Is there a sport out there for me?
To be honest, I have always been a little jealous
of my more athletic friends. Ever since I was a little kid I was never very good at sports. I couldn’t do a single push up or chin up in gym class . By Junior High School (aka middle school these days), I realized that gym class was going to be the death of me so I signed up for the Science Lab instead (which got me out of gym 90% of the time!)
My first attempt at skiing was also my last. I couldn’t stop and once I was down I was like that sad commercial – I’d fallen and I couldn’t get up. What made matters worse (in regards to skiing) is that my parents were both skiers, they met on the ski slopes, and my dad was a former instructor.
My parents tried to encourage me to join a team sport. I had no strength whatsoever so baseball/softball wasn’t going to be my sport. Also, it didn’t help that I was afraid of catching the ball . . . with my face.
I didn’t have a “killer instinct” to protect the ball so basketball wasn’t going to be my sport either. Plus there are just too many rules. (Personally I LOVE to travel and don’t see why it’s a foul!) Ironically it is THE FAVORITE sport played by both of my kids and husband and whenever Mom plays there is a whole set of "special rules" just for me.
As for speed, let’s just say that I wasn’t going to join a track team or any other team sport that required me to move very quickly. In high school I remember taking a volleyball class and injuring my wrist on the first day. So I kept looking. Handball was about the only sport that I managed to play before I graduated high school. I wasn't very good at it but I played once in a while when I was "hangin' out" with my friends and someone desperately needed a doubles partner!
In college I signed up for tennis which I really enjoyed at first. In fact, I thought TENNIS was going to become “my sport.” I learned how to hold the racquet, had a decent swing, and a pretty good serve too. I passed Beginning tennis with ease and immediately signed up for Intermediate Tennis. This was the mistake! Turns out they (the instructors) wanted me to actually move around the court with a sense of urgency (as in “Dawn, you need to go after the ball – don’t wait for it to come to you!). Unlike beginning tennis where everyone was just learning the mechanics of the game, intermediate tennis was actually, well, tennis! I’d like to blame my bad knees for killing my tennis dreams but the truth is I just didn’t like to “hustle” for anything, except perhaps a one-hour sample sale in NYC.
Still, I had hoped that someday I’d find a sport that worked for me. One day last spring it came to me. GOLF! It seemed like a perfect fit. No running required. No uniforms to look fat or uncomfortable in. Everyone described it as “relaxing” and “laid back.” A sport that would let me play at my own pace? Hmm. When I saw the ad for Women’s Golf Lessons being offered at a local driving range I thought it was a sign. It was a sign alright – I just think I might have misinterpreted it.
I registered for a 4 week group lesson and was pretty excited about it. I bought a couple of new clubs and headed to the driving range for my group lessons. All the other women seemed equally excited. They were all married (like me) and had husbands that played the game (NOT like me). I approached the class with confidence. I mean it’s just a little ball that I take a swing at, right? I’m the “Queen” of mini golf. Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner!
After the first lesson I walked away totally dejected. I sucked at GOLF! I’d like to blame it on the fact that I’m left handed but my brother is a lefty too and he’s a pretty good golfer – Damn him!
By week two I had shaken off the bad vibes from the first lesson and had a fresh attitude. It was too sunny the first week. This day was over-cast so I would probably “see” the ball better. I did actually hit the ball well . . . TWICE. Of course hitting it well only two times out of sixty isn’t great but they were my last two shots. Perhaps I was finally getting this sport. I even returned to the driving range for a second time that week – alone – just to practice. I bought a bucket of ball and thought I’d practice what I’d learned. Let’s just say that things didn’t go too well and I was glad that I was the only one there at the time. It was a little breezy that day and my hair kept blowing in my eyes so I figured THAT was the reason I didn’t hit the ball too well.
Week three arrived and I was pumped up! I bought myself a cute little golf visor (to correct the hair issue) and a glove (I have no clue what the heck the glove was for but it matched the hat so I bought it!) Sadly my success rate did not drastically increase during this lesson. I made decent contact with the ball more often than not but with absolutely no consistency. There were 8 women in my group and it seemed to me that 7 of them had a bright future in golf. Sadly I was not going to be one of them.
On the day of our final lesson, the instructors started telling the group about the intermediate lessons that were now available to them – off the driving range and onto the golf course itself. If I had any doubt of my golf abilities, things became crystal clear when one of my instructors, Tom, gently pulled me aside and suggested that I might be better off with “private lessons” (instead of the group ones) and should consider starting over. So I failed Golf 101! I was not graduating onto the next level. Nope! Not me! I apparently need a golf tutor!
So the next time you see me with a golf club in my hand it will probably be a putter at the mini-golf course nearby. When it comes to putting, I’m still a superstar! As for me and my future in golf, I’d never say NEVER, but it is pretty clear to me that I lack the natural talent for golf, and I’m not sure I’ll ever have the patience to take lessons (of any kind) again!
Oh well, at least I know how to fish! Is that a sport?
**********************************************************
This post was inspired by the Writer's Worshop over at Mama's Losin' It! The prompt asked “How long until you realized you had no talent or patience for this? Tell the story of trying to learn a new talent or hobby that you only pursued briefly.” Thanks for the idea! To check out more prompts, visit her site.
