Ageing better is a team sport, as we look to one another for the encouragement we need to think, talk and take actions for a healthier later life. Walking cricket is a team sport too – a walking version of the traditional game that’s low-impact and inclusive.
Sara’s love of cricket dates back to her childhood and happy memories of matches played with family while on holidays. Despite her affection for the game, in those days Sara wasn’t able to get involved at school, as it was only played by the boys.
Sara, now 66, retired from her job as a steel trader in 2018, ending “quite a sedentary working life” that didn’t include much exercise, aside from a regular pilates class.
Cricket rediscovered
Not long after retiring, Sara read an article about walking cricket, which piqued her interest. The article was written by a man who had pioneered the game, so Sara got in touch with him to get more information.
In doing so, Sara learned there weren’t any walking cricket groups in her local area – and being, in her own words, not “terribly sporty”, she didn’t know how to go about setting one up.
Thankfully, a year on, Sara’s local club, Old Woking Cricket Club, launched their own walking cricket group, so she signed up.
Despite not being the fittest in the group, and others having sportier backgrounds than her, Sara quickly fell back in love with the game, though she was having so much fun she only noticed the health benefits later on.
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Here come the OWLS
“Walking cricket has made me fitter without me realising it,” explains Sara. “Overarm bowling, for example, is far harder than it looks. It’s physically hard work, because you have to put a lot of power into it to get it to go. You have to move your whole body.”
What’s more, moving more has motivated Sara to embrace other methods of exercise, including long walks in her local area, to build fitness levels even more.
As walking cricket’s popularity grew in Surrey, so too did the competitiveness. “I couldn’t keep up with the level of the men in the cricket team, as many of them had been playing for 50 years,” admits Sara. “At a walking cricket festival held at another Surrey club, I spoke to the man running the Surrey Cricket Foundation and asked whether any women’s clubs existed. When he said there weren’t, he encouraged me to start one, so I did.”
Sara set up a team called OWLS (‘Old Woking Ladies’), recruiting players she knew, as well as casting her net wider via Facebook and local groups. Soon the team had 10 players. By the end of the first summer season, there were 20. Now there are 24, with an average age of 65, including some very enthusiastic players in their late seventies.
“Our team is really supportive,” says Sara with pride. “Women tend to be very hard on themselves, so it’s a learning curve for most of us to keep focussed and ensure that we put our bad play behind us and concentrate on the next action. When we first started the team, we had women who couldn’t throw a ball, and now they’re fantastic bowlers. I know I feel a lot better about what I can do now than two years ago. You get a great sense of achievement when you do something well.”
Sara is thrilled with the team’s burgeoning success. “After my mum passed away recently, it reminded me how important it is to make the most of life. I thought that the group was never going to take off, and it’s just grown and grown. It’s amazing! The words start spreading to friends, and they come in. I've had a handful of women come up to say how much they're loving it as well, that it's really made a difference to them.”
Act Now, Age Better
Getting older is a privilege, but one that can have many challenges. While we can’t prevent ageing, we can all take action to help us age in the best way possible.
