Thursday
Oct302003
Thursday, October 30, 2003 at 5:14AM PE Class
I was an active kid and I loved to play sports. I was also legally blind. In our neighborhood games my friends adapted to my visual deficits. In baseball they threw the ball a little slower. If I was covering home plate and the throw was coming in from the outfield they threw the ball on the ground to me. That way I could hear it coming and then see it. Same thing in basketball, they adjusted their passes so I could catch them instead of hitting me in the nose with a "no look pass." Running or wrestling required no special accommodations. We played something nearly everyday and I would not trade those memories for anything.
Things were a little different in PE class. I was often the last one picked for teams. I also unintentionally provided a lot of comic relief for the other students. The coaches were not the most accommodating souls either, but a man needs to be treated bad to become properly seasoned.
I remember one fine spring day near the end of school. About to complete the 10th grade I was in my afternoon PE class. We were playing softball and I was stuck out in the outfield. The older I got the more my vision was a factor in my performance. The game was faster in grade 10 than it was in grade 6. So there I was squinting and trying to see the ball from right field. The batter swung the bat and I heard the unmistakable sound of a good connection. Then I heard the screams of my team mates telling me to catch the ball. "Strain, catch the ball," they yelled. What ball, I said to myself, I can't see it. It is a helpless feeling because I do not know if I am about to get hit in the head with a soft ball or what. The screams continued, "catch the ball strain!" Then the ball landed about 10 feet from me. I pounced on it and threw it to the infield as quickly as I could.
After play stopped, the substitute coach yelled out to me. "Strain --- are you blind?" he yelled from the backstop. "Yes," I yelled back. I could see a couple of students talking to him. After a few seconds when it sunk in on him he yelled back, "oh." Even I laughed at that one.
A good thing about PE though is it is honest. There is no faking it. You either can or you cannot do a summersault or hit a volley ball over the net. The significance of those feats are debatable, but the fact of it is a fact. I believe the education system has mistakenly removed many forms of failure. The reasoning is, "if Johnny gets an "F" it will hurt him somehow." Good. It should hurt him. Hurt him enough to try harder and to work harder. Gym class is life. Failing and competing are facts of life and while I do agree that kids need to experience success, it should not be handed to them no matter what. (end of sermon)
Gym class has a lot of potential trauma for kids. I remember one kid in my grade was really fat and had not yet hit puberty even by grade 8. He was ridiculed much worse than I ever was. He had a high voice, was passive and made a good target for the bullies. Many pranks were done to him and many towels snapped his backside as he walked to the shower.
In my day, there was a shower room and everyone showered in front of each other. The ones without hair on their genitals caught hell from the ones with hair.
Guys, do you remember the gear you had to have. One cloth gym bag (cheap cloth kind no kid would be caught dead with today), one pair of white socks, one pair of white shorts, one white t-shirt, one jock, one pair of Converse All Stars, and one can of deodorant. At the beginning of the year my mom took a magic marker and wrote my name on the gym clothes. On Friday the gym bag went home for washing. Some kids did not take their clothes home every week and the aroma of the locker room was a testament to this fact.
One of my favorite things in gym class was dodge ball. I could see well enough to be average in this "thinking man's" sport.
My son has had a completely different experience. He is a good athlete and was always one of the best. He played baseball, football, and basketball. He settled with basketball and played throughout high school. I got some vicarious enjoyment out of watching him excel where I did not. It is funny how that works.
What about you? Do you have any interesting "gym class" experiences?
Until the next time
John Strain
I was not looking for ruby slippers to click together, but I am glad to be home. You know how it feels when the party is over. The fun is a memory now and what lies ahead is back to work. The house and yard need some attention and there will be some catching up to do at work. Even with all of that and on this end of the vacation, I am happy to be home and heading into the routine again. I am especailly gratful to have seen the beautiful fall foliage in the Smoky Mountains. What a treat.