<p>To answer your first question, yes. Pun totally intended. </p>
<p>Now answer mine: how can I get involved in sports if I've never really had the experience on teams/practicing etc? I had asthma as a child so I never got the experience. And the past couple of years I've been too GPA focused/academic for the time. </p>
<p>But I've since had that a-ha moment that life isn't about my GPA. It's certainly a bonus, but I now want to live a little and do things I've always wanted to do. However, high school sports are out of the question as my lack of experience would simply be embarassing for me.</p>
<p>So has anyone had a similar experience and been successful at learning how to play? I really want to do intramurals in college, but as I said before, I don't want to have so little experience i embarass myself.</p>
<p>You dont have to partcipate in a sport to get into a good college. As long as your doing something your passionate about is all that really matters.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses! I really appreciate it. </p>
<p>@dfree: I’m not out of shape or anything, but I’m not exactly confident in just being able to get up and go.</p>
<p>@SeattleBulldog: School is the last reason I’m doing it. I just want to get involved in something I really enjoy, and make close friends doing it. I wish I had focused LESS on getting into a good college to have this opportunity.</p>
<p>@SuperbBast: I’ve been training in running lately to get in shape to start something, but it’s not really the team environment I’m looking for, you know? Running’s a little more individual. Do you know of any other sports easily learned like running?</p>
<p>@Everyone: Is there a non-sketchy way to take like community classes or something?</p>
<p>I joined wrestling, one of the toughest sports you can do in HS, my freshman year of high school. I had not had any athletic experience, let alone wrestling experience, up to that point. I was just a 120 pound, 70 inch tall twig. One year later, I placed at regions. It’s not easy to join a sport without any prior experience, quite the opposite, but it’s definitely possible. </p>
<p>Some sports are more beginner-friendly than others. I also picked up tennis my freshman year, again, without any prior athletic experience. I can’t say I was some kind of prodigy, but I did decent - but more importantly, I had a lot of fun with it. But something like tennis is a lot more beginner friendly I’d say than a sport like baseball or soccer. These sports pretty are chock-full of kids that have been playing Little League before they even hit double digits. </p>
<p>If you want my advice, I’d say cross country, track, and swimming (sports without a ball) are fairly beginner friendly. Things like wrestling and rowing are sports that can be really tough, but I’d say a large percentage of kids who do these dont start until high school so they’re possible too.</p>
<p>@Rob: Great point with tennis and rowing, it’s good to hear that those are more user friendly. I actually just googled local rowing lessons and found some intro classes, so that could be cool. I know it takes TONS of endurance though. It seems cheap and cool enough for me to want to really commit to it. I might check them out. Thanks a bunch. </p>
<p>Has anyone here gotten into rowing recently?</p>
<p>Swimming isn’t nearly as particularly beginner friendly as Running - most high schoolers who are competitive train at a bare minimum 10 hours a week, and those who are above average 15+. I do recommend track/cross country though, for even though you are worried about the lack of a team environment, you are wrong insofar is that although it’s for yourself, running is also about the team. When you’ve but in those hard yards in training, it’s about as team oriented as you can get…however, your decision!</p>
<p>idk if baseball is the same in the US, but our sort of alternative, rounders, is really good for beginners and a lot of fun as well. And there aren’t any pro/properly competitive teams out there so its n big deal if you aren’t great.
That may or may not be any use to you :)</p>
<p>Also cycling’s pretty good, and as few people do it it’s generally not a big deal if you aren’t great. I cycle competitively but only started it as an individual sport (i used to do triathlons) 6 months ago. Obviously not going to work if you want to do track stuff though, but road/circuit racing is generally beginner friendly, but expensive</p>
<p>Like the Nike ads, you have to just do it. Find something and jump right in. Now with that in mind there will be some sports that are not going to be a good idea if you have never played. You might want to stay away from football or soccer because there are certain skills involved. Look for something that you can try without hurting yourself too much also.</p>
<p>Golf is a good one, because really you are never too old to start that. Many schools have a golf team. Tennis is fun to learn, but is hard to become competitive at. Probably the best place to start would to be track and field. </p>
<p>There are many spots on the track team that you could try out for. If you can run with the asthma then try to do some of the in between races. not long distance and not sprints. Those that get you going for a half mile or a mile are more to do with sheer will and built endurance over any talent. There is also the shot put, the javelin, and the disc, that are thrown in track and field. You will likely be surprised by the variety of sports that are offered that you didn’t even know about.</p>
<p>Maybe you could start by going to the gym/running to get your strength/endurance up before you try out for a team so at the very least you’re fit and in shape. You could also start practicing with friends…</p>
<p>As far as the actual sport goes, I play volleyball and have for awhile but it’s actually a fairly easy sport to pick up if you put the effort in. Once you get good at the basics, you’re pretty much set. It’s really fun and you’ll definitely make friends doing that. </p>
<p>Someone recommend golf, I play that too but I’m not sure that I’d recommend that unless you have a lot of time in your schedule to devote to it. It’s really fun when you get decent at it but again, it’s a large time commitment. </p>
<p>Good luck to you! I hope you find a sport that fits you Don’t give up!</p>
<p>HAHA this thread is so me I’m a sophomore and am going to play lacrosse this spring for the first time ever so we’ll see how it goes! I was pretty athletic when I was younger but haven’t really played anything in a few years. It should be fun if I can manage all the practices haha</p>
<p>I picked up field hockey as a junior because of a whim. It turned out fine, the sport wasn’t particularly competitive or anything. I wouldn’t suggest joining Lax or crew or something very difficult at this point. The only thing to watch out for is the intensity school teams practice with! I only ever did “peewee” soccer as a kid, and didn’t expect to be conditioning or running so much. You get used to it though.</p>
<p>Was your asthma really serious as a kid? It seems a shame when people don’t do sports because of it, as it atually improves lung strength and control over breathing, and many sports are still do-able.
I’ve had asthma since I was 4, and I swim, cycle, play netball and rounders competitively, and used to do x country and track. Obviously it makes things harder, but I can manage it.</p>
<p>BTW, I’m not trying to rant at you (as it may seem) just at the general perception some people have of asthma :)</p>
Don’t give up!</p>
I’m a sophomore and am going to play lacrosse this spring for the first time ever so we’ll see how it goes! I was pretty athletic when I was younger but haven’t really played anything in a few years. It should be fun if I can manage all the practices haha</p>