Olympic hopeful?

As a child, disillusionment was my forte. For some random reason, my parents and I felt I could be athletic. It took many years before the realization set in about which sports I could enjoy.

Swimming - Have you seen Michael Phelps? I'm sure you have. The hype is strong and this 19-year old won 8 medals in the Olympics. I must say, he's kind of cute. He is a great swimmer. I am not.

My mom enrolled me in beginner's swimming when I was 5. At the age of nine, she told me I did not have to go anymore. I was still in the beginner's swimming class. Four years in a row, I failed beginner's swimming. If I go near a pool today, I still can't swim. I can splash around in the shallow end, but if I put my head under the water, I start drowning immediately.

I am terrified of water. The diving board also made me fearful of heights. My mom is mean.

Since swimming was not the best choice for me, other sports were added to my schedule to see which I could become an Olympic hopeful in.

Gymnastics - Angi's blog discusses her adventures with being a gymnast. Her adventures lasted much longer than mine did. (And they are more interesting. Check out her blog.) I went to one gymnastics practice when I was 5. One. When talking to my mom about this, she doesn't even remember enrolling me. She told me, "You were a chubby kid. You wouldn't have been in gymnastics." My dad's memory was much better. "Yeah, you went to gymnastics. You were always doing somersaults around the house." Why did I only go to one practice? Because my ride got kicked out. My Olympic dreams (and the dreams of being physically fit in my adult life) plummeted.

What did my family decide to do with this failure? Give up on sports? No.

Figure skating - My dad spent many years playing hockey. He never played professionally but only because the state we lived in did not have a professional team. He would have tried out for it if there had been a way to play and still be close to home. Because he spent so much time on the ice, it was a natural idea for me to try figure skating. Unfortunately, girls playing hockey was not common when I was little and figure skating is what I tried.

Figure skating was not the entire disaster that swimming was. I fell down many times (that ice is cold! Duh, like I need to explain that ice is cold.) The time came around where I became better at skating around the rink. It was the spinning and jumping I never accomplished. I had a better time chasing people around trying to body check them. Yeah, hockey would have been better.

Basketball - I did this for two years. My first year in basketball was horrible. I was the youngest on the team and everyone else had played for a couple of years before me. They did much better and I did not get many chances to play. In this season, I got the ball 3 times. That's right, 3 times the entire year. The first shot I took went a little bit short. Okay, a lot bit short.

The second attempt was not short. It went long. I hit the wall behind and above the hoop. I learned from my mistakes. The third attempt made that wonderful swoosh! sound. It was enough to get me enrolled the next year.

The second year of basketball was much better. I played in every game, I made many baskets. I was actually one of the better players on our team. I guess I was a natural for fighting for the ball (you know, the hockey roots in my blood). Considering how influential basketball was at my high school, I could have stayed in the sport and probably been an athletic star at my school. (The girls' team usually traded state championships with one other school each year.) Did I stay in basketball?

No. The games were on Saturday mornings and I found a new sport to take over that time slot. Before I go into that sport, I am going to discuss a couple of other failures.

Softball - I played in four games of one season. In the fourth game, my coach decided to let me try pitching. Since I cannot hit the ball, he figured maybe I could throw it. I can't. I walked 20 people in a row. That's right. I pitched 80 times and pitched a ball each time. That was my last game of softball on an organized team.

Volleyball - We played volleyball many times in school. Again, it was not my specialty. I decided against trying out for the team when my nose was almost broken. I used my nose to save the ball from hitting the floor. This was not intentional.

Soccer - We also played soccer in school. I loved running back and forth on the field and I was pretty decent at it. The guys would usually pick me first when choosing teams. I think this was because hockey was in my blood and the guys were afraid I'd be on the other team. My dreams of playing soccer were crushed when the guy who slammed my nose with the volleyball did the same thing to me with a soccer ball. It's amazing my nose never broke. This guy, David, was over six feet tall in eighth grade and weighed about 230 pounds. His spike over the net hurt but the kicking of the soccer ball was even more painful.

Track - Not even a chance. I tried to run. Sprinting wasn't so bad. I can run fast for very short distances. Unfortunately, my school didn't really focus on this. I could run the first lap around the track just as fast as any other person at school. Then I would have to sit down for a long time. Distance running is not something I was blessed with. I never tried out for track because I knew I would be laughed at.

I see now that badminton and trampoline are Olympic sports. I did have a trampoline as a kid. I got hurt quite often. The badminton net was something in our backyard and I had a lot of fun with it. I never knew this was an Olympic sport, otherwise I might have tried to do more with it.

I also took my turn at karate. I think this is an Olympic sport. I did well. I graduated with my class the first year. The white belt was replaced with a yellow belt. Then my school discontinued the program. My dreams were 'crushed' again.

What is the sport I finally fell in love with, you ask? Bowling. I loved it. I still do. I just work nights and can't join a league. I spent every Saturday morning at the bowling alley from age 10 until I was 18. In high school, I joined the high school team. This allowed me to go to practices on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. We had tournaments and meets on Thursdays and Fridays. I still went to the other league on Saturdays. Then I would spend Saturday afternoons in other tournaments and bowling for fun. On Sundays, I would go bowling with my family. It even got to the point that my friends and I would go bowling on Friday nights after the tournaments. I lived and breathed bowling.

I lettered in bowling four times. I was the first student at my school to do this. I made many friends and I was even the captain of the high school team for three years. It was my personal goal to keep the sport going at our school. The first year I joined the team, it was Steve and I from our school. Our team was filled out with members from another school. The second year, we were up to six players. By my junior year, I had two teams going with six players on each team. I will post some stories about that happy time of my life. I met my first boyfriend from bowling. I met my second and third as well.

When I graduated high school, bowling in an youth league was no longer an option. I joined an adult league and met lots of great people. My interest in sports increased, I just realized which sports I could do. I turned to billiards and darts.

I'm athletic. I believe this. I'm just athletic when it's okay for people to drink and laugh and talk. I like social sports.

The Olympics are something I will never experience personally. Am I okay with this? I guess so.

2 Comments:

At 10:32 AM, CarpeDM said...

Cute story! Well, I'm fond of you, even though you'll never compete in the Olympics.

And, if it makes you feel better, you can continue to kick my ass every time we go bowling, billiarding or darting.

I know billiarding isn't a word. But I like to verb.

At 6:04 PM, angelia said...

I can't bowl, I can't play pool, I can't play darts (and I have an electronic dart board). I envy your abilities.