Were you athletic as a kid?

[tattiefritter]

Complete tomboy here! Where I grew up it was predominantly boys so I played lots of football (soccer to the American gals) and lots of running around and boisterous games. I've ridden bikes since I was about 5 years old, I remember jumping off large ramps on my bike as a 7 year old (where did that bravery go I wonder). I used to love all sorts of sports at school and was always one of the first to be picked for teams.

I had a gap from about 14 years until 17 years old where I didn't have a bike, then I saved up and bought my very first mountain bike - a rigid purple muddy fox with....canti brakes (the innovation of the time). It was a 19 inch frame (I now ride 14 or 15 inch max) and miles too big for me but I loved it, even used it to cycle to work when I was doing my Post Grad course. It got stolen from my parents garage when I was about 23 years old.

I was heavily into martial arts (another Tae kwon Do person here) from about 20 to 24, basically until I moved to the place I am now. I had ignored any exercise from age 18, basically from entering uni, and it was obvious from my waistline. TKD gave me back the love of being fit again.

At 28 I bought a good quality mountain bike (a 17 inch frame so still too big) and I haven't looked back since. Like the OP I had no problem picking it up.

[alpinerabbit]

First I was gonna say no, not at all. I hated PE and was not a member of any club ever.

However, living in Switzerland, my parents started teaching us skiing as early as 4 years old, and took us hiking from 5 or 6. I was even doing really well on a 2-day hike at 6. Basically, kick me in the rear and I will walk as long as I get fed intermittently.
So they taught us some fine motor skills and endurance early on.
Other than that my youth was spent playing music and in girl scouts (which is a rather different affair here than in the US. We spend more time sitting around an outdoor fire grilling bread dough than selling cookies).

Me too- Tomboy. Hated skirts, loved my camouflage torchlight and scouting knife...

[East Hill]

No!

I learned to swim because my father got elected to some position on the Norwalk, CA parks commission? We got free access to the [what I assume was the high school?] pool. My father had been a great one in his youth for rambling all over Lancashire and Chat Moss, so just because he had six children was not going to stop him from rambling in the US.

We used to get hiked up and down mountains and up roads and down roads every weekend! If it wasn't hiking it was visiting museums.

I hated softball. I was nearsighted and couldn't see the ball. I have a vague recollection of riding a bicycle when I was young, but haven't a clue where the bike went to after I was around 13 or so.

PE consisted of various sports--football (soccer), tennis, swimming, gymnastics, basketball, etc., and dancing!

I always got top marks in the various forms of sport, but I think it was more enthusiasm than ability.

No, I was not athletic.

East Hill

[silver]

my mom says that she can't believe that I do anything athletic now since I would do anything to get out of PE growing up.

I've never been too athletic. but I've always dabbled in things a bit.

I played soccer in 7th and 8th grade, but I wasn't any good. I once kicked the ball towards the wrong goal.

I learned to swim at the Y as a child.

In my teens I occasionally took long bike rides (maybe 10 miles )

I did aerobics classes in my 20's.

Then at age 36 (5 years ago) I commited myself to exercise. I began to do weight training and to run. I ran 7 marathons. lost 40 pounds and came to LOVE exercise. But I broke both of my feet, one at a time.

When I broke my right foot (2nd), I went to the bike store and bought a road bike.

I'm an ectomorph body type. tall and thin. I should be a good athlete, but I'm not. I'm not coordinated, I can't build muscle. I'm not flexible. I took to running and cycling well, but have never been fast. I didn't have much trouble getting comfortable on the bike. I had a little trouble learning to clip in but not too much.

Everytime I've tried to get faster wtih running I've gotten injured, but I think that I still have potential to get faster.

One thing that I've noticed in tri's is that the people who swam competively when they were young are the ones who really excel there. The ones struggling are the ones who are picking it up as adults. I can swim, but I cannot swim fast.

[AutumnBreez]

I was not, nor am I currently graceful as desired. Broke pinky on left hand playing volley ball at age 9, it has a bump to this day from not setting straight.
From tricycle, big wheel, bike with training wheels to without.... Yup graduated to the two wheels.... setting off ramps with siblings and cousins.
I loved riding my bike as a kid. I remember the banana seat I asked for my birthday, had those big colorful flowers, looked much like the ones on the dating game,you know on the divider screen... Then I got a Huffy 15 speed when I was a pre teen...I rode that far as possible whenever possible, and would even time myself. Rode around 8+ miles daily. Would dream of riding on a team someday as an adult. Took TaeKwonDo in 9th and 10th grade. I say klutz because I have always had large feet for my height. (Dear grandma said I just had a good understanding..) Has evened out a bit now at 5ft 8in now and have size 11 women or 10 mens. Who needs skii's... Stubbed alot of toes, trip over my own feet still.
I took me a year to convince myself to get on bike with clipless. Finally my dh put the bike on a trainer and had me practice taking in and out. Felt confident just from that. I then got my first road bike. I was fitted and got the works...went out first day and tried to scoot off like a skateboard from a start position, lost balance with other foot stuck in. Skinned knee and elbow. Laughed it off and got back up, 2 weeks later I was walking and tripped on the uneven concrete and was scraped up worse then the first bike fall...I did not fall on bike again until I was waiting for a guard to raise the gate, mind you on a slight grade, and he decided to wait till the other two guys got closer....as I said up a slight hill and I began to fall and kept bike from hitting ground. I was successful at keeping bike safe. I got scratched a bit but it healed up. I don't count that as a clutz thing however as it was the guard who didn't know a thing about clipless. Just will not put trust in guards and people in cars.... The bike is definetly the best invention for all ages, shapes/sizes and klutz levels!!!

[mel1976]

Yes!

As a kid I begged my mother to get me into athletics. I participated in athletics from about 4 or 5 until in my late teens. In primary school I remember being the girl that use to play with the boys on the oval running around playing tag. Am very proud to say that when I was in High School I was 2nd fatest over 200m in my home state (Victoria, Aust). Have been a bit of a tom boy all my life and I'm proud of it.

Absolutely love sport, whether it be a team sport or an individual sport. Have participated in and played netball, basketball, touch footy, athletics, Aussie Rules (womens team) as well as roller hockey.

Now I'm training for a triathlon, so are heavily involved in running, biking and swimming. Also enjoy weight training and aerobic classes every now and then. Over 50% of my wardrobe is dedicated to sports clothing, and every now and then I find myself getting rid of more and more of my everyday "work" clothing to make way for more t-shirts, running shorts, bike shorts, bike jerseys, swimmers, etc.

[Crankin]

What a good question. I was a #1 klutz as a kid. But, looking back, I can see the spark was in there. I just grew up at the wrong time. I hated PE, and I have horrible eye hand coordination and a documented depth perception problem. So, all ball sports were out for me. Girls had 2 choices when I was a kid: skating or gymnastics. Oh yeah, field hockey and BB all in HS. I guess running was there, too. I flunked out of ballet but I did ice skate for 7-8 years until I got to middle school. I could never spin fast or jump high, but I love skating really fast around the rink. I WAS however, outside all of the time. I ran in the woods and played, built forts, and played "army," with the boys. I did have Barbies and dolls, but I lived at a time when your mom would say "Go outside and play," and we didn't come home until you heard her ringing a bell... I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was almost 10, but after that I rode constantly until age 15 or so. I lived in a suburb that had 7 hills. I was put in remedial PE "flab lab," because I flunked the physical fitness test, which consisted of things like shooting a basketball. But flab lab was running and calisthenics, which I loved. Moving to Florida stopped all of that. I did nothing in college except walk and I gained like 20 pounds during my first year of teaching. I started eating right first and then took a fitness class at ASU when I was in grad school and teaching. I tried running, but it hurt my feet, back, etc. Finally, in 1980 I joined a gym and started doing aerobics. I became obsessed, eventually became an instructor, had many injuries from overuse. I also did some weight training which I discovered I liked and I used to walk at 5 AM in Phx. It wasn't until moving back east that I discovered the outdoors. I learned to x country ski but only did that as a beginner for quite a few years, with my kids.

My husband got me on a mtb with slicks in 2000. I didn't have any trouble riding (I still rode once in awhile in the intervening years) or with the gears, but I had no endurance, even though I had been doing aerobic exercise for years. I stayed on that bike for 1.5 years. I had a minimum of trouble learning to clip in when I got my road bike and a just a little bit of trauma learning the STI shifters. But I made myself. I liked the added speed! However, I still am not good with cornering and descending. I am afraid of downhills in any sport. But, this year I think I have improved a bit. I wear a Camelbak on any ride longer than 20 or so miles, because my water bottle skills aren't great. I worked on them this year, but I can take my left hand off the bar, but not the right . As for mountain biking, I think I am like Emily. I am a wuss... I love being on the trails, but tend to bail and walk with real technical stuff. A few times I have done incredibly hard stuff on the trail and then the next week, I couldn't do it! So, here I am, at 53 and some people, like my friends who do nothing, think I'm a super athlete. Yet, I feel like a poseur when I'm around others. I think my childhood experiences defintely color my attitude. Half my problems are in my head.
This is waaay too long!

[Kimmyt]

When I was young I wouldn't consider myself athletic. I guess maybe I always had it in my buried down there, but didn't find 'the right sport' to bring it out. I always rode my bikes though, but when I was little and in the horse crazy phase, I just used to pretend my bike was a horse so I think it wasn't so much the bike I loved but more the freedom to go wherever I wanted on it as long as I was home for dinner...

I danced for about 10 years, rode horses for a few years before it got too expensive, played soccer for 1 year (when I was 5, was upset b/c they wouldn't let me be goalie and I didn't want to RUN ) then in h.s. was heavily into music and marching band. Which i guess is sorta athletic...heh

Anyway, had always been interested in the outdoors and all throughout my young life went to summer camps where every year I progressively chose the programs that were more rugged, less pampered. By my third or fourth year of summer camp I was in the woods and loved it. Tried rock climbing, canoeing, all sorts of fun stuff.

I think this stuck with me the most, because first and foremost it was fun, and I didn't have to worry about being not good enough to do it, since it wasn't a team sport.

In college I think I o.d.'d on studying, and in an effort to reward myself by doing somethign I'd always wanted, took a 2-week backpacking trip through Central PA, then took some intro rock climbing courses, a ww kayakking class.

I was hooked. Climbing became my sport when I had a steady income after graduation and every weekend I was out on the rock, sleeping in the back of my car, driving 6+ hours in a day to meet up with people to climb with. Did that excessively for quite a while, then got a little burnt out on it, or maybe I got to the point where I said, 'ok let's see what else my body can do'. Got into skiing heavily (my only winter sport as of now, unless you count running), then bought a road bike, and now I'm dabbling in triathlon.

Still climb though, just now I don't feel bad if I can't make it to the mountains because there's lots of other stuff to keep me busy.

Sometimes I wonder if I have a mildly ocd personality, because I feel like I can't NOT do something. It's weird. Complete opposite from when I was in h.s. really....

K.

[jeannierides]

What great stories!

I was active as a child - bikes, walking everywhere, softball in the front yard. I was never very good at sports - too skinny, nearsighted, and possibly just plain sissy! I was terrible in PE - was the last picked for the *games*... I preferred reading or playing with Barbies... until I discovered boys - and <<ahem>> pardon me girls, but I was going to marry Paul!
I took aerobics in the '80's, went off and on to the gym. Hated Hated sweating!

Until I turned 50! The weight had crept up, and I joined WW, started walking to lose weight, then running. My SO hooked me up with a beautiful bike, so I started road cycling. It was scary at first - and I'm still not so much into the *accessories* for bikes - running is much easier: all you need is a good pair of shoes! Getting used to the bike wasn't so bad - I do think once you know how to ride, you know how to ride. But riding a skinny-tired road bike was a little different than my cruiser back in the day. Clipping in and out was a bit of a challenge, but I was game.
And the end of that story - or is it the beginning - is that I love cycling. I'm not fast, and after a couple of months off the bike, I'm sure I won't be strong for a while, but I love it! I feel free and like a kid again. But it also makes me feel strong and independant - like a grownup woman!

[GLC1968]

I was very athletic as a child. Like a few other's here, I did pretty much everything well, but nothing supremely well. I was always the first or second girl picked in gym or for pick-up games, but in my mind, I needed to be as good as the boys, so I was always trying to be better at everything. I started ice skating at 8 and soccer when I was in 3rd grade (on a boys team...there were no girls teams). I was coordinated and could pick up just about anything pretty quickly. I was also extremely competitive and a bit of a tomboy.

In Jr. High I played soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis, swam and I still skated, was a cheerleader and ran track. In highschool, I played tennis, soccer and club football (my dad was a quarterback and taught me how to throw a kick a$$ spiral when I was 10), did a lot of hiking and canoeing. In college, it was rugby and tennis mostly. I really wanted to play waterpolo because it was coed (and I could compete against boys), but I developed a sensitivity to chlorine and had to pass. After college, I learned to ski (picked it up in a day or two) and started weight-lifting and playing softball. I also coached soccer and rugby.

I'd learned to ride a bike when I was about 8, but hadn't really done it much since learning to drive. When I bought a mountain bike (after college), I took to it like a fish takes to water.

I bought my first road bike (as an adult) almost 2 years ago and aside from a slight balance issue (that turned out to be from riding a bike that was way too big for me) I picked it up right away. I even started out clipless and never had any issues. I do think that my athleticism has helped me...tremendously. I see it as I have started trying to help some of my girl friends who were never very atheletic start biking. Some of their 'issues' are foriegn to me (fear of falling, fear of getting hurt, coordination challenges, etc)...so I do think that there is a difference. Of course, if I'd never ridden with these women from the start, I'd have had no idea how easy I had it.

[Cha Cha]

Growing up, my skills and thus interests were in two major areas - academics and music - and I did really well in both. In middle school, the first half of the year our gym class was swimming lessons. Hated it. Even regular gym was better than that...

Really got into aerobics in high school / college (early-mid 80s) and enjoyed that a lot. I've taken various dance classes since then, and while I have very little talent, enjoyed it a lot. It's hard to stay mad or upset about anything for long once you strap on some tap shoes!

Started riding actively in December, and am so hooked!!! Last evening my DBF and I were riding indoors with the Spinervals Bending Crank Arms dvd, and it so rocked. Sure was hard, and I imagine I"ll have some major soreness tonight, but whatev. There's one part when Coach Troy says "This is serious training for serious athletes", and my wonderful sweet DBF said "That's what you are!" Coming from him especially (and he is a very serious athlete), it felt so amazing. Between that, the sense of accomplishment I felt, and all the endorphins, he said my eyes were sparkling after the workout. Whoo hoo!!!

So yep, it sure is a rush! And at 42, a very very different way to think of myself. Very cool.

Amy

[emily_in_nc]

Growing up, my skills and thus interests were in two major areas - academics and music - and I did really well in both. In middle school, the first half of the year our gym class was swimming lessons. Hated it. Even regular gym was better than that...

Really got into aerobics in high school / college (early-mid 80s) and enjoyed that a lot. I've taken various dance classes since then, and while I have very little talent, enjoyed it a lot. It's hard to stay mad or upset about anything for long once you strap on some tap shoes!

Started riding actively in December, and am so hooked!!! Last evening my DBF and I were riding indoors with the Spinervals Bending Crank Arms dvd, and it so rocked. Sure was hard, and I imagine I"ll have some major soreness tonight, but whatev. There's one part when Coach Troy says "This is serious training for serious athletes", and my wonderful sweet DBF said "That's what you are!" Coming from him especially (and he is a very serious athlete), it felt so amazing. Between that, the sense of accomplishment I felt, and all the endorphins, he said my eyes were sparkling after the workout. Whoo hoo!!!

So yep, it sure is a rush! And at 42, a very very different way to think of myself. Very cool.

Amy

Amy - We sound kinda similar growing up (except that I was not seriously into music, just academics -- and boys!) I too discovered aerobic dance, starting in college. Started going to the gym after college and taking aerobics classes, which was the first really athletic thing I'd done in my life, but I was not in very good shape compared to now - I only dabbled in it compared to the things I do for fitness now. Asthma held me back at that time somewhat as I didn't take any medication then, so that limited how hard I could push myself.

I started road cycling in my 20s and rode off and on (sometimes several years off at a time) since then, but only really got "serious" about it at age 42, just like you. When I was called an "athlete" for the first time in my life, I was 43. I can still remember what a high it was to be called that!

I don't road ride as much now as I used to for a variety of reasons, but I cross train like crazy. I now hike, run, walk, kayak, sail, mountain bike (very much a newbie), lift, ride the trainer, and still, sometimes, road ride. Yes, I am an athlete now at almost 46 years old, and d*mn proud of it!!!

Good for you for making the transition too!

Emily

[Mimosa]

I sorta got forced by my parents when young because I am astmatic and they thought it would help with strengtening my lungs. And of the years I got accustomed to sports and now I can't live without

[Kimmyt]

My brother was very asthmatic when he was young and my parents got him into martial arts, which was the best possible thing for him i think since he was always the little short fat kid b/c of the prednisone for asthma/allergies. He is still seriously into martial arts. I'm trying to get him over to the dark side of taking part in one of the sports I do so that we can talk shop. He expressed vague interest in kayakking which would be cool but i have a feeling he won't get into it b/c of the cost of equipment. Tried to get him to go running with me, but he said no on account of the asthma. He still gets attacks pretty frequently.

K.

[chickwhorips]

when i was a kid i considered myself athletic. now my definition of athletic has changed.

as a child i would bike around nothing serious, swim in the lake, played softball, basketball, volleyball, kickball, football, and loved PE. once i was out of school i didn't do much in my first few years of college. then i started doing aerobics classes with my friend and liked those. then i moved here, and now i consider myself athletic. i now run and bike. i am addicted to cardio, where before i wasn't. hated cardio with a passion. to much work, let me lift weights instead or do short bouts of it.

to answer your question: i was an active child, having fun, but not athletic by how i consider the word athletic now. either way, i don't think it helped me get comfortable with cycling or running. my first time out doing either, i thought i was going to die and never sit down again or walk. took me a while to get comfortable on my bike.