I'm 36 and haven't played soccer regularly in the last nine years. In the last two months, however, I've been playing about four times a week. It's fun and it keeps me in better shape than just about anything I've done. I'm recovering the skills that I used to have, and I feel pretty good about the way I play. The only problem is that I've been experiencing a bit of soreness in my legs. Once I start playing, however, I don't even think about the soreness, and the soreness doesn't affect my game. It's only when I'm resting at home or taking leisurely walks that I feel the soreness. Will this soreness eventually go away or is it just the kind of soreness I would get at my age? It's not really much of a problem, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.

Sounds like DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness) from what you have described. Nothing serious, it is expected to suffer this sort/ level of discomfort when returning to sporting activities which you haven't played in months. Alot of members will be familiar with this that, when returning from a long lay-off from the gym usually experience DOMS the day after working out on their chest, arms or whatever, and it usually subsides after couple of weeks. Usually it's small tears in the inidivual muscle fibres which causer this (which is natural). The soreness is more pronounced at your age and it takes longer to recover from, but shouldn't hinder your enjoyment of soccer.

Proper sleep and rest, hot baths, good, well-balanced proper diet and light activity or stretching on non-football (or soccer) days should help ease the discomfort.

- B.A.

It sounds like you are not stretching properly after the match.

Thanks for the info, B.A. and B9. I'll take everything you said into consideration.