Except, how does that fit in with the fact that those who can't teach, teach gym?

Hey! My dad taught gym while coaching at some schools. I think I'm the only one who ever hated having him as a teacher.

"Desperately need a nap" isn't a valid excuse for going home sick, right?

God, I wish it were. Actually, I think it is sometimes. I am all about taking sick days if you've got them to spare.

DX, you can't be saying that classes are as dependent on the instructor as on the material, can you?

Wait, what?!? That's crazy talk.

I just can't see that dodgeball teaches any useful skills, other than How To Play Dodgeball.

I don't think field hockey or rounders or netball or the pommel horse taught me specific useful skills. Loved some, hated some, depending on how I liked to move or hit stuff. Generally, they got me mobile. I wasn't clear on there being much more of a point.

I think dodge ball with nerf balls might even be fun.

Reduces the risk of injury.

Miss Cross's* playground technique was to pick the two loudest-mouth kids. They were the team captains.

My grade school gym teacher, Mr. Hildebrandt, would have us line up and count off by 4's. He'd then decide which 2 groups would face off against which 2 other groups. A lot easier to keep teams fairly even that way.

Thanks Matt. I just called the printer and he was all "don't try to lay it out, I will lay it out." The "silly girl" was implied but not stated.

Well the upside is that the rest of my day will be far less frustrating. downside - 2 hours wasted.

We played Smear the Queer when I was growing up. (Apologies to my queer friends.) It was really rough and fun and exciting. I loved having the ball and running hard right through the potential tacklers.

We also played a kind of Kamikaze soccer which involved almost nonstop (soccer style) tackling and rough play on a field so huge that you spent the whole game in the middle never nearing the goal. It was similar to Smear the Queer in that there was lots of chasing and wiping out. Doing the soccer style slide tackle was incredibly satisfying, but it didn't really hurt when you got taken down.

Yay violent sports!

ita, did you really play rounders? What is it like, as a game?

Because I have to fight my "i'm not good at that so why should I do that" urges all the time.

This is familiar. There needs to be a Weekend Duffer track to gym, like there's a Vocational track in high school academic courses.

Cheese lovers, prepare to salivate.

my intro to athletics.

gym class

swimming lessons - with swim teachers that talked about the octopus in the lake ( which I knew wasn't there, but...!). Seriously, the reason I can swim is because I couldn't stay out of the water - adn my mom doesn't swim well. so she made me take lessons until I could really swim well. I think if I had slightly better insturcters that didn't scare me quite so much I could have gotten into doing it compettively. Some day I''d love a a lap pool .

ice skateing and bicycling - both of which my dad taught me until I could do it . It felt like it took me 10,000x as long to learn it than anyone else. but I still like both - even though learning was tramatic at the time. ( tears, crying, sobbing)

my father getting the whole family up at dawn to go hiking " comeon , its good for you - it grows hair on your chest" that was the rallying cry. For the record, the man had 3 daughters.

today- I like to bike, swim, ice skate, and walk. some hiking, but not to strenuous. I will go to the gym - because I recognizes how much good it does. Sadly, I am still trying to convince dh that saying " let's go work out" does not inspire me. " let's go for a fun bike ride" or "let's go for a walk on the trail" are good. Never mention the word workout. My hangup - but it is easy to work around.

mmm... cheese