Who here was a child athlete?

[mix]

What lessons did you learn? I showed horses and competed against girls/young women in my age group from age 9 to 21 and would get beat by them regularly...strangely enough, showing western style Quarter Horses gave me a good lesson in equal rights and respect for gender differences.

(i think equestrian events are one of the few sports in which males and females compete against one another, i'm sure there are others)

[NightWatcher]

1. does JV baseball count? All I learned was "always wear a cup"

I was a catcher and caught a few foul tip bounces right in the grandkids

[mix]

2. lol

[Arugula Latte]

31. At my son's Little League practice the other day one of the kids failed to wear his cup

Yes, he took a hit to the 'nads. After the practice the coaches were asking the kids what they learned that day. "Always wear a cup" was his answer.

[applegrove]

3. I loved sports and was a good team player. I was great at avoiding being

hit in dodgeball. But I've always been a passive person. I was never blessed with the competative spirit or athletic ability. I do remember winning "King On The Mountain" in about grade 6. I was 6 inches taller than all the boys I was playing with and they were flying everywhere. I won two days in a row and finally some teacher came out and put a stop to the game.

I guess you could say I was never afraid of a scrum. Not bad for a girl.

[mix]

19. i loved dodgeball, all those crazy playground games n/t

[Strong Atheist]

4. Recommended,

dammit ( and I LOATHE sports). x(

[no name no slogan]

5. I wasn't an athlete. However, I was an athletic supporter.

[mix]

15. ..

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. Does Ballet count.....

I learned patience and dicipline and some French phrases, among other things.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. I was a swimmer. State ranked was as good as I got

[Bertha Venation]

8. I played softball, and can't think of one thing,

besides how to actually play the game, that I learned from it. :shrug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. You learned not to bean people in the head for being jerks, right? :^P

I "played" one year but I sucked at it. Ditto with soccer.

[Bertha Venation]

18. I didn't learn that! LOL

I did learn how to stop a grounder, how to stretch at first base, who covers which base when, etc. But I didn't learn not to bean anyone.... is that wrong?

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. LOL Well, it makes me wonder what kind of values your coach had, not stressing that fact.

:P

[Bertha Venation]

23. Coaches have no values. That's been my experience.

Except the one I had in college. Hers must've been "family values" because it was a Baptist college. However, I always suspected that she was gay. Hmm.

[GreenPartyVoter]

24. Well coaches aren't supposed to espouse personal values other than the ones

where kids learn how to work together, share the equipment and spotlight, be gracious losers _and_ winners. That sort of thing. :)

If your coaches failed you in that respect, then they didn't do their jobs right. :(


How did you wind up at a Baptist College? Was it the more liberal flavor of Baptist?

[Bertha Venation]

29. I grew up a fundamentalist Christian and

didn't start thinking for myself until I was 23.

Definitely not the more liberal flavor of Baptist - I didn't even know there was one!

I wound up there because that's where my sister went. She was a fundy too.

[GreenPartyVoter]

34. Yeah, I know all about conservative evangelicals and learning to think for oneself.

:hug:

[seemunkee]

9. Rock climber and cyclist

Started when I was 15 and fell out of it for a while when I was ~22, took it up again about 10 years later and just quit recently due to my shoulders not able to handle it anymore.
I took a half day my senior year of high school and hit the rocks almost every day. Did a lot of bouldering and unroped soloing, which was pretty stupid considering I was usually there by myself. There were no indoor gyms or competitions in those day so it was just about the sport.

I used to ride everywhere and would occasionally go to the Sunday AM races, but never wanted to compete seriously. My friends and I would just decide to go and ride 20-50 miles for fun. Another sport that I dropped out of for a long time and came back to. I rode 37 miles on Sat and another 10 on Sunday

[mix]

10. i have always been impressed by your sport, amazing n/t

[cwydro]

11. I played competitive tennis

and was also on the swim team.

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. I was a competitive cheerleader, and I learned teamwork with people

I often did not like and would not have associated with otherwise.

Male and female cheerleaders compete against each other in both team and solo events.

[bluestateguy]

14. I played baseball until I was 14

I was no superstar, but I would say I was a slightly above average player. I played every position except catcher, shortstop and third base. If I had been willing to work hard enough at it, I think I could have made my high school team.

Sports is a fine character builder for young people, teaching teamwork, sportsmanship, modesty and in some cases, even helping to bridge racial divides.

But back to me. When I played Little League the worst people were the parents. Unsportsmanlike, rude, unhelpful and selfish, and in a few cases, drunk at the games.

[mix]

16. baseball is my favorite game to play

one of my favorite things to do is just to go somewhere and play catch with someone...it's like therapy and meditation all at once

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. My boys have taken to playing whiffle ball this summer. They enjoy

ganging up on the old man and giving him a whupping. LOL

[PRETZEL]

17. My whole family grew up in sports,

that was our childhood. If there was a ball involved, we played.

Competitively, I played varsity baseball in HS. I did have a scholarship offer to a small college but decided to go to a major school thinking I was good enough to make it there. I almost did.

I also spent a good portion of my adult life coaching youth sports. That's alot of fun if you have the patience and the kids are willing to learn.

[Captain Hilts]

21. High school tennis. Discipline. Being part of a Team. Also, on a team in an individual sport....

your 'team mates' are also your competitors. It's probably better to play soccer.

[mitchum]

25. Swimming, tennis, wrestling...then I discovered drugs and music

[mix]

26. went down that path n/t

[mitchum]

27. I'm still freakishly strong and coordinated...

that's why I call myself "The Iron Fop"

[mix]

30. i'm still a fairly good athlete myself n/t

[Moondog]

28. Soccer and Little League baseball.

I was reasonably good at both. My family was well off, and my father believed that staying with either sport might ultimately have the effect of denying a scholarship to someone who actually needed one, so I quit both in my early teens. This, not coincidentally, was also when I discovered those exotic creatures that were then called "girls".

What did I learn? How to play well with others - the whole "team" concept, which was no small thing for a young man who was, by natural inclination, something of a loner. Beyond that, nothing comes to mind.

[dropkickpa]

32. total soccer jock

I played co-ed from 5-16, also played on my high-school girls team from 14-18, and played indoor co-ed from 13-17.

[mix]

33. i've hung out with a few of ya !

:hi: