For many, sports are an essential part of their lifestyle, and a lot of people will live, eat, breathe, and sleep their favorites. Whether it’s the fast-paced style of the Premier League or even the occasionally hard-hitting action found in professional wrestling, passion is always welcome.
But, what happens when you get into a funk about sport? You can’t place your finger on it, but you suddenly find that you’re not as enamored as you once were. You still go through the motions of watching it when it’s on TV, but you might find yourself distracted and spend more time scrolling through your phone than keeping up with the action.
Simply, this happens. Yet, as sports are such a vital part of your life, you will want to get back into it. This is easier said than done, though, so how can you get back to enjoying sports the way you used to? Here are 12 ideas to give you the push you need.
Learn More About the Game
Suppose you’ve watched the same sport time and again. You probably think you know a lot about it, don’t you? While there’s a strong chance you do, there are likely some elements that you aren’t as familiar with. Usually, this happens if you have experience in a certain position. A striker will often recognize excellent forward movement or technique yet might not get why a piece of defending was so bad. If you focus on parts of the sport where you are not as confident analyzing, you’ll see that the game opens up into something more engaging than it has ever been before.
Mix It With Other Hobbies
As you get older, you seem to get less and less time to pursue the things you love. Whether work or family, you don’t have enough time to focus on your hobbies. It doesn’t need to be like this, though. If you like reading, these sports books are considered the creme de la creme and can scratch that sports itch while helping you enjoy it again. The same goes for video games, and with the wide range of titles out there on any platform, you can get your fix for both hobbies without feeling you don’t have enough time to prioritize one or the other.
Try Something Different
Even if you love a certain sport, you might get too much of a good thing, but rather than being bitter about your declining love, you can take this opportunity to try something new. If you’ve spent your life playing tennis, why not consider hiking, canoeing, climbing, or rugby to give you something different. While it can take time to develop the same type of passion, you should find plenty of ways that make these activities more accessible for beginners, which will give you something else to try, and you can switch between the two (or more) activities to ensure things stay fresh.
Get a Sports Subscription
Similarly, you can expose yourself to other sports with a subscription service. While the likes of cricket and football are the most popular sports to watch, there are plenty more that you can explore and fall in love with. By getting a sports subscription, you have unfettered access to an array of different events, and you may stumble across something that you never considered before, or even knew existed. Many of these spores are always looking for new fans, and the exposure can do wonders to spreading awareness, so give it a try.
Or Keep Up With Highlights
You may not be in the financial situation to watch everything live, though. This shouldn’t matter anyway, as you can still keep up with highlights to get an idea of what went down. If you only usually check the highlights after a big game or witness some controversy, consider how much your experience will be improved by watching as many highlights as possible. Even smaller teams, such as those in the EFL Championship will post highlights on YouTube, and many local teams are now filming the action for you to check out if you look hard enough.
Turn Your Sports Passion into a Career
If you live by the idea that doing what you love means you’ll never work a day in your life, why not find a way to make this your reality. The internet has given everyone a chance to have a voice, for better or worse, and you can jump on this trend, too. Whether you get started in sports journalism or share NFL futures odds to build a following, you may be able to get sponsorships and affiliate partnerships that give you a chance to earn money from your passion. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to make this a full-time job immediately, but the option is there potentially if you do it right.
Listen to Podcasts
Podcasts are a great way to keep up with your favorite sports on the go. You’ll quickly find a podcast for just about any sport you can imagine, and each has a distinct flavor that will appeal to you. For football, you can listen to the likes of Football Weekly for an enjoyable and entertaining balance of analysis and opinion, while Athletico Mince provides a comedic (and often absurd) result. It isn’t just football, though. A quick search on popular podcast platforms will unveil something for everything, and you can easily get back into the game if you’ve been away for a while.
Play Fantasy Sports
Fantasy sports have been around for years, and those who don’t understand it may consider it a little strange. However, people who love it will tell you it is one of the best parts about following any sport, as it adds an exciting element of drama (and often heartbreak) to your weekly watch. You can jump in at any time as long as you aren’t concerned about your ranking at the end of the season. Setting up your team, making traders, and anticipating upcoming fixtures will bring back some joy (and some rage, too), so you’ll feel more connected to players you’ve never looked at before.
Look Up Newer Sports
The sporting world is much larger than what you see on TV. This is no more evident than when the Olympics rolls around, and you stumble across sports that seem ridiculous at first, yet you still can’t take your eyes away. Finding newer sports will give you something to look forward to as you watch the sport grow and get noticed. You can also feel like you’re one of the first to uncover a hidden gem that might be popular in a few years, and you’ll be able to tell people that you were there before anyone else.
Watch It With Friends and Family
Sports are supposed to be a communal experience. You feed off the atmosphere around you and everyone feels the highest of highs and the lowest of lows together. So, if you’ve been watching sport by yourself, it’s no surprise that you aren’t feeling the love the same way. Many people consider their best memories of sports when they are surrounded by others, so invite your friends over to a game, meet somewhere else, or even go to see it live. This could be all you need to rediscover your passion for a game that you have held so dear for so long.
Get Involved With Online Communities
Of course, it isn’t always that simple, especially if you don’t live close to friends and family. Instead, look for online communities to give you a similar taste of what you can experience with others from the comfort of your home. Sports forums, Twitter, and Reddit all provide a fantastic way to stay in touch with a game and provide to-the-minute updates that you can engage with and feel you’re experiencing it with someone else. In some cases, you can find fans of the same team and arrange a meet-up at a later date, giving you a great way to socialize and meet new people.
Play Sports More Often
If you grew up playing sport at every opportunity, it can be difficult to adjust when you don’t have the time or the resources to enjoy it as you did in your youth. But, it’s always worth searching for ways you can enjoy your favorite sports, and it is not just the physical health benefits but the social and mental benefits, too. Whether team or individual sports, you can find a club or pickup game somewhere close that will allow you to relive your glory days and prove to yourself that you’ve still got it. In fact, you never lost it.
The Beautiful Game
It doesn’t matter which sports you adore, if they form an essential part of your lifestyle, you should do everything you can to fall back in love with them. It might be that you need to try something different, or you need to consider how you consume everything there is to know about your favorite team. By considering these ideas, you’ll have something to give you a taste of what you used to enjoy, and it could be the most delicious thing you’ve ever experienced.