To completely stop doing something that you are crazy about usually comes about by way of two very different routes. The first one is simple, almost always having to do with a complete calamity, often brought forth by an unforeseen bean-ball. It’s something like a surgery, or a head-on crash, or a heart attack. The other route which leads to this unexpected halt is definitely a bit loony. When it comes to playing senior softball the fellas just won’t let go until death do us part. That’s what makes this self-imposed sabbatical so odd. What would drive a normal, softball nut to such an extreme? What are the hoped for benefits, if any, that can come out of this, and what’s really going to happen to a guy that does such a thing?

Mine was no car wreck; no sidelining surgery or a show-stopping stroke. It was a well thought out conclusion to a number of involved “plays and players” in my “real life” which had gone on before, just like in any other game, without much control on my part. The final decision to not sign up on a ball club of any kind or to play any sort of senior softball came about after a mixed list of events (some which were involving the softball world), that had managed to bring the game to this situation.

By the way, a usual sabbatical is taking a break from something after you have been doing it for seven or eight years. There is intent to return to the event after about a year (season), so it’s not really quitting.

One of the most common reasons for a sabbatical is discontent with either the quality of play on your part or some internal problem within the local senior league. One of the worst things that can eat at a player is continued poor performance out on the field. An extended slump is the number one killer for a player’s joy. Letting yourself and the team down frequently can finally start to affect your game in a double negative way. Those internal feelings of disappointment become huge and then the unsaid things from the teammates adds fuel to the fire. The ummph leaves your game, you get real quiet, then you begin to doubt yourself and the bad things begin to come at the plate and in the field. It isn’t just a slump; it’s a prolonged fall into an endless pit. Pity the poor ball player who gets swept up in this vortex with no sides to grab hold of. Each of us has been there in varying degrees; this is when it becomes your uniform, your bat and glove. Sure, most of us work our way out of even a prolonged slump, but when it sinks deep down and gets into your physique like grass stains on the ball, the most obvious solution is to hope to get through that last game and then to retire to the land of rest.

That’s the other prevalent reason for taking a sabbatical: to literally rest up the body, mind and physique, even when there hasn’t been a partially bad season before. Things stack up fast and sticky for us older folks. Sitting out time can be very refreshing in a lot of ways.

Removing yourself from playing can test the most important aspect of this period – the inward truth concerning just how badly you really want to play ball. Before, you would go to great lengths to clear the path to the ball diamond; business, domestic and social hurtles were leaped with adroitness and little could dissuade one from any scheduled senior softball game. How do you feel about not playing, or hanging around with the guys and all the other stuff that goes along with the game? If thinking about not playing gives you the nervous heebie-jeebies, you may have to consider cutting the vacation short and scrambling for a team for the fall season. If the inner unrest is too intense and the longing to get out there is over-riding any peacefulness of not participating, then cut it short and get back there. You may be “cured” baby.

But if the urge to dig up the old glove and go out and find some guys to at least play catch with just isn’t stronger than your vow to get involved in other things, let it rest with contentment. If it is better to be glad that you do not have the pressing thoughts of playing in a game as you did before, then it is right for you to be at this place of abstinence; for that is what it is. It’s a forced retirement from a thing which before had been your life. You are now into the life without senior softball — to whatever degree you have left it behind, it is a living reality to you. So what is it going to mean, in the long run?

I have spoken to some guys over the years who have done a sabbatical in one form or another. Of course, their stories are each different, but there are certain conclusions which can be drawn from the overall impression. For those who sought a rest-out for physical healing purposes, it usually worked, although it was hard on them mentally to be apart from the game that they loved. For those who had left for mental or marital reasons, the outcomes were various; some drifted back into the game the following year and others have dropped out.

I do not actually recommend this interlude of self banishment from such a great love; but in the mature, real world, these things sometimes must occur for the deep roots to relax their tension and regain an even deeper strength from another source. If one loves the game, he will return, almost at any cost. Then he will know that he could not really live without it. Consider this: If you feel in your gut that for any of the above reasons or some other of the possible dozen not listed that you need to just rest out and regroup, why not do it? If the Game is still there when you are ready to return, do you think that it will not welcome you back even more than before? If you lay down your own desires for the seeking of a truer, greater meaning to your part in the game, you will indeed be greeted back as a valiant son returning from the humbling mountain of forced retreat. No, this strange era in a ball player’s career will not need explaining — it will speak for itself, loud and clear, on that day of return to the game.