A Sports Story

When we were very young, it was all about playing tag or hide-and-seek, simple games like that.   As we got a little older, we had the roller skates that attached to your shoes with a key to tighten them.   We also took swimming lessons in the summer and of course rode our bikes everywhere.   Lots and lots of play time.   Sledding, some ice skating, playing arrow hunt with the neighbor kids on summer nights.   Badminton in the back yard.   Dodge ball in PE class.   

When does all of that become "sports" and trying to be good at something?   I have never really had the competitive spirit, except sometimes as a spectator.   I would like to be good at some sports-type activity, but it seems I never wanted it badly enough to work hard enough.   And I guess I am okay with that.   

I didn't like softball as a kid.   I liked swimming but beyond being an average swimmer for fun, I never aspired to take it to another level.   I've enjoyed bike riding in my life, but besides a period of time in the Bay Area when I would go for 20-25 mile rides, it was never something I wanted to pursue as a sport.   I liked tennis well enough to take some lessons.   That fell by the wayside too.   I took a windsurfing class and got a certification.   It was hard and a lot of effort for not enough fun....at least for me.   I never went again.   I went through a scuba diving course and the necessary dives in Monterey Bay (where the water is 55 degrees year round).   I was certified and bought some gear.   I never went scuba diving again.   In my 20's and 30's,  I did some snow skiing with friends.   We did trips to Utah and Tahoe and other places.   It was very social.   But I had a little fear of the downhill speeds and couldn't get past the basics to be very good at it.   Again, a lot of gear and a lot of effort for something I didn't love.   

I did a lot of hiking and backpacking when I lived in Arizona.   I always enjoyed that, even when it was really hard.   I'm not sure it's a sport but it was a very healthy thing to be involved with.   With my boyfriend at the time, we also did river rafting and I tried kayaking.   I went ATV riding with friends once or twice.   I had a wreck and feel traumatized to this day about going off the edge of that downhill road.

Other things I tried?    Volleyball.   Archery, in high school.   Bowling.   Fencing, in college.   I tried to jog.   Definitely not for me.   

Sounds like a long list when you write it all down.   And it brings me to horseback riding.   I loved riding horses when I was a young girl.   I still love riding horses.   And I take lessons to try to improve because I want to be a better rider and feel that sense of accomplishment.   I don't aspire to show my horse and I also don't aspire to be a great Grand Prix rider.   But I aspire to be better and better and more confident than I am today.   That is a process like any sport, and it takes time and commitment.   So maybe I've finally found it.   Or maybe it was there all along.   I absolutely love horses and they fill a part of my soul, plain and simple.   Maybe I just needed a sport that involved a living/breathing animal with a personality instead of a piece of equipment.   

Summer of 1969

  

Summer of 2010