True confessions time: who failed gym in high school and went on to exercise regularly? I admit I failed gym in high school because I would 'forget' to go. I ended up taking a summer class to make up for it.
Yesterday I was at the gym talking to two women probably in their late 70s or early 80s. One said she flunked gym in high school and had to take it again in college. She wanted to take fencing (because it was like dancing) and was forced to take field hockey I think. She hated field hockey so she failed it.
I ended up telling them about the John F Kennedy physical fitness test. They did not know about it at all. I told them we had to run the 50 yard dash, the 600 yard run, and the standing broad jump. They were appalled. They never had to do anything like that.
We were all generally amused by our previous lack of interest in gym class and how we all go to the gym regularly. We never ended up talking about gym suits but I think their experiences with them were probably just as awful.
In elementary school, gym was fun. Except when I had to play soft ball because I could never hit the ball. Even when the gym teacher slow pitched to me over and over again. Today the gym at my elementary school is being dedicated to Jim Banks who was the best gym teacher ever.
So did you fail gym? Forced exercise was never fun.
1 comment:
Field hockey. Agonizing and humiliating; I had severe asthma and COULD not compete, but that was gym class and that's what we did. I don't remember why I couldn't have had an exemption––it's been 60 years––but the "C" wrecked my 4.0 grade average. Now I swim in the outdoor pool at the gym three times a week, and walk two miles a day another three days.
Your softball story reminded me (humiliation again) not only of my inability to hit the ball, but of basketball being my downfall; I literally tripped over my own feet. No nostalgia for high school days here.
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