Sports

I'm not at all coordinated. Sports are something I am not good at and I have no qualms about admitting it. I never played a sport as a kid. I'm not really sure why. Perhaps my parents didn't know about kids' sports or maybe we didn't have the money, but since my little siblings both played soccer at one point in their youths, I'm leaning toward the idea that my parents recognized my lack of coordination and didn't want to waste the time or money trying to teach me to not trip over my own feet. (I did try playing soccer in high school and spent almost every game sitting on the bench.)

Brian played baseball and did martial arts from elementary school on. He's no pro athlete but he does have some coordination and grace in movement.

When a flyer for baseball appeared in Joshua's art folder at school, he said he wanted to play so I signed him up. Throughout the season he had fun batting but he had little care for the rules of the game. He would rather turn it into some kind of adventure game involving some kind of monster bad guy. Overall, I think he had fun and he definitely learned a few things about throwing and hitting. There were some kids who were really good and showed zeal for the game and pure athleticism. One thing I noticed about Joshua's fielding was that he'd always let the more aggressive kids get the ball even when it was closer to him.

We talked about what he wanted to do after baseball and settled on swimming. Joshua was really excited about the idea.

Yesterday was his first swim lesson. When it was explained to him that he would be in the water with his teachers (and not me), there was a bit of a meltdown about being alone. When his teacher came for him, I walked him to the pool where there was another mini-meltdown about getting in. After explaining that he only had to get in a step at a time, he was fine. I stood in the pool area and watched for a few minutes. When he looked like he was having fun and no longer caring about my presence, I made my way back to the "galley" where the parents can watch the class from the comfort of pool chairs.

Joshua really got into it. He even had fun when the teachers poured water over his head. He was smiling the entire time and so was I. The class consisted of three children and two teachers. It lasted half an hour. When it was over and I picked him in the shower area, he told me all about it and said he wants to do it every day.

my view from the galley

The lesson consisted of games and "hunts" for toys in the pool. It was a get-comfortable-in-the-pool kind of lesson. It was just up Joshua's alley. I don't know how it'll go when/if he gets to the point of learning strokes, but I'm hoping that, without the pressure of other, more aggressive kids, he'll enjoy it and perhaps want to pursue it. (If I could re-do my youth, I would have liked to have swimming lessons.) I'm thinking that, at this point anyway, he's more of an individual sports kind of kid.