Gym class blues
Fri May 02, 2008 at 11:12:40 AM PDT
Ok, here's the deal. I hate to use the word hate, but it's the only word that fits. I hated gym class my entire life. Yep, my entire life, from Kindergarten through grade 12. I think the best thing about going to college was not having to go to gym class anymore.
K-8 was horrible. The teacher would do things like roll a pole out into the middle of the gym floor, like the ones you string volleyball nets on? And then one by one, make us climb up it. While everyone watched. I could never pull up on it at all, and I just stopped trying.
Then the teacher would pick the two most athletic boys in the class (boys of course), and let them pick their "teams" for the sport du jour. Picking one by one. While everyone watched. Total humiliation. I don't think I was ever dead last, but I was close to it.
Then high school. Lots of games played on scooters. Why? Why did I have to shuffle about on a scooter with my butt not more than three inches from the floor with a miniature hockey stick, pretending to care? And how is this good for my physical fitness?
Then there was the winter we played European Handball for three months straight. That was a LONG winter.
How I loved the days when we had science lab. On lab days, there would be a double science period and you couldn't go to gym. Can't imagine how I ended up majoring in science, with a reward like that.
I got kicked out of gym class once. Kicked out. Believe me, I never got disciplined for anything at school, ever. Model student. Gym teacher said I could go wait in the lobby and work on my attitude. Sounds great! Thanks coach!
Team sports. Never did them. Not once. Can't even stand to be in the same room if they are on TV. What season is it right now? I have no idea. When is the World Series? Don't know. My husband quizzes me sometimes about major current sports stars and he can verify, I really have no clue. If there is ever a really big trial involving any sports star and they need a totally objective jury member, they should fly me in. Because not only would I not recognize him or her, I wouldn't know what sport they played even after you told me their name.
Now, don't get me wrong. This doesn't mean I don't like to move. I do. I love walking, gentle yoga, hiking, walking with the dog, taking the kids to the park. I come from a long line of "movers." My grandparents were farmers, lived to be 90, I believe all the physical labor helped in that. My mom has taken a walk every night as long as I can remember, and bikes and hikes on the weekends.
My husband, on the other hand, comes from a long line of team sports people. If he gets on the phone with any male member of his family, sports is the topic. He was good at every sport he did. The only problem for him was there wasn't enough time to do them all.
I'm now hitting the age with my kids, at least my oldest, that the possibility of playing youth sports is starting up. And I am dreading it. I enrolled my oldest in a preschool sports class this spring at the YMCA. He seems to like it enough. I can hardly watch it. Just the sight of those stinky pinneys and nerf hockey sticks is enough to send shivers up my spine. Of course, I don't let on to him.
I get angry about this sometimes. Why did gym class have to revolve solely around team sports and not movement and health? Why did I have to pretend all those years, when I could have just gone for a walk?
Academics, I get. Music and the arts, I get. Sports, I don't get.
How about you, MTers? What are your feelings and memories regarding team sports and gym class? Hopefully happier than mine!
