I'm not an athletic person. I'm not good at, nor do I particularly enjoy sports. Recently when discussing exercise with a friend who shares my views I told her that I usually just walk to my next sitting position. Because of my distaste and general suckiness at sport, PE was one of my worst subjects in school.
I did try in PE. I ran, I jumped, I dribbled, I kicked, I threw to the best of my ability. It's just that the best of my ability was, well, terrible.
But there was one school sport that I didn't dread, that I didn't suck at. You may think it was something like interpretive dance or synchronised swimming. But no my friend, the sport I was actually good at was in fact rugby.
The moment I realised I rocked at rugby was during a game in school PE. We had been split into teams, but somehow, all three of the girls in my class ended up on the same team. The teacher insisted that to make things fair one of the girls had to go onto the other team, and of course, my team decided to get rid of me.
I joined the other team, who did not seem keen to have me either. I think everyone (teacher included probably) would have been happier if I had of just sat on the sidelines. But, as usual, I was determined to try my best. And to my and everyone else's surprise, I freaking dominated that game. I not only managed to take down the girls on the other team, I took down several of the guys.
After I managed to tackle quite a few people, my team mates finally trusted me enough to actually pass me the ball. Once I got it, there was no stopping me. I ran and dodged all the way to the try line. As I'd never gotten that far before, it took me a few seconds to figure out what to do once I crossed the try line. But I did it. I scored a try. It was truly a movie moment. Although in an ideal world it would have been the game winning try, and then my team would have carried me off and cheered in slow motion while "We Are the Champions" was playing, but apart from that it was pretty amazing.
That was peak of my sporting achievements. I wish I could say I went on to join the school rugby team and win medals. However my friends laughed at me when I mentioned it, and being the weak minded peer influenced teen I was, I let it stop me.
I haven't had any amazing sporting achievements since then, and my fitness levels have substantially dropped since school. I do feel a little guilty sometimes when I hear some of my friends talking about going to the gym, eating healthy and getting fit. But when that happens I just have some cake and a nap and I feel much better.
