Random Post 1: Sports

Sports

One of my many goals in life is to play as many sports as I can. I grew up playing soccer, tennis, and basketball, but there are so many other sports and activities that exist that are so fun to learn and do, even if I might not be very good at them. I love staying active and getting outside, so these new activities have been a fun outlet for me to exercise and have fun.

Some of my favorite (more unique) sports or activities that I have learned this past year are trapezing, pickleball, hiking, and paddleboarding/other water sports. I have also been working to improve in other areas like golf and tennis, but I have had the most fun trying out these newer areas.

Trapezing was probably the most terrifying thing I did this entire year. I have a huge fear of heights, so I surprised myself when agreeing to do this. I am glad videos don’t fit in this blog, because the video of me trapezing for the first time was extremely humbling and embarrassing.

I also learned how to paddleboard sitting down and standing up, which was very fun and exciting. I got to paddleboard over some small sharks (another fear of mine). Apart from only falling off of the board once, I learned how to keep my balance better and enjoyed seeing the wildlife in the areas I was paddleboarding.

Another sport I learned was pickleball. Pickleball is becoming more and more popular, and I jumped on the pickleball bandwagon and played all summer and winter break with my friends from home. It was a great exercise and was very fun to play with people of all ages (10 years - 70 years). I was able to play with my family as well, which was fun and less fight-inducing than our family tennis matches have been in the past.

I have never been the biggest fan of running outside of my soccer and tennis matches, but I was recently inspired by my friends Charlotte and Saphia, who trained for and ran a half marathon. I decided to start training for a 10k with some friends, and we are all working together on this goal, which we hope to run in April. It is exciting to have a new goal to work towards, so I hope I stay motivated enough to finish running the 10k.

From learning these new sports, I have learned that it is okay (and even fun) to be really bad at something and work on it to get better. I also learned it is worth it to face some fears and try something new, as I have never regretted any of my experiences.