my story of why i hate sports

[Sporthater2000]

when i was in grade 1 I hated physical activity because i have asthma, and i can't breathe properly when ever i run or do any physical activity besides walking. So i was very happy when i went home from school after a painful PE afternoon sitting down relaxing and playing my play station 1. So from there on then i hate sport or any physical activity, because if i continue to have these problems i'm not doing anything besides walking ever! Well you may think thats not really a reason i hate sports, there's more! Another reason why i hate sport is because of team mates screaming at you because your the fat kid and you miss the goal then they start abusing you for no reason at all just because i kicked a round object away from two posts! Another reason is because i simply hate the sports coaches and sports fans, the coaches are pretty rude they say to me, suck it up when i can't breathe and they shout RUN!, RUN! at me when i can't they are basically there to torture me! The sports fans always call me a fat nerd because at lunch break i sit there on my computer with my friend "supersporthater500" and look at videos. So thats the reason why i hate sports my fellow friends.
Give me your thoughts on my story.

signed

Sporthater2000

"hating sports and it's fans forever! "

[Earl]

I almost don't know where to begin ...

There is absolutely no reason for forcing nonathletic boys to participate in competitive team sports in mandatory P.E. classes. I could mention each of the arguments and refute them one by one, but I've already done that in brief in a post I submitted yesterday.

The hypocrisy of the P.E. establishment never fails to astound me. When I was in school in the United States, there were "Remedial Math" and "Remedial English" classes for those students who were having difficulty with those subjects. But there was no such class as "Remedial P.E." for boys who weren't good at sports. Such boys were viewed as not being worthy of any consideration whatsoever. I'm more generous to the athletic crowd than they've ever been to nonathletes. I have no trouble with team sports in the schools, as long as "sports only" P.E. is NOT mandatory. Such classes are useless and even detrimental to nonathletic kids in more ways than one.

As I'm sure was true of the P.E. classes you were forced to take, there was no "physical education" in P.E., which really should have been called "M.S." for "Mandatory Sports." In one of my junior high P.E. classes, once I had to play in a basketball game, even though I didn't even know how the game was played! Never seemed to occur to the coach that there might actually be a few boys in his class who didn't know how to play basketball; so, he didn't bother asking the class if everyone knew how to play the game. The result for me was just another humiliating experience. No "education" was involved.

Decades later when I was 57 years old, I had started working with my first personal trainer at the local health club. Sometimes he would vary the workout routine by introducing me to a sport. He was an intelligent young guy who was proficient at several different sports. A nice kid who had been raised right. In other words, he wasn't a jerk like Samdaman or SpeedofLeight. One day he showed me how to shoot a basketball. I had been under the impression that shooting a basketball was simply a matter of thrusting the ball through the air towards the hoop. I was amazed when he showed me in his instruction that shooting a basketball is a skill that is not learned overnight, but involves repeated practice in developing it. He showed me that this skill involves particular wrist and finger actions, which is not at all what I had assumed. Perhaps it's like learning how to type.

What is the point of this? I could have learned how to shoot a basketball if I had been taught how. Not that I was even interested in the sport, but I could have learned how to play basketball without too much effort. But the teaching of athletic skills was not conducted at all in any of the P.E. classes that I and my nonathletic friends were forced to take. I have an older daughter who, when she was in high school, had a lousy teacher who "taught" her calculus class. Actually, she didn't do any teaching. She just told the students to teach themselves. Fortunately, my wife (who is the mother of our two daughters) had taught high-school math classes, including calculus, for 11 years. So, our daughter was taught calculus by her mother, not her teacher. The lousy math teacher was FIRED at the end of the year. But a P.E. teacher or coach who doesn't teach ... is he ever fired? Not if the football team he coaches has a winning season. Well, actually, that's not the only reason.

In the United States two of our middle-aged members were physically impaired when they were boys. One of them (username Fat Man) had sustained a knee injury in a car wreck when he was 4 years old. He could not run and could walk with only a limp. The other (username greencom) was born with an eye defect that left him without depth perception, which definitely poses a problem in attempting to play a sport. Now, any person with half a brain would figure that physically impaired students should be exempted from P.E.; but such common sense seems to have evaded the P.E. establishment when we were kids, as they were NOT exempted. Did any of their coaches or athlete classmates ever show them any consideration at all? No, they didn't! Of course, bullying was tolerated. In my opinion, Sportshater2000, because of your asthma, you never should have been forced to take "sports only" P.E. And as far as I'm concerned, anyone who cannot understand why you don't like sports, considering what you went through in "sports only" P.E., is a complete idiot, not to mention totally lacking in empathy.

Please correct me if I'm mistaken. You're not having to take "sports only" P.E. now, right? If you wouldn't mind hearing some homespun advice from me, here goes: To help yourself rise above the bitterness you feel (which is quite understandable), you need to boost your self-esteem by developing proficiency in an academic subject that will serve you well when you're an adult. For example, suppose you have an interest in physics. Learn as much as you can NOW while you have the opportunity. You should also devote much attention to any other academic discipline that is related to your object of expertise. In this example, for instance, you would also definitely have to master math. I'm speaking from the standpoint of experience. Find something to excel in, especially something that will help you earn a good living. You've suffered a negative. Overcome that negative with a positive.

[Sporthater2000]

Yeh I don't do it now I stand up to that fucking dick and tell him I'm not running then I sit out. Anyway I am thinking of doing Information technology because I've already programmed an antivirus. Thanks for your understanding.

Signed

Sporthater2000

"hating sports and its fans forever!"

[Earl]

Yeh I don't do it now I stand up to that fucking dick and tell him I'm not running then I sit out.

Please don't be offended, but I don't quite understand what you mean. Are you referring to a P.E. teacher or coach? If you're not taking P.E. anymore, why are you having this interaction with him? Has he been teaching another class of yours? Please explain.

Anyway I am thinking of doing Information technology because I've already programmed an antivirus.

That's great. Do your very best. Don't be satisfied with a mediocre level of achievement, as I was when I was your age. Look for ways to improve even more.

Thanks for your understanding.

You're welcome. Few though we be, this forum has the potential to be a community.

[Sporthater2000]

oh that yeah, i still have to go to it but i usually still have to go to PE i'm dropping it in year 10 so till then i'm sitting out till then so yeh the fucking dick is the PE teacher.

[jockocaust]

I'm 46 years old now, and looking back at being literally forced to play sports, I really would rather have participated in other activities. I was a good raw athlete, enjoyed competing to a certain extent, but I really didn't like being around alpha-male types, even though I did a fairly good job at hiding it. I never fit in socially. I actually enjoyed, and have much fonder memories, playing intermural sports during PE. I never enjoyed even a minute playing "organized" football or other sports. It simply wasn't any fun. I saw one parent screaming obscenities at a boy who was perhaps the best player on the football team, due to a simple mistake during a game. Just the fact that I had to be "forced" to play, leaves me with bad feelings about that whole time period for me. Honestly, without injecting any emotion into this, I really wished that I could have just done something else. Perhaps the drama department. Opps, I guess that would make me gay. Also, participating in something like "Junior Achievement" would have been rewarding, as well as a number of other things. I was never allowed to think for myself. I was always made to feel like "I owed something to someone" so I had to play.

I believe that I had some physical problems (esp my back) due to lifting weights for football during my growing years. That was a whole other thing too... "competing in the weight room." I don't think that sports teaches teamwork, fair play, and all the rest of that good stuff. Many boys fawned all over the head coach in a manner that was, in my opinion, unhealthy... in order to "get playing time." There's just something not quite right about that. I'm not sure if I can articulate exactly why. I guess partly just the fact that it was soo damned ingenuine! Although I would never, never have admitted it back then, I really didn't fit in. Only now, I say it with a small measure of pride. I recall one day after school, a big, rangy, clumsy, smelly, unkempt, acne-faced, lineman.. saw me with a couple of my non-jock friends, and he stared at me with a look of amusement on his face. Apparently, he was amused that I wasn't hanging around "the jocks," and instead was hanging around these guys. How much was I expected to sacrifice? Was I supposed to hang around them during the other half of my life as well?? I just think that he was laughing at me because I didn't fit in to be quite frank. I could say that it would have been nice to smack the arrogance out've him, but what good would it really do?

I wish I could have avoided the entire thing altogether. I wish I had some video footage that I could put on YouTube of some of those boys whining, fawning, begging, and practically flirting with the coach in order to get on his good side. Many high school jocks probably have a hard time adjusting to life without this construct propping them up. I have read how some turn to criminal behavior, perhaps to "get that rush" that they're lacking, and how some have even committed suicide. I saw a documentary where one such ex-high school jock in a smaller town, turned to violent homosexual behavior, and the community was shocked when he was arrested. Well, is it such a shock? Not the gay part, but how it merged with his violent side. Many of these alpha jocks are repressed homosexuals.... or perhaps repressed heterosexuals. All I'm saying is that there are pathologies at work here that social scientists haven't even looked at I don't think.

[Ex fan]

Hey, I had to do team sports until I was 11 until 16 in England and it left me with a deep distaste for forced team sports, esp on kids like me who had no athletic ability or plainly saw it as a waste of time when they could have been doing something more relevant to their future. Firstly one of the games teachers was a sadist, a bully and a pervert, who really enjoyed hitting people, and anyone who was no good at games was in for a rough time( although it has to be said every year a school leaver would flatten him on their way out). Secondly those who were good at such aggressive, dumb games as rugby were often bullies who loved to throw their weight around and hassle kids with no interest in the sport during games time. Thirdly I had little aptitude and interest in a school subject like biology, so was allowed to drop it age 14, but why were we forced to do something with far less relevance to our future like games until we were 16. Also since loads of us decided to throw out our kits by the fifth form, and the teachers gave up or tried to blackmail us with threats about rewriting our school references, it was pointless having this as a compulsory subject as the two hours we spent sitting around in a locker room could have been better spent on academic subjects.
Although England isn't so massively pro sport as America, we do have a majority of males who like football and in areas where the game is strong, these guys can get annoying with the way they take control of pubs with Sky Sports, behave boorishly and make life hard for none fans. Also if they are feeling belligerent and are in a group, will refer to non fans as gay or weird. I did as my screen name suggests try to convert to the world of football, even attending some matches for five years to keep the peace, but then after wasting huge sums on this boring game, decide enough was enough. Also when at the height of an economic crisis when players demand at least £ 250,000 a week or they refuse to play and some clubs charge £ 100 a game, I could see it was being dominated by money and greed.

[Sporthater2000]

I hate jocks especially someone called Jacob at my school he teases me all the time about not liking sports and also these few people, Nick and Wyatt they are total dicks they made me leave my class today I was very angry, and my teacher said to see a counciler we have a school one, anyway I could've killed those two today, I felt like ringing their necks! I HATE JOCKS! no one except you guys and my one friend understands how sports ruined my life and how everytime I'm on that oval it feels like a death threat, icant breathe and They say sport make your asthma better! It doesn't I really hate school because I'm bullied all the time just because I'm different, they say I'm not strong but I am way stronger than those little retards. I Hate the PE teacher especially he really gets on my nerves he takes all the athletes out on a day off at the end of term while we smart people are stuck at school even though we get A+ and A and B on our report card no we don't play sport so I'm not taking you I get a A+ for most of my subjects and I never get any privileges

[Earl]

Despite Brigan's suspicions, I will assume you're not trolling.

Please don't feel like sports has ruined your life. According to your profile, you're only 13 years old. You have your whole life ahead of you. A lot can happen in the next five years (which, granted, may seem like a very long time to someone of your age). Have you talked to your parents or guardian about your problem of being bullied? You need to talk to someone you trust or some adult whom you believe is able to help you. Don't make the mistake of suffering alone in silence.

I regret that I don't know much about asthma. To tell you the truth, I know little about it. That means I don't have much to say. Perhaps your doctor could help you in this situation. Your doctor may have recommendations to make about your participating in P.E. You should talk to him/her about the difficulties you're continuing to experience in your P.E. class. If you haven't already done so, I urge you to talk to him as soon as you can. Have your parents or guardian talked to your P.E. teacher about your asthma?

You may also want to check out websites that deal with the issue of bullying. One or more of them might even provide information about strategies that would help you deal with bullies.

Just remember you're not alone. Many people have difficulties in their childhood, but have been quite successful in their adult lives. You may have a bright future, especially if you work hard in school now and get the education you need. That means more than making good grades. That means retaining what you learn, especially that knowledge which will be relevant to whatever profession you pursue as an adult.

In the meantime, do SOMETHING. Don't do what I did when I was your age and just drift through school.

Please let us know later how you're doing. Take care. This, too, will pass (eventually).

Best wishes.

[Sporthater2000]

Despite Brigan's suspicions, I will assume you're not trolling.

Please don't feel like sports has ruined your life. According to your profile, you're only 13 years old. You have your whole life ahead of you. A lot can happen in the next five years (which, granted, may seem like a very long time to someone of your age). Have you talked to your parents or guardian about your problem of being bullied? You need to talk to someone you trust or some adult whom you believe is able to help you. Don't make the mistake of suffering alone in silence.

I regret that I don't know much about asthma. To tell you the truth, I know little about it. That means I don't have much to say. Perhaps your doctor could help you in this situation. Your doctor may have recommendations to make about your participating in P.E. You should talk to him/her about the difficulties you're continuing to experience in your P.E. class. If you haven't already done so, I urge you to talk to him as soon as you can. Have your parents or guardian talked to your P.E. teacher about your asthma?

You may also want to check out websites that deal with the issue of bullying. One or more of them might even provide information about strategies that would help you deal with bullies.

Just remember you're not alone. Many people have difficulties in their childhood, but have been quite successful in their adult lives. You may have a bright future, especially if you work hard in school now and get the education you need. That means more than making good grades. That means retaining what you learn, especially that knowledge which will be relevant to whatever profession you pursue as an adult.

In the meantime, do SOMETHING. Don't do what I did when I was your age and just drift through school.

Please let us know later how you're doing. Take care. This, too, will pass (eventually).

Best wishes.

Thanks for ur understanding I'm not trolling u r correct and I told my parents about those idiots and I'm seeing the school councilor regally which she helps me alot she's a nun since I go to a catholic school anyway I'm feeling better now I saw her the first time I walked outa class. In the future I'm gonna work for Sophos labs in Sydney and become an antivirus programmer, BTW I usually take programming books to school right now I take my Java one, my friend ben who btw is supersporthater500 likes me and my java book everyone else says nerd fatty geek go play sport and I just ignore (my councilor told me to do that) and keep reading i think it's a bad idea to take my java book and laptop btw I have a problem with my hand nerves so I need a laptop to type my work out since I can't write so I need my laptop and that's also what they tease me about anyway,
Thank you

Thank you

[Earl]

You're welcome.

I'm glad you're feeling better.

The bullies are the ones who have the problem, not you. People who are secure in themselves don't feel the need to pick on others. Many bullies are cowards. I bet some of those who have been picking on you just go along with the crowd because they don't have the courage to stand apart by refusing to bully. Please don't give in to hatred and wish that something terrible would happen to those jerks. Don't descend to their level. Some kids who are bullied end up becoming bullies themselves. A bullied kid may find another kid who seems to be even worse off and will bully him. People call that the pecking order, but human beings aren't birds. We're a lot smarter. At least we're supposed to be.

Learn about famous persons you can admire. We all need heroes. One of the greatest heroes of World War II, a very courageous man who saved the lives of over 10,000 Jews from the Holocaust, disliked sports. He was no wimp. He had far more courage than any of those bullies will ever have. (Do a Google search on "raoul wallenberg" to learn more about him. Of course, biographies have been written about him as well.) When you feel low, you can think of someone like him. Nonathletic guys have many heroes we can be proud of.

Try not to hate every kid who plays sports. In time you will learn that there are nice kids who play sports. That may not seem true now, but you need to be careful not to assume every "jock" you meet is a jerk. Someday you might even have a friend who plays sports but is not a jerk.

Don't lower yourself to the level of bullies, but try to respect others. Don't just think of yourself all the time. When you help someone, you feel better about yourself.

I'd like to leave you with the copied text of an article that was written by a psychologist, whom I once saw as a patient decades ago. I think you might appreciate this article. I featured it in a topic in January of last year. Sorry I don't have a link.

By the way, tell Ben I said, "Hi."

If You Can't Remember, You Can't Forget Or Forgive
10/6/2008


I only met Sam once or twice, but on each occasion, I could not help but be struck by his gentle, kind, caring nature. When he spoke to you, he seemed totally and genuinely concerned about you. When you looked into his eyes, you could feel his emotions without him uttering a word. Because of that, you knew that he was a special kind of human being. Although he was small in stature and passive in nature, there was a silent strength about him and a depth of feeling that made him a formidable individual, one you couldnâ??t and wouldnâ??t want to readily forget. He was truly a man who left a lasting impression on everyone he touched and he touched everyone he met.

Sam was my best friendâ??s father. At his funeral, my friend, in his eulogy, described Samâ??s life. He spoke about Sam growing up in a Jewish stettle in Europe. How his father and grandfather were rabbis and Samâ??s goal was to follow in their footsteps. His heritage was one of learning. Knowledge of the Torah and the Mishnah were essential components of his upbringing, but his rabinical goals were thwarted by WWII. Eventually, he found himself in Auschwitz with his father and brother, who were both marched to the German showers that ended in their deaths. He survived years of incarceration, backbreaking work and demeaning treatment from fellow human beings. Much more could be told, but suffice to say, years later, when Sam arrived in the United States, he brought with him his love of God, his continuous desire to search for meaning and truths from Jewish literature and history, and a fervent calling to repeat the story of the Holocaust and his experiences to generations of youngsters, who he felt had to know and remember what took place in nazi Germany, so that it could never happen again.

Throughout the years prior to his death, Sam expressed no hostility, no resentment, no criticism of the people who had mistreated him. Instead, he â??turned the other cheekâ?. Not out of weakness, but out of strength. He had the wherewithal to forgive and show compassion to others, possibly because he never forgot the mistreatment he experienced in his own life. Needless to say, Sam was loved by everyone he met, no matter what profession, what level of society or what ethnic or religious background they were from.

I tell you all this because a strange thing happened at Shiva services the first night. Prior to the service, a member of the family took a small picture of Sam and his granddaughter and placed it on the table next to where the rabbi would be standing. I, however, suggested that there was a much larger picture of Sam, with his arms folded, in the living room and that, perhaps, that was the one that should be there, since everyone could see it. The individual, in all sincerity and kindness said, â??No, that picture kind of creeps me out, because, in plain sight, you can see his concentration camp number tattooed on his forearm.â? I understood where he was coming from, but I thought Sam wouldnâ??t have been ashamed of those numbers. Instead, I imagine that Sam could look down at them and say, â??Thatâ??s part of me, part of my past, part of my heritage, part of my history. When I look at it, it reminds me of how cruel human beings can be to one another and it says to me, â??thereâ??s a better way to treat our fellow human beingsâ??.â? In a way, I believe that his acceptance and remembrance of what took place in his past enabled him to profit from it, to never lose sight of the goodness and kindness and generosity we each have within us, feelings that we can share with one another during the time we spend our lives on earth.

I know that, psychologically speaking, those of us who canâ??t openly look at their pasts, their hurts and their emotional scars never have the opportunity to deal with their feelings. As a result, the past they effectively hide on the surface eventually erodes them on them inside. It affects the way they interact and deal with others in their world and often results in negative, nonconstructive behavior. In contrast, those individuals who can face their feelings, experience their hurt, feel their anger and resentment and forgive and let them go, behave in ways that demonstrate that they profited from their past. They can be considered the healthy individuals in the world.

I also know that, following my friendâ??s eulogy, many individuals at the service went away feeling, â??Here was a man who was known for his good deeds. Here was a man of whom no amount of words could adequately describe the mitzvahs he demonstrated throughout his life. Here was a man to be emulated, whose life was, in itself, a lesson for how everyone should live their lives.

But, thereâ??s one problem. Similar to so many resolutions people make, we tend to forget them. That being the case, perhaps we all need a â??Samâ? to remind us, by example, to do kind deeds, to love, care and share warm emotions and concern for others. Someone to help us remember that good intentions arenâ??t enough, we must express feelings verbally, act kindly and give of ourselves to others.

Sam was a man who lived in accordance with the words of Jacob Philip Rudin: When we are dead and people weep for us and grieve, let it be because we touched their lives with beauty and simplicity. Let it not be said that life was good to us but, rather, that we were good to life.

[dannj]

Hi there,
I can totally understand your situation, and obviously you are quite younger than I am, but to tell you the truth, nothing has changed from your situation in over 50 years. And it sucks and there is or was no reason for it. It will never change within the school systems, as only the ones that are more wealthy and sometimes not the best physically qualified will be the ones to stand out among the less. Hope this makes sense as I put it in the best way I can think of.
Respectfully, dan