To play or not to play? (Seriously though…who doesn’t like playing!?)

Oh hello there. Laura here! I’m super pumped to be part of the lifeatuoft team this year! Like our other bloggers, I’m eager to provide you with some quirky insight into my adventures as a student. More specifically, my adventures in seeking out a fun, active and healthy university experience. Hopefully you can find something here that resonates with you, or at the very least, have some good laughs at my expense! At first my search for fun, active things to do on campus wasn’t going very well. I'll chalk that up to not looking very hard. But then I walked into my student lounge and found the sign-up table for my faculty’s intramural teams. I deliberated over which sports sounded fun and which ones intimidated me. Soccer, for example, made me hesitant. My apprehension came from the memory of playing casual soccer with a friend at last Friday’s “She’s Got Game” event (more on this later). I discovered that my leading pass wasn't just "leading" but actually unattainable and my friend didn’t want to play with me anymore! Ah well. Back to me at the intramural sign-up table. I’m checking out my schedule to see which days would work for me, when the girl next to me says, “oh you look pretty athletic.” Now sometimes for the ladies -but less so for the gents- being described as “athletic” isn’t the compliment it might seem to be. But in this case, the timing was right on - what a great thing to hear when you’re not sure about signing up for a sports team! So I picked volleyball. I hesitated to sign up mostly because I don’t have those precious years of high-school volleyball experience. My most extensive volleyball training happened in grade six when I was still half a foot taller than most of the boys. This obviously made me a force to be reckoned with (think Owen Wilson in Meet the Parents)! Anyways this little boost of confidence went straight to my head. I hope my teammates can endure my playing; I’ll be sure to let you guys know how it goes! Another activity I’m keen to do more of? Zumba! I was introduced to this Latin dance fitness class  at that “She’s Got Game” event I mentioned. It turns out U of T offers drop-in Zumba classes at the Athletic Centre! It’s something totally new to me, although I think I could become addicted… check this vid out and then tell me you couldn’t have fun grooving like these guys!!! I will admit when I “Zumba’d” it didn’t look half as coordinated or cool and we didn’t have a water fight, but it was ridiculously fun. Hopefully that’s what counts! Looking forward to hearing what you’ve got to say, I’d love suggestions, recommendations or just to find out how you guys are getting active on campus! TTFN (ta ta for now!)