I went through phases of liking both hockey and soccer, but was awful at actually playing them. It took me a while to actually start liking running, but now I can't imagine doing any kind of sport that's not an endurance sport.
I went through phases of liking both hockey and soccer, but was awful at actually playing them. It took me a while to actually start liking running, but now I can't imagine doing any kind of sport that's not an endurance sport.
Alpine skiing but our family moved from Colorado to Iowa. After that basketball. Only played one season of organized basketball but did a lot of rec league. Cut from our DIII college team after 10 days of practice, so went out for indoor track.
I wanted nothing more than to be a pro road cyclist as a junior high/high school kid in the '80s. I think I probably had the talent, but I didn't have the family support do it, so I started running the summer before junior year. Some of my high school classmates did have the support, rode on club teams, became top US juniors (and one a top senior/pro), and did Euro stints as pros.
Mike Rodick wrote:
Let's face it, not one of us grew up wanting to be a distance geek.
I liked baseball but had no skills. I had some speed and good hands for football, but so size. I could shoot a basketball but had no height.
By default I ended up running cross country and becoming a lifelong runner.
Basketball. Started on the middle school team and it looked like I would have made the JV team as a freshman
Ran a 5 minute mile the first day of XC practice that fall, which kind of changed everything. I was never playing college basketball anyway.
For those who said 'a runner', you assume you had a runners build. If you didn't you would not have wanted to be a runner. That's not true of 'major' sports. Sure, in middle age you could say you were glad you weren't, say, a footballer because of injuries etc., but at that age.... all that matters is cool.
I played jv football before xc. My reaction time was horrible, so I knew I wasn't going to do anything but ride the bench. I liked the mile or 2 mile jogs we did sometimes before practice. There you have it.
When I was 11 in Idaho I wanted to be an olympic alpine skier; I was handling black diamonds easily, but we moved to SOCAL and training was out of the question. Then at 15 I wanted to be a wide receiver for the LA Rams; I was quick with good hands, but I wasn't growing fast enough. By high school track was actually popular in the US so I started training in XC and made varsity the 1st year so it stuck. Too frail now for tackle football, but todays 8k run felt really good.
Ankle injury requiring surgery my HS Fr year in football killed my explosiveness. I remember sitting in the stands at district track meet my Soph year after bombing out of the 300h watching a scrawny guy win the 3200 & thinking "I can't sprint anymore, but I can do that"....funny enough that 3200 winner became my college XC teammate a few years later.
Was still starting football QB (small town in the midwest, no XC program) and basketball 2 guard, honorable mention all-district in both my Jr and Sr years, but was never gonna play those sports in college at 5'10 170. Was able to run 10:12 and 4:41 3200/1600 despite zero knowledge on how to train (also 50.x 4x4 split), so college coach convinced me to try XC/track. College experience was brutal. Lost 35+ pounds and got a lot faster, but developed an ED & dealt with nonstop injury cycle. Was a scoring runner on an D3 podium XC team, which is cool. But wasted a lot of potential I feel.
Soccer and golf.
I missed soccer tryouts because my bitchass XC coach withheld my paperwork. I was then peer-pressured into running track, and trained all winter long for it. I also wasn’t sure I was going to be good enough to make the golf team, but I’m fairly certain I’d have been really good (in hindsight).
I’m really bummed about the soccer thing. I knew I would have done really well.
I wanted to the NWA World Heavyweight Champion
When I was a child I wanted to play football (I mean soccer, but since everybody in the world names it football and I'm not American I'm sticking with that name), because it is the most mainstream sport in my country (and I'm still a huge fan), but I was totally trash at it, so I started playing basketball in elementary school, and infact I quitted it a few years after college, after playing for a few years in a semi-professional league in parallel to attending college (no NCAA in Europe!). Then I started running to keep fit and stricked with it ever since, even if I basically suck at it (never went under 18:00 for 5 km and under 38:00 for 10 km).
Soccer… I had done soccer in the fall freshman and sophomore year and track in the spring freshman and sophomore year. I had my full commitment on soccer and I had been playing it since I was 4 years old. I was in the middle of a game and I decided I hated soccer, I like running better and I’m quitting.. this was the best decision of my life. I tried xc junior year and it ended up being the best summer of my life I made so many good new friends, I leaned I really am I good runner plus I had no experience with xc at all and ended up being ranked 2nd on varsity.
Basketball
Football, American football. Started in 7th grade. I had and still have zero hand-eye sports skills. I can do all the agility moves with my feet, but the moment you toss a ball to me, I, like, lose bodily control. Moved around positions until I settled as starting right offensive tackle for 8th grade. We were city champs in a competitive small city. I was bigger than average and stronger than average for 8th grade. I was explosive and good at knocking kids over and getting low. Kind of chubby but not huge. I ran track in 7th grade too and they had me do a mix of sprints and hurdles and I was always decent but not the best.
In 8th grade they threw me in a 400. I was 100% unprepared. Coach told me "Just run!" when I asked how to pace myself. The longest I had run in practice was our ~80yd grass field and we only ran like 3 times per week. I ran a 56. Those first few 400s I raced were probably some of the most painful races I've ever run, I puked every time and was seeing stars. I was hooked.
Our middle schools were feeder programs to one big high school football program. I decided to just run track. I had multiple high school football coaches tell me I was making a mistake, they were not happy. Jokes on them, I stopped growing in like 9th or 10th grade. Ended up being pretty average sized.
The only worthwhile sport, football (soccer)
I legitimately had no interest in mainstream team sports.
Rugby. I played all through high school and made my school team, mostly as a reserve (we were the best in the country and a traditional powerhouse). In college, it was one of the lesser sports and not as competitive, so I reluctantly took up running. But now that I know what I know about CTE, I have no regrets.
Mike Rodick wrote:
Let's face it, not one of us grew up wanting to be a distance geek.
I liked baseball but had no skills. I had some speed and good hands for football, but so size. I could shoot a basketball but had no height.
By default I ended up running cross country and becoming a lifelong runner.
Not necessarily true...
I've encouraged lots of active kids whose parents were not inclined to put them in organized sports growing up to run track. It is a very accessible sport in middle/high school. I know of more than a few that went on to college...one who just accepted a scholarship at a Big 12 school.
Personally, I did a lot of other sports I enjoyed. Track became a focus as a result of success. I never failed out baseball/soccer and left those sports in HS before I really had to, in order to focus more on running.
Basketball was my first love. Only went out for XC because 1) at my school you either played a sport, did something like theatre or were in intramurals---all were after school activities and 2) a fellow basketball player suggested it to get in shape.
ummm wrote:
For those who said 'a runner', you assume you had a runners build. If you didn't you would not have wanted to be a runner. That's not true of 'major' sports. Sure, in middle age you could say you were glad you weren't, say, a footballer because of injuries etc., but at that age.... all that matters is cool.
You're not wrong. In the small town I live in, we have a surprisingly big high school XC program but every year a few of the boys choose to go ride the bench with the football team instead. Lost the number 1 runner that way one time.