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Were you popular and sporty in school?

(131 Posts)
biglouis Tue 12-Apr-22 01:07:46

I was a swotty kid and hated sport. There were other subjects I did not particularly enjoy (maths, science. housecraft) but was around the middle of the bunch in my class. I was always slow and clumsy at sport.

I especially hated the way the two most sporty girls were named team captains and had to pick their teams turn and turn about.

Yes - I was always the one left standing at the end.

In contrast my sister was good at sport but not academic. Her life was made difficult because she was not top of the class.

When I was 14 the following conversation took place:-

Sports teacher: your not interested in sport are you Biglouis?

Me: No miss, Im not good at it and I dont see the point

Sports teacher: You cant go through life ignoring the things you dont like Biglouis

Me: Look Miss, Im top of the class in 5 academic subjects and its those I will be putting down on the application forms when I look for a job. Im going to be going into the civil servise or one of the professions. Im not looking for a job as a sports teacher,

Sports teacher: youve got an answer for everything Biglouis. Your a cheeky girl.

Me: no miss, you asked me a question and I answered you.

In spite of being top of the class and always representing my house in various competitions (and mostly winning) I was never chosen as a prefect. I suspect that not being "popular and sporty" had something to do with that.

Twig14 Fri 15-Apr-22 16:25:42

Wasn’t mad keen on sport played Netball, Rounders n Hockey. Didn’t like Hockey but forced on us. Detested the PE teacher who wasn’t particularly nice. Think a few teachers just post war were like that. I was as at all girls school quite strict.

jandrayson2 Fri 15-Apr-22 16:30:30

I wasn't very good at sport, except Tennis & rounders, which I liked, I hated Hockey, & Cricket, & as it was a boarding school, I was always being picked on for pranks, like apple pie beds & hiding my bath towel on bath nights (which were compulsory),
I hated boarding school, had very few friends, & wasn't good at anything except Drama & dancing, (Ballet & Tap, which I loved). Couldn't wait to leave.

PrettyNancy Fri 15-Apr-22 16:32:23

NO, NO, NO!! I was shy, sad and short, so when being 'picked' for teams, it was always me and the fat girl (there was only one in those days!) that were left. For netball, (which I hated) I was begrudgingly told 'you can be centre' ... and I can't hit a ball with a bat so tennis was out of the question too! I usually came top in all my classes except maths, which I had missed out on in infants school because I could read well before I started and the teacher put me outside with a 'big girls book' so I missed out on my arithmetic... I used to get beaten up by the other girls in secondary school for coming top in the end of term tests .. At secondary school I often got my Mum to write a note to excuse me from games. I hated every minute of being at school. Oh, and, what was the point of being made to climb up the wall bars?? it frightened me to death!!

Susieq62 Fri 15-Apr-22 16:38:09

I was sporty but gobby hence I was never a prefect or anything. I loved wearing my sports colours in the form of a tie, only time I was acknowledged. I left school just before my 16th birthday , went to technical college, worked for a year then went to the City of Leeds and Carnegie teacher training college to be a PE teacher. Taught for 36 years, did a social studies degree at uni part time, got a 1st class honours . So in spite of it all, did ok !!

AmberSpyglass Fri 15-Apr-22 16:43:58

I was reasonably popular but not sporty at all! Definitely a bit of a swot and I was a prefect etc, but my school didn’t seem to have cliques the way some did.

GrammarGrandma Fri 15-Apr-22 16:46:54

I loathed PE and team sports! If only we could have had keep fit or something like zumba - I would have enjoyed that. I formed my own little group of friends in the end; we were the rebels. But eight of us got Oxbridge places and the headmistress who hated us as much as we hated her, had to congratulate us. Sweet victory.

Neilspurgeon0 Fri 15-Apr-22 16:50:13

No and NO

Absolutely useless at sport, one good friend otherwise everyone I knew and liked went to the secondary modern whilst I was sent to the ‘Tech’. Since my hands might as well have been lumps if wood, and I had the craft skills if a haddock, this was the most wasted Education ever and detested. I finally got my MSc with Merit (never did get a first degree) aged 48 in a firmer polytechnic, by which time I actually knew what I was good at, something no teacher ever managed to figure out.

Obviously I then, after 14 years as an instructor, taught in a Russel Group University before becoming a local Government Advisor.

Paperbackwriter Fri 15-Apr-22 16:59:14

"Paperbackwriter is lazy" - appeared on my end of term report from the games mistress one year; a highly accurate comment on my prowess and interest in the subject. I was quite good at climbing ropes but otherwise, just.. no.

maddyone Fri 15-Apr-22 17:04:41

I was certainly not sporty at all. I don’t think I was either particularly popular or unpopular although I had my friends and in particular my best friend. I’m still friends with her nearly 60 years later and I love her like a sister. She’s one of my favourite people in my life.

LucyW Fri 15-Apr-22 19:54:41

I was, a fat child with glasses. Also academic. I hated sports and PE and avoided it like the plague. Spent the first two terms of sixth hiding in the girls' cloakroom with a group of friends to get out of double PE. I was, and still am, very clumsy. Despite the fact I was probably the girl most likely to be bullied I never was. I put this down to the fact that although I was academic I was never one of the "swotty" group and that I had good looking, very outgoing older brother that the other girls liked!

Daftbag1 Fri 15-Apr-22 19:59:10

I was a swimmer and runner (loved cross country), but rubbish at anything linked to a ball. Trouble was if you were good at one sport you ended up in all the teams.

Popular? Nope! I didn't (and still don't), know how to be a friend, in part because we were always moving , and in part because I have mild Asperger's. People don't want to be honest, and I'd never understood how to be.

Kim19 Fri 15-Apr-22 20:00:10

I was into team sports big time with reasonable success. Hated athletics with a vengeance. Popular? Very much middle of the road with good friends and no enemies. Think of my schooldays with great joy even now.

gmarie3 Fri 15-Apr-22 20:26:51

Nope. I was a skinny nerd who played violin, earned top grades, worked in the school library, hung out in the art room and avoided physical education like the plague. grin

DeeJaysMum Fri 15-Apr-22 21:15:36

@biglouis

You sound just like me, I was to of the class for pretty much everything academic and my PR teacher actually wrote in my school report that I was "an accident waiting to happen"!

Foxglove77 Fri 15-Apr-22 21:33:20

I loved sport and was chosen as Centre in netball and CF in hockey. I don't think they "bully off" anymore? But I wasn't one of those teachers favourites. So all season I played and in the finals I was replaced by teachers pets. I never once received a "medal" for my efforts, they were awarded to those who played in the finals.

GrauntyHelen Fri 15-Apr-22 21:47:07

Hated sport but was very academic and popular

Callistemon21 Fri 15-Apr-22 22:20:20

I was a swotty kid and hated sport

I was a swotty kid when my back was against the wall so passed all my exams.

As for sport, I loved it until hockey was on the syllabus. Never could balance on a parallel bar or climb a rope, though.
I never did domestic science but managed to feed a family somehow.

with the exception of Netball and Tennis
My favourites, Jzpap

Popularity? I think I liked most people, got on well with them and had close friends too. I'm still in touch with some of them 60 years later.

Callistemon21 Fri 15-Apr-22 22:21:19

Ps I went to an all girls school so that could make a difference re popularity.

Callistemon21 Fri 15-Apr-22 22:35:32

I was a swotty kid when my back was against the wall so passed all my exams.
That sounds boastful but it wasn't meant to be.
Thinking about it, some of us were a bit of a nightmare at school, rebelling against some of the more strict teachers.
I feel rather sorry for those teachers now.

Lyng17 Fri 15-Apr-22 22:48:55

Elusivebutterfly

I was quiet at school but good academically, near the top for all written subjects.
I hated sport and am quite unco-ordinated. I always felt awful when girls were picked for teams as I knew I would be standing there until the last couple chosen.
I also hated art as could not draw well and my pictures were never chosen to go on the wall.
It did seem as if the fact that I could do academic subjects well did not count much compared with physical abilities.

Very similar. I never understood why you could be mocked for being rubbish at sports but if you laughed at anyone in class you were in big trouble.

MissAdventure Fri 15-Apr-22 22:57:56

I wasn't sporty or popular, but I didn't care much.
I bloody hated getting undressed in a crowded changing room, then bouncing around on a trampoline, when I was self conscious about wearing a silly pleated p.e skirt.
The popular girls didn't appeal to me, either.
All flicky up hair and lip gloss, and carrying their gonks and pencils around in wicker baskets.

Callistemon21 Fri 15-Apr-22 23:05:09

I feel so old reading that, MissAdventure

Gymslips, ghastly gym tunics, velour hats and satchels.
Not a hint of lip gloss (actually, I don't think it had been invented) and hair had to be short or tied up.

In fact, I don't think trampolines had been invented either.

What is a gonk?

MissAdventure Fri 15-Apr-22 23:07:49

One of these.
They used to sit them on their desks.

Callistemon21 Fri 15-Apr-22 23:12:08

Oh yes, they're horrible.
We would have had them confiscated.
But I don't think they had been invented either!

PG Tips cards anyone?

Nannee49 Sat 16-Apr-22 10:10:51

I left school after 'o' levels to make my own way in the world and never had any desire whatsoever to be elected a prefect or, God forbid, head girl. Being ink monitor (unelected) was as good as it got for me.

Personally, I don't equate being sporty with being popular. I was absolutely rubbish at athletics, liked games - tennis, rounders etc but was never really arsed about getting picked for teams or not because I had lots of other things going on and wasn't bothered about the opinions of the team pickers anyway.