I have never considered myself a “sporty” person. The extent of my participation on team sports (asides from school gym class) would have to be the two years I spent playing tee-ball. My parents enrolled me in a summer league for tee-ball, one were all the kids got trophies at the end for participation. I basically sucked at the game. During the two years I played, I spent many hours studying the clouds in the outfield, getting sun burn and walking into swinging bats: experiences that did not endear me to the sport.

My parents tried to expose me to other sports, hoping one would stick. The only ones I ever really enjoyed were swimming and skiing, and I did not show great skill for either. Swimming was another summer sport, but one I liked. It’s always been fun for me but I never learned past the basic strokes and never swam competitively, unless you count games of “Marco Polo”, which could get cutthroat. The swim classes had different levels like "tadpole" and "frog" and "shark". I always did each level twice. The first time around I was awful but the second time around I was really good. When I "graduated" from the classes I basically stopped swimming regularly except for just lounging around in the pool in my backyard, but I still love being in the water and spend as much time as I can in the water during the summer.

I also skied much more when I was younger than I do now, only stating up again this past winter after a five-year recess. Skiing is another sport I enjoy but don't have a talent for. A friend told me this winter after observing my “style” that I had a “very fast pizza”. In other words, I flew down the mountain in a perpetual wedge trying desperately to slow myself down. I was in skiing classes from a very young age and managed to keep up the sport even after the classes were done. There is a little tiny ski area five minutes away from my house called Mt. Peter so getting there wasn't hard, but after I stopped having anyone to ski with, I stopped skiing. This past year I went a few times with a friend, Nicole, who I met at school, and realized how awful I really was! We went to the ski area about an hour's distance from our school called Greek Peak.

Gym class at school was always torture for me, as I am not an athletic person and slightly out of shape. The last time I enjoyed Gym class was probably 3rd grade when we played kiddy games all the time. Middle school was just bad, especially when they made gym class co-ed, and the last time I had traditional gym class was 9th grade when I got two bloody noses while running the mile (on two different occasions). 10th and 11th grade my school offered "weight lifting" classes and in my senior year of high school I got gym credit for being a gym teacher aide and I got to be an aide in kindergarten, 1st, 5th and 6th grade gym classes.

At Elmira College, there is a small credit requirement of phys- ed classes, but the ones offered in college are a lot more fun that high school. This year I took an ice-skating class and learned the basics of ice-skating like cross-overs and going backwards, stopping without falling and most importantly, being comfortable on the ice. I enjoyed this class so much that I plan on taking it again.

Me (left) and Friends Ice-skating