Sports - Softball post partum
As promised, here is my update of how softball has been going now that the season is over.
I have played softball for about 20 yrs. I have also played slow-pitch. Now, when I tell most people that I 'play ball' they assume its slow pitch.
Both of these sports are considered 'ball' however, I am no good at slow pitch haha
They have a different set of rules and although not always, it's co-ed
So, I play competitive women's fastpitch. It is wear the pitcher throws the ball underhand from a 'windmill' style. At the Senior level there is A.B.C and D divisions. A level is where you play in college level you could play team Canada etc. D level is considered the HOUSE level where everyone plays etc.
The team I play for, Pink Energy, is a C team. Most of our players have played rep ball at some point growing up and as a team we played Rep for a season or two over the 9 years I've played with them
Last year was a great year. We played well and won playoffs. We placed 4th in the province
At provincials last year, I was pregnant and didn't know it yet. I found out after it was all over
I hadn't yet really felt the effects of early pregnancy I was still working out almost daily and still feeling good
So fast forward to this year. I didn't practice at all in the off season due to pregnancy. Our team started indoor practices in January, alongside my third trimester. Even though I was still working out the risk of being hit by a ball was high enough that I didn't come to practices. They were also at 9pm (started then ) and I was going to bed at 930 most nights at that point. Oh sweet sleep, how I've missed you
I had my son in April. Season also started in April. I had a C section which meant literally zero working out, playing ball etc for several weeks. I went to a pelvic floor physio and was guided to return to running at 12 wks. I'm currently 16 wks PP and I have played in games, returned to working out (lighter of course) and swimming.
I played in our playoffs this year. There was a total of 10 of us that attended. So I got to play the entire tournament. It was hard, it was hot, and by the end I was exhausted. I was also elated. I have returned to ball! My body is tired much easier than before. Stamina is nothing like it used to be
Things are a little different this season. Even without the whole 'major abdominal surgery'
I'm breast feeding, so that takes a lot of time and energy out of me. Requires a lot more fluids and food to maintain. My physical fitness is different, I don't have a good connection to my core anymore after learning to 'forget it' while I was pregnant.
Being tired is a thing! My son sleeps pretty good for being so young but he is still up in the middle of the night to feed. So far his best span of sleep has been 7 hrs, but the time for sleep training is in the future.
So, I feel good about how I've played this year. I've tried really hard and reality is I'm slower than I was before, my take off isn't quick. It's arguably the hardest part of returning to sport after C section in the balance and function of running
We play all year for provincials. I didn't attend much of season since I was mostly trying to survive early parenthood and our game tend to be 830pm starts and my hubby has to be up before 5am to go to work so there's no one to tend to the infant running our house
When I was at ball I gave it my best efforts. I now have to bring my spouse or mom to games to take care of my son while I play and it's best that he is nearby because as I mentioned breast feeding parent over here so I am a source of food for the baby
This year at provincials, we placed 3rd in the round robin. We won our first game and lost our second. Once playoffs started... we didn't lose another game.
In the winner bracket for the first time since I've joined the team, we played three games on saturday and two games on sunday. For the second time in 10 years Pink Energy is the BC Provincial SR Women's Champions for Women's Fastpitch. That's pretty cool
I'll share some pics of our team in the Winners circle for both play offs (second year in a row) and Provincials
I have played softball for about 20 yrs. I have also played slow-pitch. Now, when I tell most people that I 'play ball' they assume its slow pitch.
Both of these sports are considered 'ball' however, I am no good at slow pitch haha
They have a different set of rules and although not always, it's co-ed
So, I play competitive women's fastpitch. It is wear the pitcher throws the ball underhand from a 'windmill' style. At the Senior level there is A.B.C and D divisions. A level is where you play in college level you could play team Canada etc. D level is considered the HOUSE level where everyone plays etc.
The team I play for, Pink Energy, is a C team. Most of our players have played rep ball at some point growing up and as a team we played Rep for a season or two over the 9 years I've played with them
Last year was a great year. We played well and won playoffs. We placed 4th in the province
At provincials last year, I was pregnant and didn't know it yet. I found out after it was all over
I hadn't yet really felt the effects of early pregnancy I was still working out almost daily and still feeling good
So fast forward to this year. I didn't practice at all in the off season due to pregnancy. Our team started indoor practices in January, alongside my third trimester. Even though I was still working out the risk of being hit by a ball was high enough that I didn't come to practices. They were also at 9pm (started then ) and I was going to bed at 930 most nights at that point. Oh sweet sleep, how I've missed you
I had my son in April. Season also started in April. I had a C section which meant literally zero working out, playing ball etc for several weeks. I went to a pelvic floor physio and was guided to return to running at 12 wks. I'm currently 16 wks PP and I have played in games, returned to working out (lighter of course) and swimming.
I played in our playoffs this year. There was a total of 10 of us that attended. So I got to play the entire tournament. It was hard, it was hot, and by the end I was exhausted. I was also elated. I have returned to ball! My body is tired much easier than before. Stamina is nothing like it used to be
Things are a little different this season. Even without the whole 'major abdominal surgery'
I'm breast feeding, so that takes a lot of time and energy out of me. Requires a lot more fluids and food to maintain. My physical fitness is different, I don't have a good connection to my core anymore after learning to 'forget it' while I was pregnant.
Being tired is a thing! My son sleeps pretty good for being so young but he is still up in the middle of the night to feed. So far his best span of sleep has been 7 hrs, but the time for sleep training is in the future.
So, I feel good about how I've played this year. I've tried really hard and reality is I'm slower than I was before, my take off isn't quick. It's arguably the hardest part of returning to sport after C section in the balance and function of running
We play all year for provincials. I didn't attend much of season since I was mostly trying to survive early parenthood and our game tend to be 830pm starts and my hubby has to be up before 5am to go to work so there's no one to tend to the infant running our house
When I was at ball I gave it my best efforts. I now have to bring my spouse or mom to games to take care of my son while I play and it's best that he is nearby because as I mentioned breast feeding parent over here so I am a source of food for the baby
This year at provincials, we placed 3rd in the round robin. We won our first game and lost our second. Once playoffs started... we didn't lose another game.
In the winner bracket for the first time since I've joined the team, we played three games on saturday and two games on sunday. For the second time in 10 years Pink Energy is the BC Provincial SR Women's Champions for Women's Fastpitch. That's pretty cool
I'll share some pics of our team in the Winners circle for both play offs (second year in a row) and Provincials
Our roster had 15 players on it this year. As you can tell we were short some girls for playoffs and had to borrow from another team in order to play
We also have some little fans and a pupper. You can't see him in the lower picture but I'm also holding my son in the bottom pic, I just have him behind my team mate as this was supposed to be only a team picture
Moral of the story: coming back to sports after giving birth is hard. People don't talk about it. Several of the other girls on my team have had babies. Some naturally and some C sections. They all seemed to come back just fine in my memory. Stealing bases, hitting balls like they had never left. I felt like I was doing a good job with the cards I had been dealt. It had been brought to my attention by others that 'it can take a season to come back' whereas I thought I was doing a better job than that. I came back as early as I could. At my age player smarter and not harder is certainly a thing because I'm not going to magically get faster in my mid to late 30s. I can always play better, baby or not.
I did my best this season and can only hope to improve for next season. Hopefully everyone else on my team has the same ideas. I'm not done playing, but I do need to be kinder to myself when it comes to the reality of post partum fitness
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