There is something so life-affirming about moving, breathing, walking, pedaling, rowing, lifting, stretching. When I walk around the track, or pedal, or row, I feel both solitary and in tandem with the many other folks doing similar activities. It sort of reminds me of the side by side play of toddlers – enjoying the company, while focused on my own goals (x number of miles of biking, y number of meters of rowing, z number of laps around the track). One of the pleasures of taking a class of course is the additional interaction with others, learning names, comparing notes, moving or stretching at the same time. Almost feels like a bit of a graduation from the parallel play.
I have hardly any recollection of gym or phys ed activity in 8th and 9th grade either. Due to new school construction (all those baby boomers, I guess), my 8th grade in Charlottesville 1965-1966 was a half day affair (junior high students being squeezed into either a morning or an afternoon school day, sharing the same space, while two new schools were being built.) What I mainly recall were organized sports, such as soft ball and dodge ball. I did not really learn much, and can still remember standing on the blacktop, watching the action, hoping I wouldn’t have to try to do something.
http://www.loti.com/then_now/Gym_Uniforms_of_the_50s_and_60s.htm
While I don’t have a lot of memories of 10th grade phys ed activities, I do have some recollection of a sort of unstructured free-form dance type session, and I recall running around the track, breathing in fresh air, under a sunny blue sky.
In my first semester of college, I took a swimming course, thus satisfying the last formal phys ed requirement of my school career. I do recall this course with some pleasure. I had learned to swim by virtue of two summer sessions between 5th and 6th grade that my brother and I took at the old basement pool in Memorial Gym.
(Photo by Greenstat – public domain, all rights released - from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Gymnasium_(Virginia).
In my college swimming course, I learned additional strokes and techniques that have stayed with me. Not a strong swimmer, but not totally clueless either.
Somehow over this cold winter I have not been very tempted to swim at ACAC. I swam for a while this fall after spraining a foot (missed a stair), as swimming, especially in their warm water pool, seemed like a good choice. Not to mention the whirling bubbly water in the hot tub after. I imagine I’ll be trying the pool again sometime soon. But with two winter weather events predicted for this upcoming week, I’m liking the notion of something less watery at present.
I don’t know what school children’s phys ed experiences and activities are like now, but reflecting on my own not very edifying schoolchild exposure to satisfying exercise activities, as well as the pleasure and benefit that I find in exercise as an adult, I hope that these things are not given totally short shrift in schools now, either on account of budgetary challenges or academic pressures. Moving, breathing, walking, stretching, seem too precious to shortchange.