My five-a-side is a nightmare but however awkward this season may be for the average punter, it ain’t nothing compared to what the professionals have to endure
It’s great weather for pétanque. Or fishing, provided you can find the water. With the planet gritting its teeth through a heatwave comparable to Martha and the Vandellas sharing a vindaloo in a sauna, playing sport comes with new challenges. In fact, even the thought of it is enough to break out in a sweat.
To speak for a moment in a personal capacity, playing five-a-side right now is a nightmare. You start off bombing around desperate to prove you’re still young, then quickly hit a wall. This is not the ordinary wall constructed from the reality of your lack of fitness, but a wall that has wheels and wants to run you over. Your face suddenly becomes a radiator, your legs two stacks of greasy plates. Your entire body is caught in a trap as the heat bounces down from the sky and back up off the polypropylene grass. Almost immediately the survival instinct kicks in and you remodel your game from marauding midfielder to defensive libero for whom the ability to read the play is much more critical than the ability to actually run.
Written by Paul MacInnes
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jul/25/turning-up-the-heat-sport-struggle-temperature-rises under the title “Turning up the heat: sport’s a struggle for all when the temperature rises | Paul MacInnes”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
