Sports

Daejeong, le 10 mars 2021

You have it or you don’t. I don’t. I’m talking about a talent for sports. I’ve always liked sports, always liked to play sports, always liked to watch sports. I’m grateful to have been born with other skills. I am smart enough to be a leader and a good organizer in my field but I still like sports.

We are lucky to be able to use the school’s facilities: a gymnasium, olympic length swimming pool, soccer field, golf practice greens. Last night, three of our friends joined Stephanie and I for badminton in the gym. It was more for the exercise but a little competition made it fun. Keith was with us. He has a natural talent for sports. He has “it”. It’s a real pleasure to watch him go with what seems to be no effort at all: the eye-hand coordination, to always be at the right place on the court, to know what strength to apply, where to aim and it’s all done without sweat and without bragging.

As a boy and a young man, I played many sports. Being Canadian, of course, I played hockey. My skating was far from great. So I tried indoor hockey. I was a little better but still lacked many skills. I played baseball, soccer, volleyball and many other ball sports, squash and, of course, badminton. I’ve been cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. I did not know how to swim until I was in my early thirties. I wanted my daughters to swim so I sent them to a class. When they eventually knew how to swim, naturally, they wanted me to take them to the pool. So I also had to learn. My first run at downhill skiing at 56 years old was less successful.

My hockey playing was not good enough to compete in a league with my friends so I became a referee. As a student, I was working the night shift at a summer job in downtown Montréal. Most of the time after work I went to the bar until closing time. In the morning, I would cycle about ten kilometers to the gym to play squash for a couple of hours, cycle back home and go to work again and do it over the next day. I think I won two games that summer. My only real success, where I could really compete with others, was Go-Kart racing but as I gained weight with age, however, I became less competitive.

As a teenager and a young man, before the children were born, I played badminton almost every Friday night. Of course, with practice, I got better but my friends did also. I was always a notch behind. No matter, I had endurance. I still have endurance and I still have the will to move. Playing badminton last night was fun and gave me a good sweat.

Most of my career I worked in front of a screen or sat around a meeting table, not moving enough. In retirement, I’m on my bike every day. I am moving a lot more, sweating a lot and loving it, although I still don’t really have “it”.