Non-Athlete

I have never pursued a career in teaching because, as much as I love English and History, I have never been sure that I could teach the same books every year for 25 years, over and over again. That's one of the things I love about subbing: I've been a librarian, a Math teacher, a band director, a social studies teacher... and today... today I was a PE coach for 3rd thru 5th graders.

Now, let me tell you this: I didn't like PE when I was IN elementary school, and my experience today confirmed that it is still not the place for me. I watched in horror as the 4th graders got into push-up position and told to stay there as long as they could. My mind reeled as I pictured myself in that same position so many years ago, terrified that I might go down sooner than the fat kid (yeah, that's right, I'm not feeling politically correct today). And when the awkward, early developing fifth grade girls came up to me and asked to go/escape to the bathroom, I looked knowingly into their eyes and fought the urge to tell them to stay as long as they pleased.

And it's absolutely true that childhood obesity is a problem. I observed today that there are more overweight children than "normal-sized," but even the urge to keep them healthy hardly combatted my need to shelter them from being the last person picked for kickball, the first person pegged in dodgeball. I watched one volleyball team, stacked with kids that have been playing club ball since they cut their teeth, dominate a team of what we'll call Lindseys. I wanted to say, "Hey girls, don't sweat it, there's a team out there with your name on it, and you get to wear a cute uniform with matching ribbon!"

That said, I would've fought you tooth and nail in high school that cheerleading is a sport. And I still stand firm that cheerleaders work hard, very hard. I lived and breathed for it. But we Wildcat Cheerios were hardly having a tough time deciding between cleats and pom-poms. And there's rarely a swing and miss when you're throwing your best friend up in a basket toss and catching her in a cradle.

This took an unexpected turn into my thoughts on cheering... but the moral of the story is: I don't care for sports where balls fly at my head (i.e. anything outside of cheering, golf, swimming...), and my heart goes out to all the little non-athletes out there. Press on, kiddos. You only have a few more years before you can opt out of those pesky phys ed classes.