year. (Four wiser men, comprising the rest of our team, were still on holiday.) I’m in a different team than last year. My old team moved up to a higher league, thanks to our winning the championship in September. However, I don’t have the ambition or the time (or the skill, really, though I suppose that could change with enough practice) to play in this higher league, so I moved to our club’s other men’s team. I already know all of those players and I think we’ll have a lot of fun together.
Our trainer put us through an hour and a half of exercises to get our condition back up after three months of not exercising a whole lot. Today, the day after, I’m happy to report my muscles aren’t aching too badly. Biking back and forth to work every day does help a little in maintaining shape. I’m even happier to report my left ankle, which I sprained during a late September game, didn’t bother me at all. That surprised me, as it still hurts sometimes when standing for more than half an hour. I would have expected some soreness from running around for ninety minutes, but I’ll gladly take it the way it is.
We’ll continue with indoor practice until the end of February, followed by on-field practice and training games in March and early April. The first competition game is tentatively scheduled for April 13th.
