The Toronto Sport and Social Club has been around for over 15 years, catering to a huge number of active young men and women, organizing co-ed and single sex intramural sports leagues all over our fair city. Recently. friends and I decided that recreational winter floor hockey was our flavour, so we signed up online and prepared for game day. As a self-described individual athlete, swimming laps and taking long walks are more up my alley than any organized sporting event, but I somehow managed to find myself on the field hockey team in high school, so I thought what the heck? A week later there I was, stick in hand, trying to catch my breath after body checking some guy who had 50 lbs on me, when I realized that this really was F-U-N, FUN. Way more fun than watching Oprah while treadmilling, and definitely more fun than contorting myself into half moon pose. I was hooked.

The club offers affordable fall, winter, spring and summer leagues with regular games and playoffs for teams and individuals. There’s something for everyone here- we’re talking badminton, basketball, curling, dodge ball, and tennis, among others; as well there are levels of play, from recreational (i.e. “I never even picked up a racket!”) to advanced. Although most of the equipment is supplied, most leagues are self-officiated, therefore having a real emphasis on sportsmanship and fun.

For those of you who may be more inclined to get excited by the ‘social’ rather than the ‘sport’ aspect of all this, TSSC is sponsored by several bars around the city, which means after running your butt off for an hour, you and your teammates can relax with a beer and some pub food that you didn’t pay full price for! Awesome. Solo social butterflies, I also present to you TSSC’s Sports for Singles! Every month the club organizes evening sessions in which participants are divvied into different groups to play several sports over the course of the night, with the main goal being to meet some new people, and perhaps even someone special. If this is still a little too speed-datey for you, I can guarantee that even playing in the regular league you are bound to meet someone who catches your eye. But don’t just take my word for it, as science backs this one up. Social psychologists Donald G. Dutton and Arthur P. Aron’s 1974 “High Bridge Study” found that “meeting an appropriate other when one is physiologically aroused can promote romantic attraction to that other.” In other words, working up a sweat with potential dates is more likely to work out in your favour than if you were to meet in a library or on the bus.

So ladies, grab your New Balances, check out http://www.torontossc.com/ and sign yourself up for inner tube water polo or whatever else happens to tickle your fancy. GO TEAM!

By Kat Sainsbury