Sometime in the late 1990s, I decided to try every sport in my university yearbook. Here’s the set; it’s here mainly to stop my friends having to hear my sports war stories ever again.
- American football. I played this with a great bunch of mates in York. Fun, but lots and lots of waiting around and the practices seemed to take forever. I”m forever grateful to know the difference between a zigzag and a zagzig (or I would if I could remember it – left before right, or right before left?), and have happy memories of afternoons out on the field and the wonderful planning disaster that left our scratch side playing against the UK league champions on our first official game (they were very very sweet and gave us lots and lots of hints in an impromptu them-to-us training session).
- Archery.
- Badminton.
- Baseball.
- Boxing.
- Canoeing. Only went sea canoeing, but I think (see rowing) I’d really get the bug if I got round to river canoes.
- Climbing.
- Cricket. Played local league, but wouldn’t have been allowed to continue if my side was promoted, because I was a girl. Harrumph.
- Cycling. Still a favourite sport.
- Diving
- Fencing. Another favourite sport.
- Football. 11-a-side, 5-a-side, kicking a ball around a field.
- Golf. Hit a lot of balls in the practice area; again could see the point, but really couldn’t get into it. Has come in handy for crazy golf sessions though.
- Gymnastics.
- Hockey.
- Karate. It’s beautiful, I can see the point of it, but I got so so bored (and took up Thai boxing instead).
- Kickboxing.
- Netball.
- Orienteering.
- Puddox.
- Rounders.
- Rowing. Eights, fours, quads, pairs, doubles, single scull: I rowed them all and loved every one of them. My favourite sport ever, and a wrench to move away from a rowable river.
- Rugby. Rugby Union because women weren’t (and probably still aren’t) allowed to play league.
- Running. Terrible sprinter, a little better after 400m, but really just a social 10k+ racer.
- Sailing: dinghies, catamarans, yachts. I didn”t really get a choice about this: I come from a sailing family, and even the dog had his own lifejacket and sailing kit.
- Shooting.
- Snowboarding.
- Squash.
- Swimming. See under sailing.
- Table tennis.
- Taekwondo.
- Tennis.
- Thai boxing.
- Ultimate frisbee.
- Volleyball.
- Water polo.
- Windsurfing.
The list of things I missed is a little shorter…
- Parcours
- Underwater hockey
- Skydiving