team sportsaphobia

It all started in fifth grade, one dreary morning at recess when the gym teacher decided it was a good day for forced participation in kickball. I begrudgingly left my post as the official girl’s line dancing teacher (self-appointed), and headed to the field. Team captains were assigned, and they chose their team members, of course, in order of athletic ability. Not surprisingly, I was one of the last ones chosen – along with a host of other awkward eleven-year-old girls.

When it was my turn at the plate, I kicked the ball and ran the bases as the ball dribbled through the infield. Safe at first. Whew! Just when I was beginning to think, “This kickball thing isn’t so bad,” it was my team’s turn in the field – the Field of Disaster. FOD, if you will. They put me in right field, also known as The Position of Exile and Shame. I made it through the first couple of kids without having to do anything, as all the while a giant knot was forming in my gut due to the anticipation of my inevitable athletic doom.

And then it happened – I saw the ball flying high in the air and coming right at me. I panicked, tried to brace myself for the blow of the giant ball that was careening toward me, closed my eyes, and held out my arms. It hit me hard in the stomach and bounced off, leaving me scrambling to pick it up and get it out of my hands as quickly as possible. And then, I heard a chorus of eleven-year-old boys laughing and yelling at me how terrible I was at kickball. I had cost them an “out.” And they had cost me my confidence.

With this, numerous disastrous presidential fitness tests, and a couple of bad church softball encounters, I have shied away from team sports for years. I never joined an intramural team in college, never participated when friends tossed the Frisbee on the president’s lawn, and certainly never participated in any coed flag football games. I had good intentions of conquering my fear when I was running by joining the Birmingham Track Club, and would have if I hadn’t gotten injured.

Now that I’m swimming, I’d like to try to conquer that fear again and have been looking for opportunities to do so. It took some digging, but I found Magic City Masters – an adult swim league that accepts all ages and levels of adult swimmers. They meet at SportsFirst YMCA in Mountain Brook, and have workouts on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 5:30 to 6:45 am. You do not have to be a member of SportsFirst to participate, but the fee is a bit more for non-members ($90 per quarter instead of $50). Magic City Masters participates in meets, also – which scares the crap out of me, but would be a great experience.

Let me know if you’d like to check it out, too. I’d love to have a friend join me!