My favorite class was English, my least favorite was math, but the class that struck fear into me was GYM. Boy, I dreaded Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. I remember how my stomach fell just thinking about gym period. In the class just before gym, I'd sit in my seat and contemplate all the terrible things that were to come. I literally felt chills running through my body. I would get physically sick from the thought of it.
My junior high school gym teacher was Mrs. Larks. The students thought she was the devil incarnate. Mrs. Larks had this little drum that she carried with her. "Girls," she'd scream, "today we will be doing squat thrusts. When I bang the drum the first time you will squat. On the second beat, you will thrust your legs out. On the third you will go back into your squat positions, and on the fourth, you will stand up. Squat, thrust, squat, up. Now do it1x" With this command, Mrs. Larks would start to beat that drum. Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang. I saw her in my nightmares beating that drum and screaming for us to squat and thrust. Her screams tormented me throughout junior high school. And then I went into high school and met Mrs. Boxton.
If Mrs. Larks was the devil incarnate, Mrs. Boxton was the original devil. She struck fear into the hearts of every female student in school. At the beginning of each year, when we went to gym the first day, all the girls sat in fear, watching to see if Mrs. Boxton would walk through the door to be their teacher.
Once, Mrs. Boxton was trying to "help" a girl use the uneven parallel bars. The girl was so afraid that she was in tears. She was holding on to the top bar with both hands and both legs and Mrs. Boxton was slapping her rear end yelling at her not to be such a baby and to stop crying. The rest of the gym class sat there horrified, afraid to move, and very glad that were weren't the one on that bar.
And you wonder why I learned to hate exercising? With gym teachers like those it was hard to even tolerate it1x
When I went to college I discovered that exercise wasn't as bad as I thought it was. I found out that swimming is exercise, and basketball, and golf, and dancing. Exercise wasn't something to be feared or to dread.
When I think about my teenage years, I see how the school system failed me. Instead of showing me that movement was good, it taught me to shun it. To me, exercise meant fear with large doses of humiliation.
I try not to remember those days. Now when I exercise I try to see the fun in it because it is fun. Too bad I didn't know that all those years ago. I hope things have changed in schools. Let's all make sure it has. Learning to be healthy is one of life's most important lessons.
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