Today I was in a park near my old secondary school and I passed the bit where we used to have our 'Sports Day'.

I think it is obscene the way we teach so many young people to HATE sport. The way we ingrain a deep-seated fear of the humiliation associated with it. 1/

When doing PE or sports, you were either naturally gifted, with parents who encouraged and taught you or... well you just had to fend for yourself.

My PE teachers weren't necessarily evil, but for those of us who struggled we were invisible. 2/

It may sound odd, but the presumption was that as a 'boy' I would know how to play football; How to kick a ball.

I didn't.
Nobody taught me.
I would just jog around panicking.

Because of this the DREAD I would feel before every godforsaken PE lesson was just terrible. 3/

There are many of us who felt this way. Embarrassed by our peers every week with no opportunity to ever catch up. So we grew up with an intense loathing of ALL physical activity because of the way it made us feel.

Not the running. Or the sweat. But the judgement. 4/

It took me 25 years to realise I actually like exerting myself. I love the challenge. I love the zen space of physical effort.

Now I love weightlifting, swimming and hiking but I had to rewrite my own brain just to be brave enough to step into those spaces! /5

I hope things are better today but I worry they are not.

I hope people here have found their own ways to enjoy their bodies just being alive and playing games.
If you have, good on you.
If not, good lord I understand. X 6/