Finding a Way Back

The Advert

In 2025, I came across an advert for Age UK walking football. I had never heard of walking football before.

I had been quite unwell for a long time and had recently completed a lengthy period of treatment, some of which, in therapy, had involved reconnecting with younger versions of myself.

I was beginning to get some energy back and, with that, came the desire to play sport again. I was considering martial arts or lawn bowls, but then walking football appeared. I searched online to see what was available in Somerset and found a group I could join. It wasn't with Age UK, instead it was a local team who played for fun and had also entered the new Somerset FA walking football league.

A friend drove me to the first session so I could see what it was like. The venue wasn’t easily accessible by public transport, so for future sessions the coach agreed to meet me halfway and take me the rest of the way. Only twelve months earlier, I hadn’t been able to get on a bus by myself, so even getting myself halfway there felt like a big deal.

Just Focus on the Football

I wanted to play again, but I was hesitant. I had always found the social side of groups more difficult than the sport itself, and at times this had affected my participation. After so many years away, walking into a new group felt like another big step.

I still remember waiting nervously for a lift to football training and telling my mum I didn’t want to go. 'Just focus on the football, Claire.'

I remember trying, and not always managing it.

The Astro

When I arrived for the first time, four of the women were standing together chatting in the car park. They knew somebody new was coming and were friendly straight away, and after saying hello, and feeling brave, I strode off towards the astro and introduced myself to the coach.

I was sixteen and a half stone and hadn’t played any sport since 2012. My legs hadn’t been pushed like that for such a long time and I kept falling over, but the funny thing was, I loved it. Even though it was walking football, I couldn’t control the old instinct to get to the ball first. A loose ball was still a loose ball and I wanted to get there before somebody else did.

My legs weren’t ready to keep up, and so down I went with my hands on the astro.  Falling down while playing football connected me straight back to childhood and the five-a-side astro pitches I used to play on. It was visceral. Back up. Ball again.

And every so often, a first touch would come off exactly as I wanted it to, or, even better, I would intercept the ball.

My body was very different, but my feet still knew the ball and my brain was definitely engaged.

Tap, Tap. Bounce. Air. Strike!

What I loved most of all was taking a long shot into the empty goal. Before practice started I would keepy-up the ball for myself, let it bounce and hit the half-volley hard into the back of the net, then collect it and do the same thing over and over again. If the ball made it into the corner of the goal net and at speed then the entire movement and felt sense was even sweeter! I loved the sensory nature and repetition of doing this. Tap. Tap. Bounce. Air. Strike!

The connection of the ball through the laces of my boot. Follow-through of my leg. Swish of the net.

Repeat.

It was reassuring to know there was still some strength in my legs.  I loved connecting with the ball again. I loved being outside in the fresh air and I loved playing.

And, as clichéd as it sounds, I felt like I was coming alive again.

The Tournament

Before long I was buying kit, looking forward to training and saying yes when the opportunity came to play in a walking football tournament.

The tournament was being held at a local further-education college in Somerset, which made the whole thing feel like a bigger occasion to me. I hadn’t been around that kind of sporting environment since I had worked at a college in 2012 and, slightly nerdily, I have always loved sports facilities. It was fun being back amongst the pitches and all the players warming up to start their games.

It was a warm, sunny day as I remember it. There were five or six teams there, mostly women in their forties, fifties and sixties, all in their different coloured team kit. I was interested in the standard and naturally one of the first things I wanted to know was which teams were the best. The coach pointed them out and I mentally logged it.

In the changing room, everyone was trying to find a team top in the right size. Mine revealed more belly and bust than I would ideally have chosen, but by that point I didn’t care enough for it to matter.

I think I started in defence, although in six-a-side we could move up and down quite a bit. At one point I dummied a pass and took the ball the other way, and I'm glad I have a video of that moment. The body carrying the ball doesn’t look anything like the body that had played years before, while the instinct to make that decision is still completely there, albeit in slow motion! After all the years of health challenges, doing this little technique was already a win for me.

Eighteen Months Later

That was eighteen months ago and, at the time, I had no idea what the future would hold.

Not all of my experiences in sport have been positive. There have been times when I have felt very much at home in it, and others when I have really struggled with the group dynamics and unwritten rules around taking part. At times, those difficulties impacted me so much, that I withdrew from participating in groups and teams, and from something I loved doing, that I now understand is really vital to my ongoing sense of wellbeing.

Being diagnosed with autism and ADHD later in life has given me a different way of understanding some of those experiences, including why ‘just focus on the football’ only worked sometimes.

This is just one person’s story, among so many stories of people finding their way back to sport and physical activity.

My own return to sport has made me more curious about other adults in our communities who would like to find their way back to a sport or physical activity they once enjoyed, but who may find taking that first step, or staying involved, challenging.

I want to understand more about what helps people return, what makes it harder, and what their experiences can tell us about participation.

This is now the emerging focus of my studies.

Writing on Sport

Claire Gibb is a poet, writer and third year, Sport Coaching & Development student from North Ayrshire. Her writing explores place, memory, movement and belonging, while her developing interests in sport focus on participation, relationships and the experiences that shape how people find, leave and return to sport.

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