Archive for June, 2009

My own interest/participation in sports began in 4th grade. The flyers were passed around to play basketball and I was tall so needless to say – I was basically drug into the center of the hardwood. I played softball, I played volleyball, I played flag football (and later contact football without pads cuz you know, why waste pads on girls?),I played soccer,I played field hockey,I played kickball,I ran track and did field events.
It was something to do.
My father had been a king jock in school, so you probably imagine that he’d have been a driving force in my participation in so many activities. You’d be dead wrong.
I suppose that having a girl was a disappointment to a man who had been on the high school championship team of every sport he ever touched.
Now he showed up to my games, don’t get me wrong. But unlike a SON who might go outside to hit some balls or practice with their old man, I got nothing. My mom was of the “girls take home-ec” generation so she too was of no help.
He did give me his old baseball glove from high school. So I suppose I can’t say that he completely didn’t participate. Oh – and he took me to a sporting goods store to buy a NEW glove when he figured out that I wasn’t left handed and wearing his glove didn’t work so well for me.

It wasn’t all bad. Not having any guidance into sports in some ways left me unhindered and free to do things that I wasn’t supposed to be able to do. Such as – switch hit. No one ever explained to me that I was supposed to be better at hitting on one side or the other. So, not paying attention, I’d just stand on whichever side that was better for the sun in my eyes. No lie. I could hit really well too.

But not having that guidance is probably what also caused me to quit sports when I had a knee injury in middle school. There I was, a full scale jock girl and I had this knee problem – and guess what. No one cared, no one was really INTERESTED in me being an athlete.

So I quit.

I needed surgery on a knee (still do BTW and I’m 40) and instead I bagged it and went on to things that didn’t require running, sliding, jumping or kicking. I’m not really SORRY because I still kept extremely active and busy but on those days when I have trouble getting up and down out of chairs I wonder if I wouldn’t be healthier and more fit if someone had CARED how much I loved sports.

If my Dad had cared more.

Title IX lets girls play sports, but it takes real support from real people they love and respect to make it matter to them in ways that impact their lives positively. “Letting Girls Play Sports” is fairly sad anyway, but that’s another post entirely now isn’t it?

So here I am at the experienced and bitter age of 40 on a sports blog – so why am I such a sports nut? Why do I DIG football? Why do I love the NBA?

Cuz I discovered in my 20s that sports talk was an excellent, non-threatening way to talk to guys. That’s right – I learned the ineligible receiver rule to facilitate my ability to get laid.

Please, like you men never did anything as silly as that.

Happy Father’s Day to all the real men out there, who encourage both their son’s AND their daughter’s sports inclinations.