When I moved into my new house, I found a bunch of old sports pictures I had been meaning to scan. I lost my printer CD (I use my printer to scan, too) so they just sat there. Then yesterday Karen posted some old sports pictures of herself and that motivated me to find the driver online and install it so I could scan my pictures. Got that? good.
Oh where to begin….
Graceful was never in my vocabulary. I have never been flexible or dainty. When I was five, I took ballet for a year. At our recital, we performed Hansel and Gretel. Our class was the gingerbread. It was fun and all, but I got bored and quit soon after. Showing my competitive nature early, no?
When we moved back to the New Orleans area when I started 3rd grade, I decided to play basketball. What. a. disaster. I was awful, I mean AWFUL. Watching the tape is painful. I would stand BEHIND the girl defending me and jump up and down flailing my arms trying to get the ball. But, one thing you could be sure of, I was the first one down the court EVERY TIME. I sprinted my little heart out, and then stopped on my block I was supposed to stand on as a forward. Pure hilarity. Unfortunately, I cannot put my hands on an elementary basketball picture. SSOO sorry about that one…not really. I don’t want to show you.
In 5th grade, I started playing soccer. My first year was hard, trying to pick up a new sport, but I blossomed my second year and scored many goals. I was very quick, so I played forward and loved it. One of my nicknames in school was “stick,” and another was “bird legs” anyone have any idea why?!?
I played soccer and basketball through sixth grade. When I hit seventh grade, I REALLY REALLY wanted to play volleyball. That was the first year you could play at my school. Our soccer team morphed into a select team, which would have included traveling and multiple games a week instead of just one which didn’t thrill my parents. They told me I had to choose volleyball or soccer. I did enjoy soccer, truly, but I had been wanting to play volleyball for years. Keep in mind my sister was going to be a 9th grader and had played volleyball for two years with me going to every game wishing I could play.
I am SO glad I made that decision because I LOVED volleyball. I can’t seem to find a jr. high volleyball picture either. so sorry! I also continued to play basketball through jr. high. Here I am in 8th grade after we won a tournament.
7th grade was also the first year you could run track. We had a jr. high and high school team. I was a very quick sprinter, so I got to run on both teams which was super fun.
7th grade was my favorite track year. I was running against 18 year olds in the 100 meter dash and relay, and beating a lot of them. I actually won district and placed in regionals and made it to state. Talk about intimidating! Running on the LSU track with people six years older than me. I managed to place 6th, and scored points for my team, which went on to win state (girls team). I got a big high school champion ring, and it’s my only one so I am proud of it!
In 9th grade I was so excited to play on the high school basketball and volleyball teams. The volleyball team had a separate JV and Varsity team, so I was stoked when I was asked to move up and also play varsity. I was the only 9th grader asked at this time and there was only one tenth grader, the rest were juniors (my sister was one) and seniors.
yup, that’s me freshman year. Not sure what that is on my neck. I think it was something stuck to the picture. oops.
I also started as a freshman on the varsity basketball team.
Here are a couple of pictures of me during volleyball games in tenth grade…
that’s actually my sister (number 4) in the below picture. It was fun to play on the same teams for two years.
My sophomore and junior years were also good track years. Here I am handing off in the 4x 200 relay
Junior year at a meet. Not sure what’s going on here.
running the 100 meter dash my junior year. I’m going so fast I am a BLUR! I kid.
Oh yeah, in 10th grade I anchored the 4 x 100 meter team and we got third at state and broke the school record which was kinda cool.
I was a pretty tenacious basketball player. I was on the floor diving after the ball a lot, but I truly loved it so much. Here I am with my mad ups going for a shot.
My ball. Let’s just say I fouled out of a lot of games.
Knocking poor girls over on my way to the goal. I made LOTS of intense faces when playing sports, by the way.
My senior year we got to do something pretty cool. The New Orleans arena, which is where the NBA team the Hornets play, had a program called the “Court of Dreams” where they let high school teams come and play on the court where the Hornets play. We were chosen to play and it was one of the coolest things playing in such a big place! I am right in the middle of the picture, number 4.
My senior year I was district MVP in volleyball, 1st team all district in basketball. I was named my school’s female athlete of the year, also receiving best offense in vball and best defense in bball. I am so glad my parents allowed me to play sports in school. I love competition, and that is what has fueled me to run, and to push myself to reach new goals for myself. I hope one day when I have kids they want to play sports like their mom!
I have a ton more pictures somewhere, I wish I could find them! Anyway, I thought it would be fun to take a little glimpse into what my athletic career has been like.
***My friend Crystal is trying to sell her size three running skirt, gently worn, looks like this:
If you are interested, e mail me or leave a comment and I can get you her e mail address!
QOTD: Did you play sports in high school? what was your most proud athletic moment in high school or college?
*Giveaway coming up in a couple of days!
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what a great look through your sporty past! how fun 🙂
I did play a lot of sports growing up but I definitely wasn’t naturally coordinated. I developed skills over time by working hard at it. In college I played rugby which was a lot of fun. Now I just train for endurance races by myself which I find peaceful 🙂
Too funny! I was in dance when I was younger, then progressed to soccer in elementary school, basketball and volleyball in middle school, then tennis and volleyball in high school – so pretty similar! However, I really think my true competitive nature didn’t appear until high school. When I was younger and played soccer, I actually would chat with my teammates most of the game! Then I was crazy competitive in high school. Go figure 🙂
funny! I took tennis lessons for like 3 months and hated it lol! I have tried almost everything haha
Heather, you brought back many memories from the past. I love all the old pics of you especially you as a ballerina. I had no idea you did that. It has been great reading all your blogs. The ones about running are so inspiring. Are you planning on doing the crescent city classic this year? It will be my first big race in years. I can’t wait.
Hey Amber! yes lots of memories!
I am not doing the CCC this year. To be honest, that race drives me a little crazy! There is no wave start, everyone just goes all at once (at least they used to) and you spend 6 miles weaving around slow people and walkers. It was FUN for sure, but I am to the point where I want to set PR’s and that is not a good race for it, but you will have a great time! Does your mom know I ran marathon? I bet she would pass out if she knew. I hated having to run 400’s at track practice!
I know I hated those dreaded 400’s. Of course I told my mom about you and the Disney Marathon. She was very impressed. I don’t know how you did it. You should be very proud of yourself. What a great accomplishment. I would love to do one just once to say that I finished one. But that will have to wait till the kids are older. It’s too hard to find the time to train right now.
if you ever do one, I HIGHLY reccommend the Disney marathon. We had a blast. We have done the disney half to and that was fun. I am planning on doing the princess half there in February. Hope you are doing well!
I was a cheerleader from 8th grade through 2 years of college. 3 years on varsity in high school. We competed, it was fun to go to nationals, even though we never placed there. I got to go to london as an all star my junior year. That was fun! Other than that, I was not involved in other sports. I definitely did not run! I’m not what you would call”fast”…lol. I’m happy to have discovered my passion for distance running now! (although I think I just do it for the skirts and the bling…)
Thanks for the skirt mention, heather! It is in excellent condition, does not even look worn.