The age of experience

The young are splayed across the remaining pages of the paper; it may be good to devote a moment to the fastest growing community group — people over 50.
The wonderful thing about a mature perspective is not that one doesn’t appreciate the body beautiful, but rather that one can flirt, admire, enjoy — and then tell it to leave! How glorious it becomes as gravity deforms, transform and simply destroys all that is to be admired.
How stunning the olive-skinned Latino! Sun-kissed golden boys and girls who force one’s eyes to focus — and remain far too long before averting. To think that a mere 20 years before, one would have cared! What if someone noticed? Then it was horror, I’ve been sprung!
Now? What do I care — I’ll stare if I want to! The reality is that it takes my eyes about 15 minutes just to focus behind my beer-bottle glasses.
At 35 the mark of all that golden kissing by illuminatus giagantous sphericum is taking its toll. (I wanted to Google that to show how GenY I can be, only to find that Google doesn’t cope with the favoured ancient tongue taught in private schools — how useful on Wall St or in the boardroom — so please bear with my Smlatten, a smidgen of Latin). A happy face with smiling eyes is now creased, with lashings of Garnier Caffeine No Sag to remove the night of rest.
It gets worse. A decent job means dining out and good wines add to the attack of the atmospheric asteroids on a daily basis.
Here one stands at the parting of the ways: age 50 in combat shorts, boots and a tight singlet looking for Mr Right Now at a dance party, or mixing the learning of new physical skills in a sporting and social group setting.
The sports setting has wonderful longevity effects. Neurologists and aging specialists, physical educators and well-balanced sportspeople know to ‘move it or lose it’. Neurons not forced to perform their highly specialised function regularly are re-absorbed by the body and altered into lower order cells.
As if our aging liver doesn’t have enough to process already! The cells that make up nerves become very efficient at delivering stimulation to the correct muscles. Actions or, more precisely, inactions by muscles, where they are no longer taken through a range of skilled movements lose their ability to do so due to a lack of neural stimulation.
Failure to throw a ball means we lose the skill resulting in thousands of plastic ball throwers in dog parks.
To understand what it will feel like to lose a skill, perform it with your non-preferred hand. Put your computer mouse in your left hand; throw with your other hand. This is the same feeling after a stroke; or when unused nerve cells have been re-absorbed as they are not used.
Live, play and move it. Team Sydney member clubs will help you to start your sporting journey. Find us at www.teamsydney.org.au