Athletics – The Whole Story

Most of us feel the need to paint ourselves in the most favorable light. I’m the same way. But earlier today I was getting ready to go out skiing and my mind wandered back to my athletic activities in high school and college.

I’m fairly athletic but not outstanding. I think that as I’ve aged I’ve maintained well because I stay physically active. I enjoy getting out in nature and working up a sweat. It feels good physically and mentally.

In jr. high I only did intramural sports. I wasn’t good enough to play on the basketball team and that was the only organized team our catholic school had. In high school I played football all 4 years and track & field 3 years. I was co-captain of my JV Football team and co-captain of the Track team. In college I played one year on the rugby team and then founded the college ultimate frisbee team.

These sound like fairly  respectable accomplishments but in my mind, I know that this is putting the best spin on things.

Take football.  I played on the freshman team and JV team my first two years. This is pretty normal. But during junior year most players move up the the varsity team. I didn’t. I was pretty fast with good hands but I wasn’t big enough or strong enough to play at the varsity level.  Coach told me that I would do better on the JV team and would get more playing time.  I had a brother who was a year younger on the JV team and we were pretty close. I was also close with many of his friends. This made the sting of being “held back” a little easier to accept.  The highlight of the year was that I was named co-captain. The fact that I was a junior while they were all sophomores gave me a reason to stand out.  I have mentioned being captain of the team a number of times in my life. I don’t think that I have ever brought up the story behind it.

I could tell a similar story about high school track.  Points are earned for finishing in the top places at track meets. If you earn 10 points then you get a varsity letter.  I participated like normal my freshman and sophomore years but I never earned any points.  My junior year I was not allowed to join because I was caught streaking and kicked off the team. That another story!!  My senior year I was voted co-captain but I only earned a few points. Not even enough to earn my letter! But on the official posting outside coaches office I was automatically given 10 points (I assume this was because I was captain but I was too embarrassed to go and ask him.)

(Paul Harvey voice)

And now you know the rest of the story

P.S.   I think that being voted captain reflects more on my effort and team leadership than it does on any great physical skill. I’ll have to take it for what it is and live with it.  But if the subject comes up in conversation in the future I’m sure I’ll be more likely to mention the captaincy highlights than the performance low points.