Problem with lack of athletic ability

[funnyguy]

Does anyone else have painful memories of growing up not being athletic? My dad never showed me how to throw or catch a ball I was surrounded by girls in my neighborhood. I do not act effeminate, but those scars are still with me. Later my dad did pass/catch a football with me.
Still, at school (7th/8th grade) I was always the last one picked for the team in gym. Agony! One time, I finally hit a softball into the outfield. You would think that I would have been elated--but NO, I got to 1st base and stood there on the base and waited and waited. (I was so excited that I did not pay attention to how the play had gone.) So, after a few minutes , I stepped off the base and BAM! The first baseman who was hiding the ball behind him, tagged me out. What a bummer!
In HS, I met lots of guys and we played touch football which I really liked! (We called it, "pass and tap")
Anyone else have such painful memories to share so I don't feel like a complete doofus?

 

[yngjock20]

I don't have painful memories because, thankfully, I had friends who liked me for the funny, artistic, barbie doll loving, chubby kid I was.

However, I did completely suck at playing sports even though I did them to the best of my abilities. I didn't know shit about any sport. period. I got out when I could and never looked back.

 

[Industrialsize]

YES......and I dont want to talk about it.....

 

[funnyguy]

YES......and I dont want to talk about it.....

Well, I just might enjoy a "workout" with you Indy:biggrin1:

 

[B_Monster]

YES......and I dont want to talk about it.....

Ohhhhh, poor bottom daddy, I hear you've made up for it in bed though


Ive always been atletic, been working out since i was 15yo and that translated into playing sports.

 

[ZOS23xy]

Yes. I had an older brother who often used me for wrestling practice. He was fanatical about it. To this date I think wrestling is a sport for people who want male body contact, but won't admit they're gay or interested, and that goes for all those steroid pumped glandular freaks in the WFF and its ilk.

I can understand people playing football, baseball, but I can't understand why anyone would pound down a bag of chips and a six pack while watching a game.

However, now at my age, I'm slimmer than my brother, much healthier and still hate wrestling--except with women. I saw wood by hand. I do physical work. I work out.

As for baseball--young unccoordinated and near sighted, I was always chosen last. I think someone ought to do a scene in a film where the little dweeby kid takes the bat and slams it down on the toes of the kid who picked him last. Needless to say, I am not a watcher of sports.

 

[DC_DEEP]

Painful memories? No, not really. I was an active, athletic kid, but had no interest at all in "playing ball." Bike riding and hiking were much more interesting for me.

I did try little league baseball one summer. I wasn't an "a-list" kid, so the coach didn't like me, put me in right field, and always gave me really bad batting advice. I had two at-bats and one hit the whole season. Not one single hit to right field, so I never got to actually play any defense.

I did discover later on, though, one of the reasons I had less interest and less abilities for that sort of thing... moderate myopia.

 

[thoreau]

I was always decent in sports but never the star athlete. But that fact did color my current thoughts about sports. In HS I played Football and did fine but during one important game I got asked to bench myself so that BMOC star player could stand in a win the game.

The team rules were to rotate all the player so that everyone got a chance to play. I didn't mind sitting down to let this guy in and help us win, in fact he was a good friend of mine. What bothered me at the time was how easily the coaches seemed to bend the rules simply for the sake of winning.

I knew at the time I wasn't a stellar player but I still would have liked to have had the chance to help my team win the game with the best effort I could give rather than trying to win at the all cost of other players.


It was from then on I realized that sports was centered around winning and losing. Which I can totally understand given its competitive nature. But what I feel is great about sports is simply the competition.

And what I mean by that is that sports in an arena to test yourself against the standards and benchmarks other individuals and teams set. Depending on how well you play the game you can learn something about yourself and then improving upon that make you the better athlete and person which is what I feel is the best part about sports. Winning an Losing I think are only secondary matters and what should be valued in sports and athletics is rewarding the efforts. It ought simply be a fun game to play in the first place anyway.

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

I never liked any sport that involved hard work, of the sports I did practice I was a fair horse rider, a mediocre swimmer and a crappy ice skater.

 

[Industrialsize]

My father Pitched in the minor leagues for the Yankees, my older brother was a star athlete in high school, I threw like a girl,,.......you do the math.

But as an adult I've become a High Altitude Mountaineer, I've been on 5 expeditions in Nepal.....I've climber to 26,385 feet without oxygen.....(and my older star athlete brother, who I love, has become fat and doughy and I look pretty good)

 

[earllogjam]

I was forced to participate in sports that I really didn't much care for by an over zealous father. Little League, basketball, judo were some of them. I actually hated to go to practice because I hated most of the same group of guys that were always on my team. And being a bit on the cubby side did not lend itself well to athletic prowess. It was incredibly boring to me at the time.

It wasn't until I reached high school when I physically developed, lost my baby fat and started swimming that I became a "jock" and a pretty good one which continued in college and after. I enjoy many many more athletic sports now than I ever did in my youth.

 

[canuck_pa]

I was the one in my PE class that was always picked last and I have many painful memories.

Everyone in my extended family played soccer. I didn't want to play and my parents were very cool and supportive but my brothers, uncles and cousins kept bugging me about it. So I joined a team and hated it. I never played very much which was fine by me. In the last game of the season I played like never before. Team members asked why I hadn't played like that all season. They were shocked when I said because I didn't want to. The fact was, I was a good player, I just hated the whole competition thing. I haven't played any sports in a competitive way since.

I couldn't compete with my brothers and didn't want to compete with my cousins. So I did my own thing and went to art school. Again my parents were totally supportive but once again my uncles and aunts were assholes as expected. Again a very tough time for me.

 

[earllogjam]

I wonder if most gay guys were shitty or disinterested in sports when they were younger.

 

[B_Italian1]

I didn't grow up athletic and the memories aren't really painful, but they've stayed with me. I always felt something was missing from my life, and I had some kind of defect lacking athletic ability. My dad wasn't athletic at all, and we never tossed around a ball or went to any kind of games together. When I did go to professional baseball games, it was with the cub scouts. I also went to some football and basketball games, but my dad didn't go and wasn't interested in sports. I can't blame him though. His dad was from Italy and didn't bring him up on sports, so it kind of went from one generation to the next.

I was never on any teams in my town or at school, but I would play sports with my friends in the neighborhood. We'd get together and play baseball in someone's back yard. I wasn't a good hitter and even worse catcher. I hated being in the outfield and having a ball come soaring through the air at me. I'd usually miss it completely. Or catch it and drop it.

Sometimes one of my friends would come by and ask me if I wanted to play baseball. They had only 9 boys and needed one more to even out the teams. That's why I was asked. We'd also play a little football and someone usually had a basketball hoop, but I wasn't good at either one of those sports either.

And I was always picked last or one of the last when choosing teams. It hurt when my best friend was the team captain and he'd choose me last. It happened quite often. He was really good in sports and was in the little league every year. He'd eat over my house, sleep over, and we'd do all kinds of fun things together, but he'd pick me last. I kind of understood his reasoning. After all, you pick the best players first.

I hated phys ed in school, but in high school things changed, and each semester we could choose our sport. I chose vollyball and was really good at serving and not too bad at playing, except when someone spiked me. Track was okay and I played a little tennis, too. I also did fencing.

I was better with one on one or individual sports rather than group sports. And I enjoyed bike riding, swimming, and roller and ice skating. Group sports are not for the non athletically inclined. When you goof, you ruin it for the team, and I didn't want to always be that person.

I remember one time when I was a freshman in high school and we were doing wrestling. I was very small and under 100 lbs at the time. The coach wanted everyone to wrestle, but he couldn't find anyone near my weight. I was kind of relieved and figured I'd get out of it. No such luck. He had me wrestle a boy that weighed a lot more than me. I beat him. It was a good feeling! :smile:

 

[SandraSmithCarver]

Does anyone else have painful memories of growing up not being athletic? My dad never showed me how to throw or catch a ball I was surrounded by girls in my neighborhood. I do not act effeminate, but those scars are still with me. Later my dad did pass/catch a football with me.
Still, at school (7th/8th grade) I was always the last one picked for the team in gym. Agony! One time, I finally hit a softball into the outfield. You would think that I would have been elated--but NO, I got to 1st base and stood there on the base and waited and waited. (I was so excited that I did not pay attention to how the play had gone.) So, after a few minutes , I stepped off the base and BAM! The first baseman who was hiding the ball behind him, tagged me out. What a bummer!
In HS, I met lots of guys and we played touch football which I really liked! (We called it, "pass and tap")
Anyone else have such painful memories to share so I don't feel like a complete doofus?

Awe,, im so sorry, thats so sad. I wasn't athletic growing up, but im a girl, but, i was chubby, had red hair and freckle and was painfully shy- it hurt for years,, i guess as i get older and share with other people,, it's a non-issue now, all you can do is love the lttle boy inside of you! that will heal you

 

[alex8.5]

Other than swim and track I had no use for sports. But I never considered myself a star athlete, I was just a fast runner and swimmer. No bad memories.

 

[Primal_Savage]

I was a swimmer in H.S. and college. Prior to that I was in age group swimming from the age 4. As opposed to not being on teams, I can identify with what you said Italian1: "When you goof, you ruin it for the team, and I didn't want to always be that person." I could win my qualifyings and go on...but if I didn't take the 1st place ribbon or medal, it was always my fault...I let the coach down, I let my teammates down, I let my parents down.....gawd, looking back I'm surprised that I wasn't accused of letting my dog down. Maybe I was....after years of hearing those same lines over and over maybe I just got to the point where I was desensitized. Remarks like these from fellow teammates are bad enough, but to hear such things repeatedly from family members and close friends really hurt.

In previous threads, I've mentioned how, not out of curiousity or wanting to experiment, but in a drunken stupor my freshman year in college, I submitted to 2 seniors on my college team following the team's final party. I've often wondered if my switch and first sexual encounter, not with one guy but with two, was in a way related to a feeling of final acceptance by guys that I had looked up to and admired, in spite of nasty remarks about my times, lack of trying hard enough, and letting the team down.

 

[B_Italian1]

In previous threads, I've mentioned how, not out of curiousity or wanting to experiment, but in a drunken stupor my freshman year in college, I submitted to 2 seniors on my college team following the team's final party. I've often wondered if my switch and first sexual encounter, not with one guy but with two, was in a way related to a feeling of final acceptance by guys that I had looked up to and admired, in spite of nasty remarks about my times, lack of trying hard enough, and letting the team down.

Do you feel you were raped or for lack of another word, date raped?

 

[Primal_Savage]

Do you feel you were raped or for lack of another word, date raped?

By today's standards, definitely. Lasting effect? Perhaps, cause I can't say that I've really understood what LOVE is all about or experienced it outside my immediate family. Without recanting what I've said in previous threads, I was at a complete loss with regard to telling anyone. Coach? No.... School Officials? No... Priest? No.... Parents? No

 

[SpeedoMike]

sports = :raincloud: