When Grandma Was A LIttle Girl - #36

Story # 36 - 6th grade – high jump and track

Isn’t it a lot of fun to run a race or jump high or out far the best you can? Competition can be fun!

I loved running when I was in grade school. I could run fast! I remember that in 4th, 5th and 6th grades we would have track events toward the end of school. I was never good at doing hurdles. Somehow I had trouble getting one leg to clear the top of the hurdle. My knee would bang on the top of the hurdle and down came the hurdle and me! Now that I think back on the event, I think it was just not having confidence and a positive mental outlook. Somehow I just put up a mental block and was somewhat afraid of getting hurt and making it over the top of the hurdle. I also didn’t like getting scraped up on the hurdle and the cinder we ran on. That was worse than gravel!

What I did like was 'running on the track!' I was a fast sprinter! I could take off like a shot! There are two kinds of runners, distance and short runners. The distance runners kept an even and steady pace. The sprinter, or short distance runner, takes off as fast as they can and run a short distance and then they are done. I was the later-the sprinter. I loved the relay races and I could take off fast and pass off the baton to the next runner.

I also like doing the high jump. We would run and leap up into the air and dive over the bar and land in the pit. The highest I jumped was 4 feet and I was in 6th grade. It’s funny, but I didn’t mind jumping over that high jump bar and was not afraid of being hurt. But I sure didn’t like the hurdles. You fell on cinder whereas with the high jump you landed in a pit and didn’t get hurt.

I also liked doing the broad jump. You would run and then leap forward to see how far you could jump and land in the sand. I did okay. I only jumped 5 feet forward. I liked the javelin throw. I couldn’t throw them far but it was fun. I liked the track events.

I was not good at baseball. I could run fast to the bases but it was hitting the ball. I never hit it far and long. I usually hit it just barely past the bases and it was usually caught! But I had fun playing baseball.

I liked playing basketball. I could usually hit the basket most of the time! I did not play sports in Junior High or High School. I went to them all and loved cheering at them.