I’m no stranger to dipping my toes into different waters to see what sticks, and this was true even in my younger years. I was recently reminded of my times as a basketball player, a short lived story, and figured that a walk down my athletic experiences would be a fun stroll. Let’s explore the sports that I’ve tried:

Basketball

My dad was a big part of why I played basketball. He was interested in the sport and was invested in me playing. When we were younger, we constantly played outside. We rode scooters, ran, climbed trees and randomly enough, we played tennis and played at the pool too.

We may have been some of the last examples of the family units that engaged with the outdoors in a meaningful way and I loved that.

While basketball wasn’t my favorite thing to do, chuck it up to my lack of coordination, I learned a lot about patience and the importance of practice. I also learned that I would continue to engage in a sport that I don’t love just to bond more with my dad — not a terrible thing but certainly a good thing to know about yourself.

Ballet

I used to ride by the Vallejo Ballet and wish that I could partake. One day, my aunt said, ‘yep, it’s time’ and the next thing you know I was a baby ballet dancer. Ballet has been an ongoing, on-and-off love of mine. As I’ve grown older, arthritis and being tired all-around has kept me from being as consistent with ballet as I’d like but it’s still a very apparent love of mine.

I could write long analogies about the life lessons that ballet has taught me but the biggest lessons would have to be:

• Patience

• Grace

• and Strength

Band

Third grade started it all. You know, I hate those stories where people say things like “I changed my life at age 6” or “I discovered [insert some monumental thought process or behavioral process here]” as if 6 year olds have these types of moments. And as if we truly remember these moments. I mean, it could just be me, but I don’t remember not a single choice that I made at the age of 6. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t know what six looked like on me without pictures and knowledge of the sheer fact that everyone has a 6 before they have a 32.

Either way, I was your typical band geek playing the flute and I loved it (fun fact: I started out as a trumpet player). The marching band gave me my first family-away-from-family because we legitimately spent days, nights and weekends with each other training, practicing and perfecting our crafts.

I loved watching the years pass with the band and seeing the photographs of championships that we’d won or very sadly lost. But of biggest note, my band teachers over the years have all taken me under their wings in one way or another and I will never forget the effect that that’s had on me.

Drumline

A lot like the movie if you’re in the south; Not so much if you’re not, but still fun.

Drumline was my second family-away-from-family and although I was never good enough with hand-eye coordination and rhythm to get myself out of the pit section, I still had a grand old time.

Drumline in high school was, again, the definition of a late night and an early morning. It was the one area where high schoolers collectively took something more seriously than the fun of being in high school. We ate, slept and dreamed drumline!

Twas’ certainly a good time that I’ll never forget.

Tennis

Ya girl started out a doubles junior varsity kid and worked her way up. One of the things that I totally loved about tennis was the fact that there was no substitute for training and practice.

I love anything that has a bit of grit to it and tennis most definitely does. The good thing about tennis, however, is the tradition of tennis. It’s a calm, quiet, focused sport that you play with extreme control (emotionally and physically) otherwise you’re looked at a little differently. This old tradition has changed a bit over the years, but the hard-work, control, training and practice requirements have not.

Tennis will always be a love of mine, no matter how out of practice I am.

Wrestling

I use “love” a lot to describe my endeavors, but man, anyone who knows me knows that there was no separating me from a wrestling mat in high school. I wasn’t great, but I loved the sport!

Wrestling taught me so much and gave me some of the best mentors (and close friends: Antonio, Stephanie, Terry, Jessica) that I still keep in contact with years later. Transitioning to college at a time where women’s wrestling wasn’t an acknowledged thing yet was difficult. I’d go to practices at my university and be pushed to the side of the mat to run drills while the boys practiced. Now, however, women’s wrestling is huge and widely celebrated.
I’m happy that things eventually progressed to make space for the women who certainly kick butt but sometimes I wish that I was still in the sport to live it as well.

Welp, this walk down memory lane was fun and a good reminder of all of the people and lessons that these sports have given me. I cannot imagine being a kid who doesn’t desire the experience of sports or sports teams. That’s got to be an empty life… I digress.

Best,
Bree