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Like so many other people, I was instilled with a deep hatred for doing sports largely through the efforts of sub-standard physical education teachers who forced us to play tons of under-supervised ballgames with little to no instruction. (Not everybody also acquired my level of resentment for sports fan culture through growing up in the college football capital of the country though.)
Would it be remotely possible to count the number of times I was forced to "play" "softball" in long, itchy, sun-crisped brown grass when it was actually too hot to be outside? No.
I mean, I hear people talk about sports being boring to watch, and it's true that I don't want to watch them and have occasionally seen them and been bored, but since nobody ever forced me to watch them, I don't have any flashbacks to bad memories there. Obviously other people enjoy watching them. They should keep doing that (although many times in my hometown I've felt that they should take it to a sportsbar so that ordinary restaurants and grills weren't suffused with sports noises). Watching sports is just boring to me, but talking about them (so many years of not telling all the crazy rival-team-trashtalkers to stfu) and mandatory participation in them (WHY) is what really gets my back up.
Guess which one of these my Finnish course pulled today?
This wouldn't be so much of a problem if they simply accepted that when they arrange for these non-Finnish-lesson activities like scavenger hunts and music trivia people will opt not to join in, and that's their right and there's nothing wrong with it. Obviously people do this anyway and it's not like they can stop them. But the point is that you don't need an excuse, because you're a fucking adult and you're here under your own willpower and you might not want to participate in something and it's not like you're getting paid for it.
I don't need to "work through" anything, here (though if I did it would be none of her business if I indicated a desire not to today).
It's not keeping me awake at night. It just taught me, with about 100 hrs of overkill, that I am not good at aiming, catching, running, or any other sporty things; that the desire to win and "team spirit" make about as much sense to me as pickles on icecream; that standing around waiting for a ball to come flying towards me, or alternatively for my chance to fail to hit a ball with a stick, is even less fun than getting nettle burn all over my feet; and that trying to pay attention to the action of a ballgame is even more difficult and painful to my poor brain than trying to pay attention to the names of all the utterly unmemorable plants in my mom's garden (but at least nobody wants me to remember where the plants are going or why, or predict these for the future).
Would it be remotely possible to count the number of times I was forced to "play" "softball" in long, itchy, sun-crisped brown grass when it was actually too hot to be outside? No.
I mean, I hear people talk about sports being boring to watch, and it's true that I don't want to watch them and have occasionally seen them and been bored, but since nobody ever forced me to watch them, I don't have any flashbacks to bad memories there. Obviously other people enjoy watching them. They should keep doing that (although many times in my hometown I've felt that they should take it to a sportsbar so that ordinary restaurants and grills weren't suffused with sports noises). Watching sports is just boring to me, but talking about them (so many years of not telling all the crazy rival-team-trashtalkers to stfu) and mandatory participation in them (WHY) is what really gets my back up.
RIGHT WAY TO DO CASUAL SPORTS: "Anybody who's interested can come out for a casual game of softball after lunch. No need to have played it before, we'll teach you."
WRONG WAY TO DO CASUAL SPORTS: "After lunch we're gonna all play softball on the lawn, but if you can't run don't worry, there are positions in the outfield too."
Guess which one of these my Finnish course pulled today?
This wouldn't be so much of a problem if they simply accepted that when they arrange for these non-Finnish-lesson activities like scavenger hunts and music trivia people will opt not to join in, and that's their right and there's nothing wrong with it. Obviously people do this anyway and it's not like they can stop them. But the point is that you don't need an excuse, because you're a fucking adult and you're here under your own willpower and you might not want to participate in something and it's not like you're getting paid for it.
ME: I'm going home at lunchtime because I hate softball :).
TEACHER: Ugh, *eyeroll*. You know what I've heard all day today? "I didn't bring my sneakers", "I can't run", "I have a headache", "I have trauma", "I didn't bring sports clothes with me"...
ME: Haha. Well, I have a trauma too!
TEACHER: If you don't ever play softball again, you won't ever have a chance to work through your trauma though and you'll just stay traumatized forever!
ME: Heh, well, that's completely fine with me. Bye!
TEACHER: Okaaayyy, bye.
I don't need to "work through" anything, here (though if I did it would be none of her business if I indicated a desire not to today).
It's not keeping me awake at night. It just taught me, with about 100 hrs of overkill, that I am not good at aiming, catching, running, or any other sporty things; that the desire to win and "team spirit" make about as much sense to me as pickles on icecream; that standing around waiting for a ball to come flying towards me, or alternatively for my chance to fail to hit a ball with a stick, is even less fun than getting nettle burn all over my feet; and that trying to pay attention to the action of a ballgame is even more difficult and painful to my poor brain than trying to pay attention to the names of all the utterly unmemorable plants in my mom's garden (but at least nobody wants me to remember where the plants are going or why, or predict these for the future).
