Sporty?

I have never been in any way sporty, I am clumsy with poor coordination. Those things rarely help you play sport well. But I’m nothing if not a trier and so have attempted most things.

Childhood

I wasn’t good at ball sport, though played netball, hockey and tennis at school because it was required. No one wanted me in any team though, I wasn’t fast and as I said above I’m poorly coordinated. But I loved trampolining, which I did in the evenings for a year or so when I was about 10. I’d have carried on but my dad had to take me in the car and that proved difficult.

My favourite sporting activity was and still is swimming. I have always favoured breast stroke and for a while I was faster than most. I even won a couple of times in the school swimming gala. But to be good you need to practice and that proved my downfall. So I stuck to swimming for pleasure. I hated running, I was no good at it and couldn’t see the point of doing it for it’s own sake. My friend and I used school cross country to walk and catch up on gossip.

Adulthood

Once I left school I stoppped all sporting activity other than swimming. Which I continuted. We had a pool in the basement of our nurses home and I used that quite frequently. I walked a lot and ran for buses and trains if needed. But otherwise I was too busy working, learning and having fun for exercise.

The first time I thought about doing any sport or exercise for fitness was when Iwas in my 20’s and joined an aerobic class with a friend. Iwas already married by then and we felt like we should do something together after work. It was a social event as much as anything. Even when she dropped out I still went, though I didn’t enjoy it as such. I am very much a clock watcher doing the exercises because I feel I should rather than because I want to. The music was great though and there are certain tracks from the late 80’s and early 90’s that immmediately transport me back to those days.

Most of the exercise I got when my son was small came from chasing him. Or else taking he and his cousins out and about. It wasn’t until my 40’s that I thought about keeping fit again. I joined a slimming club that also offered a half hour keep fit session. I also bought exercise videos and did them at home. Finally we bought a Wii and I got a balance board and used it to exercise. Again I didn’t exactly enjoy it, but felt good that I was doing something.

TV sport

My ex is an avid watcher of sport on TV. I swear he will watch anything where a ball or someone running is involved. I don’t mind watching it myself, but prefer bigger events such as the olympics or world cup football to mundane every day matches. It did get fed up when Sundays involved back to back football matches from lunch to dinner.

Luckily, Master is not a big tv sport addict. He prefers the big events and cricket. But that’s another subject entirely. I don’t mind watching since my dad used to play and my formative years were spent by the side of a cricket pitch. Often in all weathers despite it only being played in summer.

Now

My main sources of exercise are walking and swimming. I go to the pool once a week and walk there and back, even in the rain. Other days I try to walk somewhere even if it’s just to the shops. Lately I’ve walked much less. I swear thus past couple of months have been the wettest in a long while. It feels like it has rained most days so I’ve become a bit lax. I’m looking forward to better weather so I can walk more.

When we travel we also walk a lot. Exploring new towns and countryside is fun and rewarding. Since meeting Master I’ve been to so many new places and seen so much of those places. I’m worried we won’t be able to do the things we have planned this year. We have trips planned that might not be able to happen. If that is the case then I hope we can find some nice places to walk and explore more locally. But we’ll see.

So that’s me. Not a lover of taking part in most sport. But someone who tries stuff and sticks at it because it is good for me or social or both.