sports for the uncoordinated

I am not athletic.

I don't mean that I'm lethargic or dislike exercise; I love walking and running and playing basketball and volleyball.

I'm just...horrible at it. Kind of hilariously horrible. I've learned to laugh at myself, let's say, when I try to return a volleyball and it goes straight up only to come down and bonk my head instead of going back towards whoever I was aiming at. Or when I'm dribbling and suddenly my hand goes awry and the ball shoots off to the side instead of bouncing complacently in front of me. I refuse to give up, even as those around me shout "Duck!" whenever I pick up any kind of sports equipment.

And I know that there are others like me. Let's face it, we have to get exercise SOME way.

Here is how I manage:

Volleyball Relay

This is whatever happens when I try to play volleyball: it goes the right direction sometimes, but usually it soars away from our intended destination. So we run after it.

...again and again and again. To be fair, we take turns. So it's like a relay, kind of. :)

Negative HORSE

Just like normal HORSE, you play with a basketball and everything and count up the letters. The only difference: Instead of adding a letter when you make a basket, you add a letter when you DON'T. We find the game goes much more quickly this way.

Fetch--Or On Second Thought, Don't!

Anyone with a mildly disobedient dog can play this! Just throw the ball and watch your dog fetch it and take off running at top speed with it. You get to run a lot in this game, so it's very aerobic and healthy. If the dog is just a puppy, this can be played with virtually any object--socks, shoes, china tea mugs, yardsticks, textbooks, whatever!

Twister With Socks

If you don't already--and you should--ALWAYS play Twister in socks. This makes it an even more interesting game and also ensures that it doesn't last too long. After all, if you play right, your arms and legs are twisted up with everyone else's, as the name implies, so once you go down, everyone else will too. Have fun, kids!

The safest thing to do, of course, would be to just jog or something, but where's the fun in THAT, I ask you?

No fun at all. And if you can't be good at sports, you should at least have heaps of fun while you play.

Over and out.