Reconnecting to an old hobby

When I was around nine years old, just turning ten my favourite hobby was hockey. I was on the school hockey team, I went to tournaments and I just genuinely enjoyed being outdoors with my friends. I even remember one time I was at a hockey match and I was running with the ball and I was aiming for the goal but instead of pushing the ball into the goal with my hockey stick I ran into the metal post instead and knocked myself out. But, the ball did go in! GOAL!

Now I’m nineteen and left school behind I wanted to reconnect with my old love for hockey. Because that’s what once made me happy and I don’t want to be inside all the time watching TV or on my laptop. It’s nice to do something different plus you get to meet new people who have the same love in sport as you. It’s the end of Summer now whilst I’m writing this but it’s never too late to try something new! I’ve been looking for ways to try and reconnect with my old love for hockey and I found these tips quite handy;

1. Relearn your hobby  like it’s something you’ve never done before.
   So, when I tried this I started from scratch one. Which was actually getting a hockey stick and ball and protection needed whilst playing, ( taking my past experience as a lesson! ) The moment I really enjoyed the most was just reliving my childhood.  For example; there is a period of excitement when you finally connect the dots and remember why you need to cut along the grain of the fabric. And before long, you will reclaim that familiar foot position on the pedal to control the needle speed.
   

2. You’ll always discover something new about the hobby and yourself. So, whilst I was relearning my hobby I discovered so many new things that I never thought I was capable of. I learned new tricks with my hockey stick and how to defend properly. It was a tough challenge don’t get me wrong, but it was worth it!

3.The beauty of me reconnecting to my old love for hockey was that I made new friends. I could share my love for a sport that helped me through tough times in my childhood, it was like my place to go if I needed a break. The friends I had made through hockey I now count as my life-long friends.

They are just some of the reasons why I reconnected with hockey and I would never look back. I take lessons each week just to reboot my knowledge of hockey and for the fun obviously!
I also introduced my hobby to my brother and he started to come to sessions with me and now he’s a hockey player. He is now 25 so a lot older than me but now he spends his spare time playing hockey for his local team. He’s gone all over the UK to compete in matches and I’ve been to every single one to cheer him on and support him.
This is what made me want to reconnect with my old hobby. I adore traveling so to be able to travel and play my old hobby together made me realise this is what I needed to make me happy.

​Mel