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I consider myself to be an athletic person, and I was fortunate enough to be able to make it all the way to the Division 1 level of my sport, lacrosse. Unfortunately, I developed an addiction to playing sports along the way.  When I walked off the field after my last game I was definitely sad, but I knew that it would only be a matter of time until I found another way to stay active.  The next challenge would just be to find ways to stay active while working in downtown Detroit.

My sister, Kelli Kavanaugh, has been my source of info on what goes on in Detroit for as long as I can remember, so I of course banked on her being able to give me some ways to stay active in the city.  She has not disappointed, and definitely given me some options that I can’t wait to get involved in.

She has become an avid cyclist and her bike shop, Wheelhouse Detroit, is working to help others in the D stay on two wheels.  Every time I go out with her in the city I feel like I end up riding a bike for half a marathon, but I absolutely love it.  They do group tours, rent bikes, and do repairs.  It’s pretty cool to be able to swing by her shop after I get off work, and I’ve even organized a group of my fellow Quicken Loans friends to go on one of the tours they offer.  Amber helped me out in that department, since she is a bit of a biker herself.  While riding a bike is great exercise, I am also a big fan of competition. Of course, Kelli had something for that as well.

Two years ago Kelli told me she had joined a futball league in Detroit, and that it was made up of teams from the different neighborhoods in the city.  I was pretty skeptical, but agreed to go to one of her games on Belle Isle.  It was an evening game, and when I pulled up with my parent I was shocked at how many people were there. There were several games going on, and more teams waiting! Each team had their own personality, which became apparent through my sister’s descriptions of them, as well as their unique mascots.   The game was a riot to watch – ace bandages and knee braces might have been all over the place, but I don’t think the players noticed – and I left pretty impressed.

Now that I’m working downtown, I’m pumped that I can just meet up with her after work.  I went to another one of her games earlier this year, and was completely blown away with how many new teams there were. I had to drive down to Fort Wayne (not Indiana) to see her play, and there were about 8 teams running around. Apparently they had a whole other group of games going on at Belle Isle at the same time, too! The amount of people looking to stay active was just awesome.  There were definitely some older guys there who were playing a lot younger than they looked, and it was a competitive yet fun environment.  After the game, beers flowed and everyone talked about what bar they were hitting up.

The bar scene when the league showed up could have its own post.   All of the players had on their jerseys, there was soccer on the TV, one of the goalies was on stage rocking out on the accordion with a band, and PBR was being passed around like bottled water. Bicycles were parked outside in groves, and tons of people had walked around with their helmets inside.  I literally felt like I had somehow found myself in a European sports bar in the middle of the World Cup.

Anyway, if taking part in something like this is what it’s going to take to stay active in Detroit, then I can hardly wait to get started. Now I just need to figure out which neighborhood needs another player for its team…

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