Date 2 - Thai Food and Teammates

Text reads: Gosh, I hope my future husband is watching
when I crush this down the line!

I’ve been told that playing adult recreational sports is an effective way to meet men. This is true, I have met many people, a high percentage of them are male, but it's not the sort of cheesy meet-cute that any hopeless romantic would have hoped for.

 

When I was home at Thanksgiving shortly after signing up to play, my family asked me what was new in my life. I told them that I had started playing volleyball again. I got to hear about how so-and-so met her husband playing rec sports, so that would invariably be how I meet my future husband. Right? I mean, wasn’t that the entire point?

It’s been three years now, and I’m still emphatically single. Must be playing it wrong.

But I’ve thought about it, and maybe I am. On Tuesday I had an odd conversation with a teammate about how I never really talk to my teammates. I spend at least a couple of hours every week with these people, but mostly what we share is superficial chit chat and a lot of very sport-specific conversations and (of course) bad puns. There are a few of my teammates with whom I have become close, some that are practically family, but for the most part I know shockingly little about the majority of the people I play volleyball with.

Text reads: So, tell me about your family.
Do you have any siblings?

Sometimes we go for drinks after our games. Not often, because considering how often I play, that would mean going for drinks 4-5 times a week, which is fully-fledged alcoholism and also very expensive. When we do go to the pub, I learn some interesting things about my teammates. Like how many of them don’t drink. This usually comes up after I’ve ordered an Irish whiskey with rocks. "Oh, and I guess the team will have a round of waters, my treat!" Oops.

So last night, when my teammate suggested we go for a meal together, I thought it would be a good opportunity to get to know some of the people I spend my Wednesday evenings with. Simon, Andrea and I went directly from our game to a nearby Thai restaurant and enjoyed a lovely meal together. I am counting it as one of my dates, not simply because my Thursday date had to reschedule, and my Saturday date bailed on me entirely (so I’m a bit short on my quota for the week, al-f-ing-ready) but also because it was a great opportunity to get to know them both a bit better.

The restaurant was very nice, with a junglesque number of fake plants and an enormous fishtank that my eyes were constantly drawn to. We were sweaty and probably smelled like kneepads, but it was all three of us, so we had solidarity on our side. We ordered the family meal and shared everything, which was lovely and worked out really well.

We talked a bit about the usual sports stuff: teammates, opponents, plays, mistakes. But we also talked about first dates and travelling in Thailand and relationships.

Andrea insisted on paying, and Simon tried to talk her out of it. She seemed quite resolute, so I did not argue, and when she said, “This is how I show people that I care about them, so please let me do this.” I was really moved.

I know that dinner out with teammates doesn’t seem much like a date, but I think it was great. And the curry was delectable!