The rain puddling in the street outside beckons… grab your galoshes and come out to play! Alas, there’s work to be done. Chores to complete. An overfull life to balance and precious few free moments to maximize. When’s the last time you shucked your shoulds and responsibilities to simply play?

play (verb) engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose. (Oxford Dictionary)

Somewhere between teenaged angst and bills addressed to us personally, grown-ups shifted focus to more practical pursuits. We traded mud pies for mud facials and called them self-care. We started tracking our steps instead of tromping through creeks, trekking through friends’ backyards, and teaming up with neighbors for a game of tag.

Sometimes, we stumble into a sort-of play: dancing at weddings, tossing a ball with a kid or a dog, trivia night with friends, and some folks are very organized about making these activities a priority. But those of us bored and lonely at the gym (or barely active at all) are staring at our screens searching “how to make friends as an adult.”

Turns out there are lots of places adults can go play in Knoxville. For the purposes of this article, ‘play’ carries an asterisk to focus on *active play with emphasis on community. Activities like:

• Rock climbing at Onsight rock gym, where you can learn the ropes in their Intro to Climbing class.
• Dancing at the Laurel Theater, with options like Contra, Swing, Scandinavian, and more, all instructed for newcomers before each open session.
• Hiking with the Folks in Nature Hiking Club, organized through Ijams Nature Center.

It can feel intimidating to just show up at one of these places with the gusto to socialize. You’ll undoubtedly be challenged to learn, try, fail, and try again with other people around.

This is the developmental power of play, that even in its unseriousness, it urges the player to step outside their comfort zone and grow. To collaborate on the rules and flow of the game. To share in triumph and commiseration however the ending shakes out. To show up over and over and see themselves evolve.

Leave your shoulds and responsibilities at the door and explore three activities that got me away from the desk, moving my body, and playing with lots of new friends.

Live Your Circus Dreams — Dragonfly Circus & Aerial Arts

Running away to join the circus, swinging on trapeze or sliding gracefully through silks, is a fun fantasy that you can try for yourself with time to get home for dinner. At a warehouse-converted-studio in North Knoxville, colorful silks hang from steel trusses, surrounded by squishy mats and a smattering of near-irresistible toys. Unicycles, hoops, stilts, the whole kit and caboodle for clowning around. Can confirm: no clowns in sight.

One stand-out sight is the large mural that reads “Circus for Every Body,” a catchphrase that seems hard to reconcile at first if you’ve ever seen professional circus performers. That’s the trouble with adults, though. Kids will dive unselfconsciously into something that looks fun. We make a snap judgment based on what we think we know.

“We are not the studio that is going to turn you into a Cirque du Soleil master circus performer, though we do have some very advanced students. We just want you to come out and have fun, and we will meet you where you are,” says aerial instructor Heather Quinsey, noting that when she first found circus arts, she was bored at the gym, looking something more exciting.

Those who are circus curious can take a ‘Try Me’ class and experience multiple apparatuses, learning a few tricks on each before committing to a longer class. There’s a special rush that comes from sitting up on trapeze for the first time, looking out over the studio wondering what else your confidence could accomplish with this much freedom. That class alone was a playful hour, though the 10-week sessions unlock the benefits of community and consistency.

Play with creativity and self-expression, challenging yourself to new heights: https://www.dragonflyaerialartsstudio.com

Dive into the City’s Most Social Sport — Knoxville Ultimate Frisbee Leagues

The last time I’d thrown a frisbee was shortly after arguing with my stepdad that no, he did not have to pick me up in two hours because I was going to Some Friend’s house afterward and that it was No Big Deal. You never realize when you’re a kid that your last game is playing out. Life changes fast and you wake up, grown up, wondering when it all stopped being so fun.

After pulling up the webpage a dozen times since before the pandemic, last summer I put on my tennis shoes and showed up for my first Knoxville Ultimate summer league game. Everyone else was wearing cleats, I was wearing the wrong color t-shirt, and it occurred to me that I probably should’ve read the sign-up email.

But now, I was part of a team! Someone leant me a shirt, no one stepped on my feet all game, and my smart watch congratulated me on my new high score in the heart rate department. Cardio aside, I was hooked on the buzz of running, catching, diving, cheering, and eventually, scoring.

“Every league, roughly a third of the players are first-timers. In Summer League, it’s even higher—last summer, 40% of our players were first-time players,” says KU Communications Director Ben Smith as I point at myself and grin, having been one of that 40%. Leagues feature one game per week for about two months with an all-day tournament to crown that season’s champion team. Teams include 13 – 16 adults with wide-ranging athletic capabilities.

The whole league goes out for dinner and drinks after every game with at least 30 – 40 people descending on a local venue. Veterans introduce their chosen newbies to friends on other teams, some folks bring their dogs, and the revelry continues for another hour or two before going home, sore and smiling.

Make new friends in a low-stakes, highly active community atmosphere: https://knoxvilleultimate.com

Come Prepared to Take Your Pants Off — Sheer Inspirations Pole Studio

Not mandatory, but tiny shorts and skin contact to the pole is a must for your spins. That’s how studio owner and retired stripper Natasha Fine refers to tricks (poses and movements), one of the vocabulary words learned in the Intro to Pole class I took one sunny Saturday morning. After a heart-pumping warmup, our group of ten learned how to walk, then hook — but not in the way you’re thinking — then spin.

“My intro curriculum contains somewhere around 20 or so spins, plus combining and modifying them,” Natasha shares from her self-developed curriculum, influenced by global pole community experience in addition to her own. Our intro class learned four spins with plenty of time to practice, each working up the confidence in their own time to show-off for the class.

Professional pole dancers look like the strongest humans alive, but strength wasn’t a prerequisite to participating. “We’re not trying to get Olympic gold,” Natasha adds, though the Olympics have been eyeing pole as a new sport. “We’re trying to make you the strongest version of yourself, whatever that looks like.” I have no doubt that taking 1 – 2 pole classes, mixing in a conditioning or flexibility class also available at the studio, would make me the strongest version of myself. More than anything, I was surprised by how easy it was to let loose and play on the pole.

Once we had the basics, Natasha encouraged us to create sequences by connecting spins the ways that works for our bodies. Strangers turned to each other, “Will you take my picture?” capturing proof of a previously unbelievable physical feat. The room echoed with laugher and cheers as bodies of all configurations succeeded in walking, hooking, and spinning in stride.

“[Pole] is designed to pull you to a place of play so that you can let go and focus on yourself again, like you did when you were a kid. When you lock on that pole, you are popping a f*ing wheelie.”

Give yourself room for whole-body play that builds strength and confidence: http://www.sheerinspirationpolefitness.com

Rediscover and Prioritize Play

The easiest way to get up and go play, right now, is to think about what you used to play as a kid and trust that you still remember how. Remember, if it’s serious or practical, I’d even venture to add purposefully productive, it’s probably not play. We’re aiming for activities you do for enjoyment and recreation, the key word here being joy. If you can’t trust yourself to play unattended, if you think you’ll still sneak a side hustle or content creation or any “work” into the act of play, considering trying one of the above structured play recommendations.

Grown-ups are more likely to show up if they sign-up, subscribe, or in some way commit to being in the path of play. Joining a group or signing up for a single class could be the first step take off running towards whatever brings you joy. Resist the crushing weight of an overwhelming world. Get up and go play!