I got in the team, (any team you made?)!

[grahamg]

In my school days I made it into the school team playing "rugby union", having previously been a soccer fan/player, (think American football without passing/throwing the ball forward allowed).

I was a bit overweight, and slow around the pitch, but played in the "front row", as a "prop", a position where my physical limitation and lack of speed and fitness could be tolerated in those days.

My teachers must have seen something in me to give me a place, until reaching the first team aged 17/18 years, and eventually made vice captain, (innocent as I was. !). By this time I'd grown a few inches, got fitter, and become a "devastating" back row player/No. 8).

I certainly applied myself, was determined enough, and strong enough to play at this level, and learned from the better players around me, plus excellent and inspiring teachers.

Have you made it into sports teams, maybe whilst not so keen to start with, but gone on to really enjoy the experience, regardless of injuries, (relatively minor I'm glad to say ), and gone on to love the game?

 

[grahamg]

Are there no ball players on the forum, or modest former stars in any sport or endeavour, who gotten themselves picked once upon a time? .

 

[Gary O']

Yeah, I made the teams

Grade school; baseball/football
High school; baseball/football/basketball
College; baseball/tennis/golf

Hung onto trophies for awhile, then they disappeared
Still have some golf trophies in a trunk somewhere....just don't know why

I enjoyed unorganized play better
Less sitting around
Play defense and offense in football
No padding
Just mud
......and beer

 

[grahamg]

Yeah, I made the teams
Grade school; baseball/football
High school; baseball/football/basketball
College; baseball/tennis/golf
Hung onto trophies for awhile, then they disappeared
Still have some golf trophies in a trunk somewhere....just don't know why
I enjoyed unorganized play better
Less sitting around
Play defense and offense in football
No padding
Just mud
......and beer

Happiest days of our lives they say don't they, and it was pretty carefree.
To play baseball and golf you must have had great hand/eye coordination, something that was not my strength, but I think I read the game okay, and had enough strength and determination to stop the real quality players sometimes.
You don't forget when a respected coach or teacher tells you they've admired something you did on the field, or equally when they've fired you up to believe in your ability more.
It wasn't win at all costs in those days, but it was certainly play to win, and knowing how to accept a loss to a better team was part of the process. .

 

[Aneeda72]

I got picked all the time as an “extra” on lots of teams-thank heaven I never got picked to play.

 

[Gary O']

To play baseball and golf you must have had great hand/eye coordination

That's all I had
No speed
Good hands, and plenty of endurance
Just zero speed
Coach mentioned when he saw me run, it reminded him of a diseased yak, struggling to get outa the mud

 

[asp3]

My first attempt to join a sports team came in third grade when I got on a little league team. I had a miserable time on the team. I basically couldn't do anything well. I never followed baseball and neither did my father. He also didn't play catch with me so my catching and throwing skills were horrible.

I did enjoy playing softball with friends around the neighborhood and then later on in a different neighborhood I played tag American football with friends.

The only time I've been on a formal team league was when I joined my wife (girlfriend at the time) on a softball team she played with that was related to the company her sister worked at. We had a lot of fun but I still wasn't very good. We played on the league for three years.

I generally prefer non-team sports, climbing, bicycling, swimming, etc...

 

[Aneeda72]

My first attempt to join a sports team came in third grade when I got on a little league team. I had a miserable time on the team. I basically couldn't do anything well. I never followed baseball and neither did my father. He also didn't play catch with me so my catching and throwing skills were horrible.

I did enjoy playing softball with friends around the neighborhood and then later on in a different neighborhood I played tag American football with friends.

The only time I've been on a formal team league was when I joined my wife (girlfriend at the time) on a softball team she played with that was related to the company her sister worked at. We had a lot of fun but I still wasn't very good. We played on the league for three years.

I generally prefer non-team sports, climbing, bicycling, swimming, etc...

Exactly! I have spent a lot of time perfecting the perfect recliner position in order to watch tv comfortably.

 

[Gary O']

My first attempt to join a sports team came in third grade when I got on a little league team. I had a miserable time on the team. I basically couldn't do anything well. I never followed baseball and neither did my father. He also didn't play catch with me so my catching and throwing skills were horrible.

Reminds me of something a wrote awhile back

....about Dad...and work

(forgive me, grahamg)


I don't think my dad ever played a day in his life.
We got a boat, a large one, a cabin cruiser.
Dad had worked day and night to get it.
Actually he hadn't worked to get it. He worked around the clock no matter what we needed or wanted.
The boat just happened to be the thing that seemed would be enjoyable, for the whole family.
Only every aspect about it was made into work.
Even when we were just cruising up the river,
'Gary, you stand here and watch for dead heads, you know what a dead head is dontcha?
A dead head is a log that is just barely stickin' outta the water...can't see it right away,
but it will tear a hole in the boat, and we'll all drown.'
'OK'

'And tighten that life jacket.'
'OK'

'Watch out for the wakes of other boats. You can get thrown out.'
'OK'

'DON'T TOUCH THAT!!'
'OK'

'Fun, huh?'
'OK'

Years later, I invited Dad to help me knock out a couple buckets of balls at the driving range.
Maybe get him away from his life of toil a bit and relax.
Heh.
He swung so hard at those evasive little dimpled eggs, I thought he'd screw himself into the ground.
After watching him do several pirouettes, half the time falling down,
I came to the conclusion that there was nothing under the sun he didn't work at.
Turns out, he loved work.
And he wanted me to love it too.
His frustration with me was evident when we'd go into the back yard and 'just toss the ol' ball around'.
I had better than average hand/eye coordination, and probably better than average athletic ability, so playing ball came rather easy.
I made it look easy.
No awkward moves.
A bit of flow to things.
He thought I wasn't playing hard enough.
When he caught the ball, or threw it, he'd make a little grunt.
Actually he made that little grunt just picking up the newspaper, or shaving...'See you just take little strokes, ungh, like that, ungh.'
In 'just tossing the ol' ball around', he always had a fixed, determined stare....at the ball, coupled with a grim look,
like he was just sentenced to a life of breaking rocks.
I'd toss it back to him and watch his countenance tighten into a grimace as the ball sailed into his out stretched glove.
If I threw a moderately wild one, and he happened to miss it, he'd scurry back to get it like Peewee Reese was stealing home.
'OK, let's see how your fast ball is doin'.'
'Hey, nice curve, you've got a natural curve ball, boy.'
(my fast ball is goin' so slow he thinks it's a curve ball)
'One more hard one.'
Four hours of 'one more hard one' into the dark of night, three hours after Mom had advised that,
'our #&*%# dinner is getting #&*%# cold', I was given permission to carry my arm inside and plop it on the table.
It was work.
I liked to play.

 

[grahamg]

My first attempt to join a sports team came in third grade when I got on a little league team. I had a miserable time on the team. I basically couldn't do anything well. I never followed baseball and neither did my father. He also didn't play catch with me so my catching and throwing skills were horrible.
I did enjoy playing softball with friends around the neighborhood and then later on in a different neighborhood I played tag American football with friends.
The only time I've been on a formal team league was when I joined my wife (girlfriend at the time) on a softball team she played with that was related to the company her sister worked at. We had a lot of fun but I still wasn't very good. We played on the league for three years.
I generally prefer non-team sports, climbing, bicycling, swimming, etc...

Some of the cleverest kids at my school could not play any sport requiring ball skills well, so they had chess tournaments, or bridge card games tournaments, debating societies, musical events. "Gilbert and Sullivan" that kind of thing, so many opportunities to display their intellectual abilities off well.
However, those of us without those kinds of skills, seemed to carry a certain extra Kudos in the eyes of the headmaster, because "rugger", or "rugby union" was seen as the most prestigious sport for the school to excel in somehow. Therefore when any ball games were being played in fact, the "slowness of thought, and action" of the kids who were near genius's intellectually did give us thicker kids a bit of amusement! .

 

[peppermint]

I was never a sports person in school.. I was a Mom for a girls cheerleaders. .for my daughter's team....Son was Quarterback in High School and College...also Baseball in school...(I was an Ice Skater back in the day)….Until I got hurt...

 

[asp3]

Some of the cleverest kids at my school could not play any sport requiring ball skills well, so they had chess tournaments, or bridge card games tournaments, debating societies, musical events. "Gilbert and Sullivan" that kind of thing, so many opportunities to display their intellectual abilities off well.
However, those of us without those kinds of skills, seemed to carry a certain extra Kudos in the eyes of the headmaster, because "rugger", or "rugby union" was seen as the most prestigious sport for the school to excel in somehow. Therefore when any ball games were being played in fact, the "slowness of thought, and action" of the kids who were near genius's intellectually did give us thicker kids a bit of amusement! .

I was often the last or close to the last to being picked for teams during PE classes in high school. However my lack of skills sometimes worked well for the team I was on especially when we were playing flag football (American.) Since I wasn't perceived as a threat I often wasn't covered on offense or defense. So sometimes I'd be able to run through the defense and pull the flag of the quarterback sending the ball back to that point for the next down. I'd also be able to run out for a pass uncovered (because my catching skills weren't much of a threat) and in desperation our quarterback could throw the ball towards me because no one was around me.

 

[Gary O']

Dad had a brief boxing career

He thought I should take up the sport

....at an early age;


Got into it in my teen years

Turns out, due to my sloth of foot, my greatest strength was letting my opponent beat me about the head until he got tired

 

[grahamg]

I used the tactic of allowing my opponent to beat me around the head during a "pillow fighting contest", (one where grown men tried to sit on a round pole during the bout. !).

I got to the final, but the punishment told, and my inability to dodge the opponents swing eventually told, (I came back to win the " wellie throwing contest" however, one of my proudest achievements. ).

 

[Keesha]

A team? Yeah loads of them cause I’m such a team player.

 

[grahamg]

A team? Yeah loads of them cause I’m such a team player.

I'd say you are too, though we've never met. .

I'm guessing too, you would be the quiet, shy one in the team either. !

 

[Keesha]

I'd say you are too, though we've never met. .

I'm guessing too, you would be the quiet, shy one in the team either. !

Nooooo! Really. Unless I absolutely HAD to, team sports and games isn’t something I’d be interested in and ‘yes’ I actually ‘would be’ the shy one but closer to the one not there.

 

[grahamg]

Nooooo! Really. Unless I absolutely HAD to, team sports and games isn’t something I’d be interested in and ‘yes’ I actually ‘would be’ the shy one but closer to the one not there.

Well you foxed me there, but I'm not having this guff about being a shy retiring type! .

Think I'd have to ask for a second opinion on that one, though no team player you say? "What not ever"?, (that must be virtually impossible I'd have thought?)

 

[grahamg]

I was never a sports person in school.. I was a Mom for a girls cheerleaders. .for my daughter's team....Son was Quarterback in High School and College...also Baseball in school...(I was an Ice Skater back in the day)….Until I got hurt...

All great times and memories I'm guessing, except the falling down on the ice bit !

 

[peppermint]

All great times and memories I'm guessing, except the falling down on the ice bit !

I can tell you more, but what da heck....I can right a book!! Be Well ...♥