The first time I realized that I had a love for sports competitions was during the Field Day in elementary school. Small for my age, and more of a bookworm than a sports enthusiast, I had suffered that special humiliation of being picked last for various gym teams. The Field Day, which focused on individual skills, was different. In the Softball Throw event, I got my first taste of sporting victory. Credit goes to the example of my first coach, my father. He lifted weights every morning at home. He bought us all baseball gloves and hats, and in the warm months, we spent hours playing catch. Come fall, our backyard football games began with passing practice.
Once I got to sixth grade and switched to private school, our entire student body was assigned to either the Red or the White team. Throughout the year, we competed against each other in various games and exercises for points. I eventually became president of The Committee of Games, accelerating my competitive fever. However, in girls' sports games at my school, I was no star. I also played on the field hockey team and the basketball team. School sports did not bleed into the weekends, as they do today, but at home, playing tennis, skating, skiing and biking were simply normal things we did. During break time, magazines were also quite popular for us teens. These regularly featured articles on physical exercise. Somehow, my college roommate and I took up the habit of completing Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) exercises every day, a practice that continued into my marriage, when we had no spare funds to use to join a gym.
So, though it shocks some of our friends, that early foundation evolved in adulthood into a sports and fitness focus, considered essential even on vacation. I still love reading and the arts, too. As far as I'm concerned, life is the richest with my feet in both worlds.
