Boys are supposed to play basketball, baseball or football.” Swimmers do more yardage than football players, more sets than volleyball players, more kicks that a soccer player, and more flips than a gymnast. Yet people come to me claiming that the one activity that I excel at is not worthy of being called a sport. Even though these opinions and remarks don’t affect me anymore, it left quite a mark on my childhood. At school, I was viewed differently by my peers since I was one of the only swimmers there. I was left out of many activities that other children played due to my lack of knowledge of “real” sports. This exclusion from events led me to believe that it was by some fault of my own that I was being excluded. Without anyone to relate to, I had became an outsider who prefered to read and stay inside than to go out and meet new people. Even though school was torture, my entire attitude changed when I went to practice. It was the one place that I could connect to the people who had the same interests as
Boys are supposed to play basketball, baseball or football.” Swimmers do more yardage than football players, more sets than volleyball players, more kicks that a soccer player, and more flips than a gymnast. Yet people come to me claiming that the one activity that I excel at is not worthy of being called a sport. Even though these opinions and remarks don’t affect me anymore, it left quite a mark on my childhood. At school, I was viewed differently by my peers since I was one of the only swimmers there. I was left out of many activities that other children played due to my lack of knowledge of “real” sports. This exclusion from events led me to believe that it was by some fault of my own that I was being excluded. Without anyone to relate to, I had became an outsider who prefered to read and stay inside than to go out and meet new people. Even though school was torture, my entire attitude changed when I went to practice. It was the one place that I could connect to the people who had the same interests as