The Olympics serve as a two-week advertisement for trying a sport that you may have forgotten about. It’s that time of the Olympics when after days of watching sports they’ve never thought twice about, fans have a not-uncommon thought: I want to try that sport.

You should try fencing or table tennis or whatever sport you’ve fallen in love with this, much to your own surprise. The national governing bodies who run your favorite Olympic team also run things for mere mortals like you and me. Check out their websites, or google “handball near me” or “badminton near me” to find a place to try your new sport.

Your age doesn’t matter, either. Many Olympic sports are lifetime sports. Masters swimming competitions feature people in their triple digits. Tim Gunn of Project Runway fame took up fencing in his 60s, and has spoken about how the sport has changed his life.

The sport you want to try isn’t out of reach. You can do it, because I did.

After covering the 2012 London Olympics, I was inspired to try swimming. Something about watching Missy Franklin and Michael Phelps glide through the water made me think I could do it, though not as well as they could. My parents sent me to swim lessons as a child, and I was a disaster. Though my sister and brother swam competitively, they gave up lessons with me as soon as it appeared I could avoid drowning, which took quite a few sessions.

With that background, I was terribly frightened to try lap swimming, so I  signed up for private coaching at my gym. Once I jumped in, dunked my head in the water, and realized I could still breathe, I was transformed. I could swim. I could swim! I’m not fast and I’m exhausted after 20 minutes in the water, but I’m capable of breaststroking, freestyling and backstroking.

Knowing I could swim opened the door for me. Last summer, I began kayaking. This summer, I bought a bike. I’m 37 years old, have a surgically repaired knee, am hardly the picture of health, and am contemplating trying a whitewater rafting course when the Olympics are over.

If I can do it, you can. You absolutely can. Give the sport you are suddenly entranced by a try. You won’t regret it.