ariadnes_string (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ariadnes_string) wrote2009-11-18 10:33 pm
ariadnes_string) wrote2009-11-18 10:33 pm
Entry tags:
Weird Sports I Have Tried
About a year ago my older son, then 7, started taking fencing lessons (out of a combination of the need for a winter sport for a really active kid who wouldn't do basketball, finding a studio right by our house, and the feeling that since my two boys continually wack each other over the head anyway, they might as well do it with protective clothing and constructive coaching). Anyway--he loves it, is obsessed with it, etc.--and it has been really good for him.
So, when my friend D., whose son also fences, signed up for the adult class this month, my son pressured me into signing up too.
And I have to say that it was really fun--even though (or maybe because) I usually had to practice, not with my friend D., who is the same age and height as me, but with the only other lefty in the class--a guy who was a good foot taller than me and probably at least 15 years younger ("c'mon," the teacher kept saying--"so he's younger and taller and faster--you can use that against him!" Yeah, right) It's a sport about concentration and body awareness/ positioning, which I always like--with the added adrenaline rush of trying to wack somebody, which is, as my sons have been demonstrating for years, surprisingly satisfying.
I'm not sure I'm going to do more of it-it's definitely not going to replace Ashtanga yoga, my exercise of choice--and wearing the big helmet as a little claustrophobic. But I'm so glad I tried it.
Plus, I now have a mental image of me--me--actually going after someone with a three-foot steel sword. Which cracks me up!
So, when my friend D., whose son also fences, signed up for the adult class this month, my son pressured me into signing up too.
And I have to say that it was really fun--even though (or maybe because) I usually had to practice, not with my friend D., who is the same age and height as me, but with the only other lefty in the class--a guy who was a good foot taller than me and probably at least 15 years younger ("c'mon," the teacher kept saying--"so he's younger and taller and faster--you can use that against him!" Yeah, right) It's a sport about concentration and body awareness/ positioning, which I always like--with the added adrenaline rush of trying to wack somebody, which is, as my sons have been demonstrating for years, surprisingly satisfying.
I'm not sure I'm going to do more of it-it's definitely not going to replace Ashtanga yoga, my exercise of choice--and wearing the big helmet as a little claustrophobic. But I'm so glad I tried it.
Plus, I now have a mental image of me--me--actually going after someone with a three-foot steel sword. Which cracks me up!