Quiet Sunday night to prepare for the week ahead? 🤣 Hardly! It was football training night!!
The Thai business networking and referral club I have joined, BNI Believe - is participating in a Chiang Mai wide "football friendly" next Saturday, 7th November. Each business club fields a team of about 10 guys and 5 women, and there are 10 clubs in Chiang Mai. All participants & most spectators next week will be OWNERS of local businesses with more than 5 years experience, and consequently one really doesn't want to look like an utter clutz.
So we have been in training for 3 weeks now, 2 evenings a week for an almost 3 hour session each time, under the guidance of Coach Gai who is an avid football player and conveniently happens to own a private fitness coaching business.
I have to honestly say it's about 30 years since I last kicked a football seriously, and I felt it after the first training session. Consequently, I have been leading the warm ups and stretching among the women, many of whom are NOT sporty and were gasping after 3 kicks.
The women are frankly astonished that I, who will be 57 in 10 days time, can happily do push ups and a training run and am fitter than most of them in their 20's. Me? I believe aging is a mindset and about physical and mental fitness. Yes, I'm definitely sitting here soaking my sore feet in a hot magnesium bath after training, and I will most definitely be applying my Flexbeam Near Infra Red Light to my knee and groin muscles later when I hop into bed. But it felt GOOD to challenge myself!!
Yes, I DO love that "developing world" Chiang Mai here in Northern Thailand has state of the art community fitness facilities that cost next to nothing to hire: tonight? $2.10 each for the full 3 hours, which included the flood lighting and bottled drinking water. Training under the full moon on a very warm & fragrant tropical night? Just wonderful!
The best part? Laughing and getting to know our business crew on a basis that doesn't involve anything like a business suit or new clients; it is about fun and team building. In all the years I have lived and worked in Australia and throughout my year long hothouse experience with Leadership Victoria, I have never experienced something so simple and so effective. People paying to join a business network and committing to be an Extended Family of Choice, solely for the purpose of building and supporting one another.
The business owners represented range from very large big biz (the Nissan dealer for the three Northern Thai provinces and a substantial property developer) through to a local restaurant, my organic herbal products business and a small interior design and soft furnishing business.
Out there on the football field, we are friends and teammates FIRST. And we were all still laughing and sharing photos from Friday nights brilliant Halloween party.
And so there you have it. Football is a highlight of my almost 57th year - something I never would have expected.
Feeling challenged, supported, able, fit and enjoying the teamwork. Albeit with a slightly tight muscle behind my left knee. Applying magnesium and Near Infra Red Light.
A wonderful conclusion to a full and happy weekend focused on community, connection, health, fitness & leisure. BlissednBlessed.
Enjoy the Moments - Live by Design, Not by Default.
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