I did my “extra-curricular duty” yesterday afternoon by working at the basketball game. No, I didn’t keep score or anything else that would be detrimental to the game…just accepted the ticket money. It has been many, many years since I have kept stats or scores for any sporting event! And the only reason I ever learned to do that was because I was clumsy and prone to strange accidents at a very, very young age.
I was in a car accident as an infant. When I was just a first grader a window fell on me during a storm. Within a few short years I had seriously cut my foot by stepping on a broken bottle in the river, lost part of a tooth in a slide accident, cut my tongue when I fell from the monkey bars, sprained an ankle during a softball game, nearly lost an eye in a farm accident, and broken my arm during a volleyball game. It was the broken arm that lead to my short-lived career in basketball.
I’m not sure how I ended up on the seventh-grade volleyball team. I suspect there must have been a shortage of girls at our school who were willing to be seen in public in our ugly uniforms. I certainly could not have been chosen for my athletic ability because I had already proven I had none! Always the last chosen for any competition between my peers. Everyone in school knew I couldn’t run to first base without hurting something. Hopscotch was my sport of choice, and I was careful about overexerting myself even there. After all, I was on the math team…I couldn’t afford a concussion!
So I was as shocked as anyone when I found myself not only on the volleyball team, but competing in our first away game. I should stop here to tell you that in the “old days” we played volleyball, and many other sports, on a blacktop playground. You know where this is going! Yes, within moments of the opening serve the girl in the row ahead of me knocked me down and I broke my arm. Never played volleyball again!
However, the coach did not want me sitting idly by while everyone else paid their dues in physical education class, so he taught me how to keep stats for the boys’ basketball team. I guess they must have already had a nerd for the girls’ team. The cast was on my left arm, not my writing arm, so I finished out the year using my brain instead of my injured, uncoordinated body.
The next year I attempted to learn tennis, but that is another ugly story with a back injury as an unhappy ending. By ninth grade I had moved to a school where music could be substituted for P.E. and I found my niche! Hallelujah! Of course my attempts at learning to play an instrument failed miserably, but I could and can make a joyful noise!
I admire all these young girls who can run, jump, and throw a ball with skill and precision. I know there were some proud parents and grandparents at yesterday’s game! And there was probably some parent sitting there repeating my mother’s mantra. “Please don’t let her break something else!”
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