The great lesson of sports
Many are talking about the World Series games going on right now, as you will see in your local newspapers, blogs, websites, and Facebook postings. I don't put anyone down for that. It's all in good fun, just like my election comments during the debates. Ha ha ha ... But whenever I think of sports (which is few and far between), I tend to think of my high school years. It was just an example of what life would be like later on. If only I knew that way back when.
Although I could probably write a library about my (or anyone's) high school experiences, at some point, I was in the mood to do something athletic. I'm not sure what brought this on, it was something that I don't really approach these days save for the general workouts that one is forced to keep their weight down with after a certain point. I didn't want to be, never would I be consider "A Jock". Mostly because most guys I encountered at the time (and still do) were very open or closeted jocks, who love to talk about games and tactics and salaries and trading and whatever else goes on in that world. When they are not playing or watching said sport, they are usually wearing a team jersey or something like that. I guess there's nothing wrong with it, why would it be wrong? Girls who achieve in sports is something fairly new. Probably the most noteworthy, to me, are the women who win tennis matches. But the biggest jock at my high school (in my class, that is) was so obviously gay it was almost hysterical. She was changing tires, lecturing others on the benefits of golf, and boasting about how much she could bench press as early as the 10th grade. But I digress ...
I decided that since I was going to be doing this, I would find a team sport to play on. Springtime rolled around, and I decided to sign up for lacrosse. What possessed me to do this, I will never know, other than the gym requirement I had to meet, and this seemed a big more dignified than actually being a part of gym class. Since I was still a fairly ambitious person at this point, I also decided that I should find the certain job aspect that no one wanted to do and then do it. So I choose to be the goalie, because just about everyone else was afraid to do it. And it is a fearful job, as you are the last man between the goal net to gain the point and all eyes are on you to perform to your utmost ability. There was a supply of necessary protective equipment in the locker room, so I picked them out, following the guide provided as to what goes where and how to keep it on one's body. Was I a good goalie? I was alright, looking back. I tried hard, I took the punishments, but I think I was a bit too dependant on the abilities of the others in the field to keep the ball, in fact, as far away from me as possible. The only thing that sticks out in my mind was playing one game where the ref looked like Liza Minelli (haircut and all in her glory days).
There were a two major things that bothered me about this experience, one was the fact that I had to be trained by the senior goalie. A rather uptight, bitchy blond with a snarly mouth and a weird attitude was always harping at me. When my sophomore year season came to fruition, a freshman came on also wanting to be goalie. The freshman goalie really was a talented athlete, and the senior goalie saw her as my athletic and intellectual superior. I adapted a passive role with her, just not bothering to give her much but my presence and my being the beta, it really didn't have much to do with me after all. After surviving one of the senior goalie's screaming sessions at me about how stupid I was and how unprepared she was to work under these conditions, she talked to one of the coaches about her plight. It was then that I let my inner dragon out for once, leaning into her with every foul word I'd ever heard (and another one of the bitchy girls who happened to make said comments). Perhaps I hurt someone's feelings, mine were hurt enough.
The other factor was the choosing of the varsity verses the junior varsity teams. In order to be on the varsity team, one does not have to be the best athlete, but rather the more socially superior or popular individual. One year, the coaches put all the bitchy mean girls on the varsity team while me and the others were placed in JV. That year, varsity ended up laying a big, fat goose egg and the JVs were undefeated that season. What was wrong with this picture? What was wrong was the fact that they had put all the really talented people on the wrong team and they were being pitted against the opposites from whatever team they were being faced with that day. They said they weren't being motivated correctly. And, of course, since the senior goalie was among said group, she was on the varsity team while I was languishing on the JVs. I wish I could say I remembered more about these games, I saw a bit of action of course, not like I was just standing there doing nothing the entire time. But I do remember seeing our varsity goalie flinching every time the ball went her way, and that's why the other team was winning against them.
My senior year, the final semester's gym credit was waved for the spring if we wished to take part in it. Senior year was kind of a strange year academically as well as socially, where it was more or less about riding out the ending with electives and busy work, then we were graduating. I don't blame anyone for this, it was just how the cards fell. Since I was given this option, I choose to take it. I ran into another gal who was in the same boat as me, it was a week before lacrosse season was to start. She was a good athlete as well who was on the JV team with me the year before, I asked her if she was going to play in another week. She said no, she was going to wave that last gym credit as well. I said I was doing the same. We were never friends where we could confide things to one another, but I read something unspoken in her eyes that said "I know the truth", and that was that.
I figured after this was over with, that life would go on for the best. I figured that in the adult world that people would get the things they wanted by their merits or good qualities, but that turned out to be a lie as well. The popularity contest does not seem to be stopping, but that's secondary to how people really get ahead, which is to lie, cheat, throw tantrums and weasel their way into things. The back stabbing is really a horror story, political correctness is beyond anything. Instead we paved the way for others to do nothing, get credit, and have hard working skills be rewarded with a pat on the head rather than a real reward. But that, like everything else, is another story ...
Although I could probably write a library about my (or anyone's) high school experiences, at some point, I was in the mood to do something athletic. I'm not sure what brought this on, it was something that I don't really approach these days save for the general workouts that one is forced to keep their weight down with after a certain point. I didn't want to be, never would I be consider "A Jock". Mostly because most guys I encountered at the time (and still do) were very open or closeted jocks, who love to talk about games and tactics and salaries and trading and whatever else goes on in that world. When they are not playing or watching said sport, they are usually wearing a team jersey or something like that. I guess there's nothing wrong with it, why would it be wrong? Girls who achieve in sports is something fairly new. Probably the most noteworthy, to me, are the women who win tennis matches. But the biggest jock at my high school (in my class, that is) was so obviously gay it was almost hysterical. She was changing tires, lecturing others on the benefits of golf, and boasting about how much she could bench press as early as the 10th grade. But I digress ...
I decided that since I was going to be doing this, I would find a team sport to play on. Springtime rolled around, and I decided to sign up for lacrosse. What possessed me to do this, I will never know, other than the gym requirement I had to meet, and this seemed a big more dignified than actually being a part of gym class. Since I was still a fairly ambitious person at this point, I also decided that I should find the certain job aspect that no one wanted to do and then do it. So I choose to be the goalie, because just about everyone else was afraid to do it. And it is a fearful job, as you are the last man between the goal net to gain the point and all eyes are on you to perform to your utmost ability. There was a supply of necessary protective equipment in the locker room, so I picked them out, following the guide provided as to what goes where and how to keep it on one's body. Was I a good goalie? I was alright, looking back. I tried hard, I took the punishments, but I think I was a bit too dependant on the abilities of the others in the field to keep the ball, in fact, as far away from me as possible. The only thing that sticks out in my mind was playing one game where the ref looked like Liza Minelli (haircut and all in her glory days).
There were a two major things that bothered me about this experience, one was the fact that I had to be trained by the senior goalie. A rather uptight, bitchy blond with a snarly mouth and a weird attitude was always harping at me. When my sophomore year season came to fruition, a freshman came on also wanting to be goalie. The freshman goalie really was a talented athlete, and the senior goalie saw her as my athletic and intellectual superior. I adapted a passive role with her, just not bothering to give her much but my presence and my being the beta, it really didn't have much to do with me after all. After surviving one of the senior goalie's screaming sessions at me about how stupid I was and how unprepared she was to work under these conditions, she talked to one of the coaches about her plight. It was then that I let my inner dragon out for once, leaning into her with every foul word I'd ever heard (and another one of the bitchy girls who happened to make said comments). Perhaps I hurt someone's feelings, mine were hurt enough.
The other factor was the choosing of the varsity verses the junior varsity teams. In order to be on the varsity team, one does not have to be the best athlete, but rather the more socially superior or popular individual. One year, the coaches put all the bitchy mean girls on the varsity team while me and the others were placed in JV. That year, varsity ended up laying a big, fat goose egg and the JVs were undefeated that season. What was wrong with this picture? What was wrong was the fact that they had put all the really talented people on the wrong team and they were being pitted against the opposites from whatever team they were being faced with that day. They said they weren't being motivated correctly. And, of course, since the senior goalie was among said group, she was on the varsity team while I was languishing on the JVs. I wish I could say I remembered more about these games, I saw a bit of action of course, not like I was just standing there doing nothing the entire time. But I do remember seeing our varsity goalie flinching every time the ball went her way, and that's why the other team was winning against them.
My senior year, the final semester's gym credit was waved for the spring if we wished to take part in it. Senior year was kind of a strange year academically as well as socially, where it was more or less about riding out the ending with electives and busy work, then we were graduating. I don't blame anyone for this, it was just how the cards fell. Since I was given this option, I choose to take it. I ran into another gal who was in the same boat as me, it was a week before lacrosse season was to start. She was a good athlete as well who was on the JV team with me the year before, I asked her if she was going to play in another week. She said no, she was going to wave that last gym credit as well. I said I was doing the same. We were never friends where we could confide things to one another, but I read something unspoken in her eyes that said "I know the truth", and that was that.
I figured after this was over with, that life would go on for the best. I figured that in the adult world that people would get the things they wanted by their merits or good qualities, but that turned out to be a lie as well. The popularity contest does not seem to be stopping, but that's secondary to how people really get ahead, which is to lie, cheat, throw tantrums and weasel their way into things. The back stabbing is really a horror story, political correctness is beyond anything. Instead we paved the way for others to do nothing, get credit, and have hard working skills be rewarded with a pat on the head rather than a real reward. But that, like everything else, is another story ...
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