Every year my company competes in something known as the Corporate Challenge. It's basically the Olympics for Dallas/FW area companies. I want to try to participate in the soccer tournament this year, which is 10 weeks from now.

The Negatives
My skill set is admittedly not that great. I played for a terrible AA sized high school in south Georgia. Played some intra-mural in college. I'll be 36 at the time of the tournament. I'm very out of shape. Currently 5'6" and 185, 28% BF. At this point in time I can't really run for more than a half-mile or so without getting winded.

The Positives
Pretty much anyone can play since my company doesn't have many soccer players, so there's no risk of "not making the team". The tournament is mostly guys who haven't played in a while or play the occasional pick-up game at most, though more than likely they'll be at least a few guys with either NCAA backgrounds or who are in their early 20s and can run circles around me (or both)

I have 10 weeks. Is that enough time to lose enough weight and get my cardio conditioning up? I feel like I need to lose at least 25 pounds. I thought about posting this in H&F but figured there were more soccer-specific guys here. Any feedback appreciated.

its doable imo. here's my suggestion for a 10 week training program, others with more experience may want to chime in.

weeks 1-3: smoke 10/day, eat at least one doughnut with each meal
weeks 4-7: smoke 15/day, add a chocolate shake in the morning
weeks 8-10: 20/day, add mcdonalds on the weekends (both days)
game day: go in goal

If you've played any basketball you'll be a natural in goal.

The pro play here seems to be telling everyone at your company that you were an all star youth goalie and it's your natural position.

5'6" now though so he's going to have to tell them he has shrunk by a foot or so as well.

He grew fast up until he was about 12 then stopped growing. So he dominated as a 12 year old when he was 5' 6". At least that's the story I'd go with.

Even at a tournament full of aging office-types, a 5'6" keeper is just laughable.

I've generally played either RB or midfield somewhere.

change nationality.

For the sake of my location, I wish I could. I'm 2nd generation English, pasty-skinned, and will be (if all goes to plan) training with the team in the blazing hot Texas summer.

Yes, there's enough time to get to a point where you don't completely embarrass yourself.

Get the C25K (couch to 5K) app, or something similar, and start using it. It'll start you off slow, which you need. Soccer is a different type of endurance, so even if you're running a good 5K in 10 weeks you will still be gutted by short sprints, but this will help a lot. It will also make it less likely that you're going to hurt yourself. If you play hard you're probably still going to hurt yourself, but this will help. On that note, stretch regularly, every day. Once you start running longer distances get a foam roller and use it.

I'm 43 and started playing competitive soccer again at 41. My biggest problem has been my calves, FWIW, have torn one of them twice and the other once. I wear calf compression sleeves now, which seems to help a lot.

This reminds me of a funny story that might be a thread saver.

At my previous place of employment in LA I worked with a guy who played college soccer and was a very good player in college. We were always looking for athletic leagues to join (softball, etc) and he found a recreational soccer league that seemed pretty casual and was only 30 minute halfs.

WTH we thought and joined up. Most of us were fairly athletic but had only played some soccer in our younger days. We weren't total novices and had some experience but soccer was never any of our main sports except for our ringer.

We had a couple practices and were feeling pretty confident. Even the ringer thought we were doing ok and in a rec league we at least wouldn't embarrass ourselves.

We show up to our first match and the other team does not speak english. OK, they are Central American soccer fans but it's not like we can't play with these guys. We should be able to hold our own. Hey a bunch of USA#1 white boys can grit it up and make miracles happen!

The next 60 minutes were the most athletically embarrassing moment of our lives. It was soul crushing. Essentially we looked worse then the Mexican national team against Chile or if the Columbus Crew played Real Madrid.

Turns out most of the teams in this rec league were like this first team. We continued to get crushed every week until the season was over then faded away into legend and vowed to never speak of it again.

Thanks for the serious reply LFS. Downloading the app now.

I've never had a problem with my calves but I get shin splints pretty bad.

couch to 5k isn't a bad idea

playing a lot of pick up games would be best though if that's an option for you.

I wish it were. Unfortunately I live in a town of 25K rednecks who have no interest. Most of my coworkers from the team commute from Dallas area (I know that seems backwards, but my work is the biggest employer in north TX outside of Dallas)

There are some young Mexican guys that play at the park though. But not so sure if they'd be down with a chubby, balding gringo joining their ranks.

I play with the Mexicans in the park on occasion. I'm not chubby or bald though so maybe that's where they draw the line

I hide the chub pretty well though. And a lot of the weight is muscle/stockiness since I used to be big into lifting.

Screw it, I'll go kick around solo at first and see if I can work my way in.

Bump for a shout-out to LFS for the tips (they've been helping).

Also, it turns out I was wrong about the "pretty much anyone can play bit". This year is the most interest we've ever had in playing for the soccer team apparently, as we have 39 people trying out for 28 roster spots.

My try-out is this afternoon for 3 hours and there will be a heat index of 103* here in north TX. If I drop dead out there, it's been fun SE.

Ffs just fill the waterboy spot, nobody will think any less of you.

Would be the sensible thing to do in that heat.

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If you go ahead with it remember rule no1....take the ball or man every time.

Convince them you were a star striker in school and then just stand in front of goal poaching. It worked for Puskas.

C25k a good place to start
If you have access to a gym with a concept II rowing machine get to work. You can use it to train the more specific energy systems and exertion domains associated with football (i.e. burst of activity followed by rest then repeat) without it being hard on your knees and ankles. YouTube "concept II rowing form" spent a couple of sessions just rowing with a focus on improving form before focussing on work blocks like 8 x 250m with 1min rest, etc.

Additionally: I don't know you but I bet your mobility sucks. You need to be stretching your hips / glutes / hamstrings / quads / ankles daily. Between now and the tournament make doing a comfortable, deep airsquat with upright torso a goal. Even if you don't manage that, working towards it will help prevent injury while you're doing other things.

Finally and most importantly: play football. As much of it as you can. Find a five a side game. You can do all the training in the world but if you aren't practicing what you'll be doing on the day it will be largely wasted effort.

Good luck.

Excellent

I got into pretty decent shape by rowing every day 2km (like 7-8 minutes a day) within a month a while back. Weights will also help you lose fat much faster.

We do have a rowing machine at my gym. Not sure if it's that exact model but I've used it before and it's pretty awesome. The stretching needs to be done as well.

I'm already behind the 8-ball in the injury department. I rolled my ankle a couple weeks ago practicing on the one cracked, drought-ridden field that has goals in this town. Fortunately I didn't roll it that bad. No pain and minimal swelling. I have a compression sleeve for support/prevention.

So I ran a 6.8 40-yard dash at the tryout yesterday. How bad is that for an out of shape 35 year old?

Depends on how much water you were carrying.