June 18, 2005

Gymnastics, hah!

Saw my high school buddy today. We only had a few moments, but it was nice to see him and his family. His oldest son is participating in gymnastics--something that brought back some old memories. (cue the wayback music)

You see, I was a gymnast in high school for a couple of years. Vaulter. Yeah, that's right. I raced down the little track and hurled my body over the vault. It was fun. And I was ok at it. My senior year I qualified for the very last spot for state, but my best possible score wouldn't have gotten me to the finals.

But I digress. I often chuckle about how people perceive gymnasts and gymnastic teams. In many cases, they are the rich kids and well to-do. Some think male gymnasts are often gay (not that there is anything wrong with that) and A students. The bad boys are on the football team or someother sport.

My gymnastics team was not anything like this. Not even close. Several of my team-mates were those kids out at the curb smoking cigarettes. Most of them hovered on the edge of ineligibility. On the way to district tournament my junior year, several of my teammates were smoking grass in the back of the bus. Back. Of. The. Bus. I sat at the front of the bus horrified that we were all going to jail.

On the way back from State (Senior year) several of my team mates were drinking. They had filled their cooler inserts with some kind of booze.

So, when you think of gymnastics teams, add this image to your list.

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