I have always been a man of many interests. Being vertically challenged I opted safer sports while in high school, so football and basketball were out of the equation, now baseball I couldn't hit the damn ball so we looked for alternatives.
We started a ping pong club which met every morning before school started and also during our lunch hour. Now what can be safer than that. However we all became pretty good at it, not Forrest Gump good, but good enough. Our paddles of choice were "butterflies" and at $30.00 buck a paddle back in the late 70s you can bet they were good paddles.
One of the benefits of the ping pong club or table tennis if you want to be PC about it was that the tables were way in the back of the campus in a restricted area and only members and our guests could go beyond that point. If you think us ping pong guys didn't have groupies, think again.
Well, obviously that was just a hobby, but our sport of choice was gymnastics. Our group was about 15 members strong, and we stuck together from Jr. High school and through our high school years too. Living in South Central L.A. and refusing to join any gangs we had to stay together and watch out for each other.
Gymnastics gave us the opportunity of releasing our energy and our frustrations in a different way. We tried everything, I was not as talented as some of my friends so the "long horse" and "floor exercise" were my two events, while some of them went on to do "side horse", "high bar", and even "rings". Gymnastics is all one team, no JVs or Varsity here, and for the three years I was in high school we were champions. To this day I still have one of my team jackets hanging in the closet.
A good way to practice our moves was by going to the local swimming pool and usind the diving bords. People thought we were on a diving team, except gymnastics and swimming/diving were in the same season, so it was either one or the other. We all chose gymsastics because we enjoyed it so much more.
Now when I see gymnastics on TV, I just laugh as our hardest moves are their easiest warming up tricks. Gymnastics was taken to a whole different level, specially women's gymnastics, when I see what they get to do now, I just smile and take my hat off to them.
It's the closest you can get to flying without wings.
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8 comments:
Ese es mi maromero.
I love you
Elena
Wow, what a great story. Now that I think about it, yes, Gymnastics was part of your life.
I remember looking up to you and enjoying the few little lessons you actually helped try to achieve.
Thanks for the memories and for sharing:)
Love Ya,
I was in gymnastics too! and you're right, we did the easiest stunts which would always make the crowd ooh and ahh, lol... I look back and thing - jeesh, they must have been idiots, lol.
But it was fun though!
What a wonderful story!
I wish you could see me try to play ping pong sometime...you would laugh so hard!
Growing up in a small town we didn't have any choices as far as sports went. It was softball or basketball if you were a girl or nothing. I opted for nothing. I was scared of the softball hitting me and if I heard that coach scream "travelling!" one more time I think I would have hit him so I quit early on. I wish we would have had ping pong!
Just wanted to say I felt the same way about gymnastics when I was growing up. It taught me lots about discipline and balance -- in body and in life. Glad to hear the sport did the same for someone else!
- B
I LOVE ping pong. I use to play at my paret's house, but they got rid of it. I wish I had room for one.
thank god by the time I got to high school, they didn't have gymnastics anymore. that shit's too scary for me! hell, I remember being too scared to jump hurdles on the track! lol I'd just be REALLY pissed if I broke my arm or leg or something doing something I really don't enjoy doing in the first place, ya know? LOL!
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