There was a major concept I enjoyed when working with my previous trainer. It felt like tossing different athletic balls back and forth, was positive. We spent time using a tennis ball and small squishy type ball. We had also worked with a lacrosse ball and a reaction ball. The last two being bounced onto the floor, instead of thrown. I felt like the idea of working with the athletic balls, using a variety of methods, helped the coordination of my hands. Something I was going to miss when moving onto my next trainer. The emotional piece of working with these athletic balls, also seemed to be playing a role in our sessions. It added the feeling of doing something more interesting during a workout. Rather than all of our time spent on routine exercises, which can become repetitive. Mixing up the sessions seemed to keep me more interested. The trouble started when working with the athletic balls become too dominant inside our sessions. The routine began feeling like the easiest thing for my trainer to do, so it became the tendency. Sacrificing the work with weight training. My body was falling out of shape and I became too trusting. As I was past forward, into working with a new trainer, there was tremendous skepticism. I wondered what a different program for me was going to involve? Still hoping to maintain the task of playing catch. As I felt it helped with not only coordination, but my mental health.
When my work began with the new trainer, playing catch didn’t appear. At least, not in the same manner it had previously. The new plan involved much more weight training. Heavy in the concepts of dumbbell work, hinges with the kettle bell, weighted carries, and squatting. Leaving little room for playing catch inside one of the yoga studious. However, the new ideas of training my body had immediate impact. Causing me, to feel more solidly put together and stronger than I was previously. The tossing of a ball would appear in a different form and hardly in consecutive sessions. During my new program, with the new trainer, catch was often done using a rebound trampoline. Throwing a ten-pound exercise ball against the angled trampoline. In was an exercise performed frequently with my previous trainer. Something we had moved away from, in the recent years. I would toss the ball against the trampoline from my left side, then from my right side, catching the rebound of each toss. The movement was a solid way of working on core strength and hip mobility, but it couldn’t replace the variety of playing catch. I was missing the experience of throwing an athletic ball back and forth in the yoga studio. There became limited times of tossing the ten-pound exercise ball back and forth, with the trainer. But, those moments weren’t taking place consistently, and there wasn’t enough free space inside the gym to make it valuable.
Life can have a way of moving things around. Creating a scenario in which the fun could reappear. When the new trainer made a decision to move on from the gym we were working inside. He found his way to a gym in another city, one I was familiar with in the past. The space has been owned by the original trainer, I worked with. The space, I knew, would provide much more space for different types of exercise. Taking away the limitations of tossing any kind of ball back and forth. Within the first couple of sessions, inside the new space we worked, an exercise ball became part of our sessions. This time, moving up in weight to tossing a sixteen-pound exercise ball back and forth. Moving from tossing it on the left side, into tossing it from the right side of the body. The extra space from the new surroundings provided added excitement to the familiar movements. We could space out as far as was desired, without any concern of my toss knocking something over, or the ball contacting a member walking. An expanse of turf was all around, without another person or object within fifteen feet, in any direction. The extra space enabled my comfort to escalate immensely. Without any feeling of being confined. There was no concern over dropping a toss or an errant through causing damage. The removal of worry allowed me to more confidently focus on the exercise ball tossing. The comfort, feels like a factor in the exercise being used more frequently.
The extra space has seemed to provide more options for playing catch. The progression to throwing the football around has been one of the most exciting. I was discussing the joy of playing catch with the new trainer. It wasn’t long before the idea of working with a football surfaced. With all of the open space inside the new gym we had moved to. Tossing a football back and forth would be feasible. Where the idea would have been impossible inside the big box gym, we were training in prior. Following the conversation around using the football, I tried tempering my expectations. Simply because the idea had surfaced, didn’t mean it would be placed into practice. However, it wasn’t more than a session or two later. My new trainer showed up to a session, football in his hands. It was a pretty exciting moment in my fitness journey. The last time I had played catch with a football was during my couple years of helping coach the sport. My final year of actively coaching was probably four years prior, at this point. So, it had been some time since tossing around the football. The ball my trainer had brought was similar in size to the one used when I coached. It was a youth ball, smaller in size from a college level football. As we widened the space between us, feelings of happiness filled me up. The act of playing catch has always been fun.
Playing catch with any kind of ball provides a good challenge. It has become a good means for working on my coordinated movements. A skill hampered by my cerebral palsy, throughout my years. My most familiar emotion felt when an object travels in my direction, has been anxiety. The fear of getting my body into a good position to make a catch. Then, the function needing to take place, in order to secure a catch. When my trainer and I drifted in opposite directions to begin tossing the football, my emotions began. A flood of all kinds of different, yet familiar, feelings. We started by tossing the football a relatively short distance. Back and forth we went, from about ten or fifteen feet. It was a relatively comfortable distance to begin, with the football traveling pretty slowly. Tracking the ball was easy at the short distance and my body remained relatively relaxed. As the trainer started a slow move backwards with each pass, my body experienced greater rigidity. The added distance was causing the football to carry more speed when traveling in my direction. Which, seemed to cause my body to tighten, just before the football arrived. It was something I began taking notice of while playing catch. The sudden tightness being felt in the final seconds of the football approaching was adding challenge to the reception. Making my arms feel heavy and disrupting my ability to adjust my hands, quickly. My hands seemed to become rocks, wanting to bat the ball down to protect my body, rather than make a gentle catch. It feels like I become fearful that the football might cause pain. Like I’m afraid my hands won’t get to the ball in time and I will end up hurt. So, I’m trying to protect myself and make the catch, simultaneously. Which, doesn’t seem to be working well.
Playing catch with a football will always be fun. Tossing it back and forth, as part of warming up for a workout session has been memorable. Especially, this time of year, as we sit on the brink of football season. Even with the fun of the activity, much can be accomplished. It seems, with each throw and catch, I’m improving the challenges of my disability. The throwing of the football helps me learn the stabilization of my core. Learning to rotate my body just enough to get off a good throw. The tossing helps me learn coordination in my body, figuring out how to throw the football to a spot in the distance. The great thing about playing catch for me, or for a child with a disability, would be the excitement. The fun in playing becomes the focus and the gaining of skills turns into an added bonus. It can be challenging to find the time to play catch in our busy world. But, in my training sessions over the last few years, the activity has been helpful. Not only in the ways of improving coordination, balance, and stability, the social aspect helps, as well. There remains much for me to learn in playing catch with the football. Figuring out how to keep my body calm when the ball approaches. Along with getting my coordination improved enough to hit the target, on my return toss. The joy of making that challenging catch and throwing back a tightly spinning football, remains an incredible feeling. The emotion keeps me wanting to improve my skills.
A Journey With Cerebral Palsy 