Sporting memories: Going from being picked near last to always first at a new school

This probably isn't allowed in schools anymore because it will hurt the feelings of some students or the teams have to be randomly assigned by a computer but back in "my day" the way teams worked in PE class or on the playground was everyone who was playing lined up and two captains would alternate picking who they wanted on their team.

While I was always pretty athletic, there was no reason for the kids at the new school I went to when I was in 6th grade to be aware of this. They had their cliques already and I was not part of them. They also had no idea if I was good at anything so at least for the first couple of weeks, I ended up being one of the last ones picked. At the age of 11 or whatever it is when you are in 6th grade, I hadn't hit my growth spurt yet so I was smaller than other kids my age as well, so this didn't help very much.

Things would change pretty rapidly after just a couple of weeks of being in this new school though.

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I would imagine that it was kind of humiliating to some of the less skilled students to be routinely picked last or near last. If you are old enough, you probably remember that there were always a few kids that just didn't seem to be good at anything physical so you didn't really "pick them" so much as you go stuck with them. As one of these players I would imagine that they knew that they were going to have very limited involvement in whatever game was being played but I do recall in things like dodgeball where every now and then one of the last-picked kids would have a moment of brilliance and I guess we were just nicer back then because everyone would be so surprised that "Jimmy" did well and would congratulate him much more than we would someone else who performed on the same level.

On my first week at this school and the first time I was subjected to the choosing process the game of choice was football (American football) and other than the few kids who had reached out to me because of desk proximity, almost no one even knew what my name was despite the fact that I had been subjected to the embarrassing "we have a new student here today kids" process that took place for everyone that moved to a new school.

So when I was picked on the playground that day, I was one of the last ones picked and I wasn't even referred to by name. I was just called "that guy."

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Little did they know: This was one of the sports I excelled at the most. Even back in those "do whatever the hell you want" days of the playground, we were actually not allowed to play full tackle football at school. It was "two hand touch" meaning that you were downed if someone got two hands on you.

So even though I knew I was good at this sport, I was young enough that it didn't really occur to me that I was perhaps a lot better than this lot was because other than the other school I had attended before this one and some neighborhood pick up games, I had never competed against anyone else. As it turns out, most of the kids at this school, including people that were picked well before me in the lineup, were not anywhere near as fast or capable as I was.

Still though, because these other kids didn't know me, they were hesitant to give me the ball. It wasn't until I returned an interception for a touchdown on defense that the other kids' eyes kind of lit up and they were like "oh damn, this new kid can play!" From then on I was someone that the offense focused on very heavily and I completed a lot of passes and got a few more TD's as well.

The next time we would go out for the same thing, the captains would always want to pick me near first or even first. They also learned my name. It was about a few weeks later before I got offered the chance to play quarterback and while I was good at that as well, it was evident to me and everyone else that my best position was to be in a receiving position.

That was a moment of great victory for me because even though it was decades ago, I still remember those few first weeks as if they happened a month ago. It's funny the things that stick out in your brain and what you end up remembering vividly.

I got a lot of new friends out of this as well so I guess you could say that I believe that playing youth sports is a fantastic way for kids to socialize and make new friends.

I haven't been to a school in a long time but from what the world appears to be to me now, it wouldn't surprise me at all of this sort of thing is heavily controlled or even banned. People's feeling would get hurt by getting picked last in the 80's for sure, but it toughened us up a bit and at least I think that it encouraged teamwork and also a desire inside of an individual to get better at something. These days, I fear that the kids are likely forbidden from ever even accidentally hurting someone's feeling so the sports themselves might even be banned from the playground. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me at all if recess (the time after lunch for run around and act like fools time) doesn't exist at all in an outdoors sense but is rather just a time where all the kids have access to their smartphones so they can play games.

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_{This is how I imagine modern-day recess}

But this last part might just be me sounding old and bitter. I hope that the kids do still go out and play group sports but since I have no children I don't know what it is like at all. If you do have a child, I would be interested to hear what this time of day is like for them.

The glory of going from zero to hero in just a few days was pretty epic and I would end up experiencing it an additional two times because in that part of my life my family was moving around a lot. The same situation ended up happening in about the same manner in the next 2 times as well.

Sports are important to kids and I hope a lot of the parents out there encourage their kids to get involved as much as mine did when I was young. It developed me into the person that I am today and for the most part, I am quite happy with my life.