RL(S)

Playing sports

I was pretty involved in sports growing up: I was on a competitive swim team for a few years; I played soccer; I refereed soccer; in high school, I ran cross-country and on the track and was on the swim team. Given that, it may surprise you that I didn’t consider myself good at sports. Well, actually, if you knew me when I was growing up, it probably doesn’t surprise you at all.

I didn’t think I was good at sports because I wasn’t good at the sports that I thought mattered: the sports that the popular kids played. These were invariably the team sports, where skill won games and goodwill amongst teammates and respect against opponents. What all my sporting activities had in common was that I didn’t need to depend on others to do well in them, and others didn’t depend on me. If I screwed up, I had nobody to blame but myself, but I hadn’t really hurt anyone else, either. Even when I played soccer, I was the goalie, which required a different set of skills from the other players.

I always struggled at team sports: I could never get the proper spiral when I threw a football, rarely hit the rim with a basketball, and never quite got my volleyball serve nailed down. To me, I just “wasn’t good” at them. It never crossed my mind that my classmates’ superior skills may simply have been a result of them spending more time learning and playing than I did. While I was sitting at a computer, they were probably bouncing a ball outside or playing catch with a family member. I spent my time differently, so it isn’t really surprising that I wasn’t as good as the other kids.

I’ve never stopped wanting to be good at sports. What I’ve realized, though, is that the only way I’m going to get better is if I put the time in and learn how to play. I’m starting with hockey, and while it’s been humbling to have to spend so much time working on fundamentals, it’s been really healthy as well. It’s very different from my running, which I have a lot of natural talent for and am striving to excel. This is about starting with nothing and becoming skilled enough that I could hold my own in a pick-up game.

The good news is that I’ve got time. Hockey will keep me occupied for the next year or two, but there’s basketball, ultimate frisbee, volleyball, football, and other sports out there. I may never be amazing at any of them, but I’ll at least know how to play. And if anyone tries to make fun of me, I’ll offer to take them on a run and see how they feel after 20 miles or so. Good luck teasing me when you’ve collapsed on the ground in exhaustion.