Oh, and there's that thing about hiking around the mountains of West Virginia, chasing invisible cows...

Yeah, but try getting a scholarship :P

I was pretty much the same in school; I was tolerable in floor hockey and badminton, and enjoyed the occasional ventures my class made into golf and curling, but that's about it. I'll watch baseball, hockey, curling, and the Olympics, but my preferred sports position is "Owner."

I hated a lot of gym activities; not sure which one the most. Running laps wasn't the most strenuous, but it consistently proved me last in the class. (The first time that I was second to last, my classmates raised me in the air by way of congratulations. I wasn't sure how to take it.) On a non-social level, my sit-ups were the most painful and my chin-up attempts the most pathetic. At least once in elementary school, I tried to hide from my gym teacher.

Ironically, each school year up to fifth grade ended with my least favorite day: the field day. Having to exercise all day outdoors was bad enough, but it was largely team exercises with a relay aspect. No way to avoid the guilt of costing one's team the victory.

By junior high, I'd developed a tolerance for exercise, and activities became (or at least felt) less competitive. I was no longer last at everything. In tenth grade, I actually ruled at swimming (but lacked the endurance for the swim team the next year). In terms of playing rather than spectating, swimming remains my #1.

At summer camp during those years, I frequently signed up for archery, tho I never got good at it. Never got the hang of kneeboarding at all, and I didn't dare waterski.

Nice use of "dasypygal," BTW. I learned the term from Peter Bowler.

Brother!

Was that marital arts or martial arts, or a combination of both? Verbal jiujitsu definitely needed for the former...

But, yes. Consider Aikido - a softer, gentler style with a nice philosophy behind it.

I hated PE, but not as much as I hated classwork lol

Cricket and rugby was the worst, but when I changed schools and found they had a bigger variety of sport I thought it could get interesting, until I found out that to do sailing, surfing or any of the interesting stuff, you had to own your own sailboat/surfboard etc and we didn't have the money.

But it was next to a golf course, and some friends and I took golf as a school sport! We figured we could walk around for 4 hours and not have to do much of anything. I would drag my old man's crusty rusty golf clubs in a crappy blue golf bag and trolley complete with housepaint overspray, much to the disgust of the club and other golfers, but I didn't care.

(I'd steal or stomp on the golf balls of any of the detractors anyway haha)

I still hate golf though.

horrible game played by people too arrogant to accept they need fashion support. :-P

Wish Archery was offered at school, I took it up once I left school and joined the workforce (still have my compound bow somewhere) and managed a gold medal in an under 18's state comp before giving it up for motorsport.

I should have taken up target shooting too, considering every time various friends loan me a go at their gear they invariably end up snatching it back off me and stomping off in a huff so I must be half ok at it haha

I'm with you on archery and riflery though I didn't get to do those that often.

Apart from that, swimming and volleyball are my favorites. I once did some judo but didn't follow it any more after the yellow belt. Perhaps some time ...