I never considered myself much of an athlete. Rewind a little bit to 6th grade where all the preppy girls wore their white volleyball t-shirts with little tails in the back made with pony-tail holders because they thought it made them look skinnier. I could run pretty fast, but with the 20 minute commute to school I wasn't allowed to participate in most extracurriculars. My parents made that mistake once and weren't going to make it again.
I played soccer for one season in third grade. And I loved it. Even the time when we played in the mud right after the rain, or the time we had to play so early in the morning (on a Saturday, much to my parents' dismay) that our legs were frozen stiff. There was something about the sport that just got me fired up.
Sports were even less attractive to our family once we started homeschooling--not because of any commute (by this time, I felt like my parents were willing to make more of these types of sacrifices since Mom was no longer working) but because of the hoops we had to jump through in order to participate on school teams. But I got my "fix" on Fridays at home school P.E. Soccer, of course, was always my favorite. But, as time went on, the boys got faster than me, and I started to pursue other interests, like art. Eventually, I like most of the older high school students, dropped out of P.E.
By the time I actually considered playing soccer (either on a school team, or with a club) it was my Junior year of high school and two things held me back.
1. If I played on a school team, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up with girls who had been playing all their lives. What good would my piddly little single season of soccer in elementary school do for me? Nothing.
2. My schedule could not handle the amount of time required for practices and games, due to my recent enrollment in CollegePlus and the addition of college-level work to my studies.
So, soccer sat on the shelf for a little while. But now... Now that school is over, I finally have more time to be more active and pursue soccer again. So that's why I started training for the 5K and playing soccer on Thursdays through Meetups. And guess what! I really really love it! A girl from Meetups invited me to play on her indoor team and last weekend I had my first soccer practice in ten years!! Today is the first game! I am so excited! It's been so fun buying new soccer gear and practicing in the backyard when it's cool enough.
I never considered myself an athlete, but maybe I'm turning into one after all...
I played soccer for one season in third grade. And I loved it. Even the time when we played in the mud right after the rain, or the time we had to play so early in the morning (on a Saturday, much to my parents' dismay) that our legs were frozen stiff. There was something about the sport that just got me fired up.
Sports were even less attractive to our family once we started homeschooling--not because of any commute (by this time, I felt like my parents were willing to make more of these types of sacrifices since Mom was no longer working) but because of the hoops we had to jump through in order to participate on school teams. But I got my "fix" on Fridays at home school P.E. Soccer, of course, was always my favorite. But, as time went on, the boys got faster than me, and I started to pursue other interests, like art. Eventually, I like most of the older high school students, dropped out of P.E.
By the time I actually considered playing soccer (either on a school team, or with a club) it was my Junior year of high school and two things held me back.
1. If I played on a school team, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up with girls who had been playing all their lives. What good would my piddly little single season of soccer in elementary school do for me? Nothing.
2. My schedule could not handle the amount of time required for practices and games, due to my recent enrollment in CollegePlus and the addition of college-level work to my studies.
So, soccer sat on the shelf for a little while. But now... Now that school is over, I finally have more time to be more active and pursue soccer again. So that's why I started training for the 5K and playing soccer on Thursdays through Meetups. And guess what! I really really love it! A girl from Meetups invited me to play on her indoor team and last weekend I had my first soccer practice in ten years!! Today is the first game! I am so excited! It's been so fun buying new soccer gear and practicing in the backyard when it's cool enough.
I never considered myself an athlete, but maybe I'm turning into one after all...
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