Over the past forty or so years I have played lots of sports. It all started when I was a little boy and attended an all sports camp. Over the years I have played baseball (my first love), football, hockey, basketball, golf and tennis. The question is what is the hardest sport for me to play? Well it was one of the ones that I listed with a little twist.
So let me set up the story. About 12 years ago, I am visiting my parents in Boca Raton Florida. It was another beautiful morning, one that I was going to hit tennis balls with Gunner the local pro in the area. Gunner is a great guy with lots of patience, a big smile, great strokes and an amazing upbeat personality. After sweating up a storm for an hour my next door neighbor Sonny was hitting with Gunner next. We exchanged hellos, handshakes and as I was walking to go to the golf range to hit some balls Sonny said "what are you doing in an hour?" I respond with "Nothing. What did you have in mind?" So we decided to play tennis in an hour.
When I returned (after hitting 100 golf balls, 98 not so well), Sonny was finishing up with Gunner. As they were done Gunner said why don’t you try it with this? Now you are probably wondering what "this" is? Well what I forgot to mention is Sonny has MS and has been confined to a wheelchair for many, many years. So the "this" that Gunner mentioned was a wheelchair. I have been playing tennis for over thirty years, but never in a wheelchair and frankly was a little taken back by the thought. As I sat down I was very uncomfortable in the chair, not to mention wheeling around trying to hit a tennis ball and by the way hit it close to Sonny – a lot of pressure. Well forty minutes into the experience I was really enjoying it. It was very, very hard, and I used any and all of the coordination I had in my body.
Well as I was going back for a return I fell out of the wheelchair and it ended up on top of me. I paused for a few minutes and looked up to the beautiful sun and blue sky and was thinking about life, how embarrassed I was at the situation and what I was going to do to get this wheelchair off me. I then realized I could move the wheelchair off me, brush the clay off, get a towel, clean up and get back in the wheel chair.
No what would Sonny do? He would need to call someone over to help him get back in the chair. At that point I realized so much:
- How lucky I was to have my health!
- How fortunate I was to be able to do things for myself!
- No matter what the future brings good or bad, I will have the same positive attitude and smile that Sonny has!
These were three life lessons that I learned on that sunny day playing the hardest sport I have ever played in my life.
- What is the hardest sport you have ever played?
- Did it teach you any life lessons?
I look forward to reading your comments.
Michael Halberstam says:
I have a slightly different twist. I have 5 neices and nephews who all have some form of physical disability. My brother and sister-in-law adopted them at different stages from Russia. Their parents were all exposed to the fallout from Chernobyl and gave up their children at birth.
My most difficult time in sports was watching each of them each during their first attempt to swim, play soccer or basketball. I was very nervous each time hoping they would do well and not be embarassed. Every time they would have a set back they’d just get up and keep going.
It is always amazing to me when I watch my neice Marina put on her prostetic legs and go shoot hoops or watch Nicky who has no lower arms jump in the pool and swim like a fish. When I am around, playing with them, I have as much fun and get as much satisfaction as I do when I play sorftball.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Michael,
GREAT story – appreciate you sharing.
Merrill
Fee Sepahi says:
Hi Merrill,
What a touching subject.
As an avid sports enthusiast, I have worked with kids around Easter Seals and an equine program, where we assisted kids with serious limitations, find their peace, focus and element on a horse back ride. Lately though I have participated actively on my bike in a ride to raise funds for MS. This all started when our dear friend Suzie contracted MS at the age of 32 and we as her friends and family chose to show our support for her, by walking, running and riding for MS. Suzie unlike Gunner became debilitated more and more and within 2 years and several surgery’s she lost her battle to MS.
I still participate in the MS City to Shore ride and though I will never know the pain that Suzie felt and her family endured, I know that the toughest thing for me to do is to not quit, no matter how many miles I’ve peddled, even when it’s been pouring rain, the onbjective is to finish the 150 trek to Ocean City and back.
To help me stay on task; I’ve taken on wearing the 1st names of folks who have MS on my helmet and I use them as my motivation to peddle on and raise awareness as my friends and family seek out relief from this debilitating disease. I’m sad to report that my helmet is to date covered with more than a dozen names, when I started with just Suzie.
Sorry about the shameless plug but you can find more information about my effort at: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/PAEBikeEvents?px=1654140&pg=personal&fr_id=10329&s_tafId=103084
and our fabulous team at CETRA Language Solutions is: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/PAEBikeEvents?team_id=138763&pg=team&fr_id=10329&s_tafId=103084
All the best in health,
Fee
Merrill Dubrow says:
Fee,
What a great story. I love the idea of putting the names of people who have MS on your helmet.
You have a big heart – thats for sure!
Keep up the good work.
Merrill
Paul Kirch says:
That’s really great Fee. I’m a big supporter of the MS Society and have done their walks and rides numerous times. I have a couple of close friends who have been afflicted by the disease. I think the MS Society really does a great job of rallying support.
Lynn Stalone says:
I have a little different story here, but to the same point.
Many years ago, my entire extended family went skiing in Mammoth. My husband – Mike (who was my fiance at the time) came along, though he didn’t ski. I encouraged him to take lessons and he took one, then proceeded to come with all of us up to one of the black diamond runs. Not a good choice, but his own doing – he was pretty stubborn. He was insistent that he could do this and brushed off all advice and offers of help. So, we all flew down the run leaving him at the top to learn his lesson.
It was painful to watch, although many in my family got a good laugh out of it. After quite some time (mostly on his posterior), Mike finally took off his skis and walked down. He was embarrassed, furious and vowed never to ski again.
In that moment, we looked up to see a guy with the most beautiful form I had ever seen, cutting through the moguls at very high speed. He was incredible to watch. Mike stopped complaining and watched, as well. As the man passed us, we were speechless – he had only one leg. This guy wasn’t just skiing with one leg, he was excelling at the sport.
Mike just stared after him, then looked at me and said “I’m going to go down and see if I can take another lesson this afternoon.” I found out later that Mike finally found the skier we saw and talked with him at some length. I think it was a life-changing event for him and a not so subtle reminder to the rest of us to not take for granted what we have. People with far greater challenges achieve amazing things every day.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Lynn,
Great story – and a nice thing to remind ourselves – that everything and anything is possible. You can overcome any challenge and make things happen every single day!
Merrill
Kim Larson says:
OK, could not pass this one up. Many of you know my little one is a competitive figure skater. They occasionally do shows for the general public and work with the learn to skate kids on thier competitions. There is a little girl in our valley whose greatest wish was to be an ice skater. She has cerebral palsy and has very little control of her legs, head and arms. You can imagine her mothers fear of putting her little girl on the ice in skates. Anyway, one of the coaches took her on for free, put skates on her with her walker, and one of the very experienced older skaters adopted her on the ice. She had 4 or 5 lessons and learned a program the best she could with this older skater helping to push her walker around the ice. Katrina (the little girl) was the special guest skater at our last show. We found a dress for her, put her in the dressing room with all the girls her age and she skated her heart out under the lights. No skater that night got more applause than she did. 2 days later, the paper did a full page story on her dream coming true.
The girls complained a lot about falling and the pain of figure skating before that show, they still do, but not nearly as much.
Kim C. Larson
Merrill Dubrow says:
Kim,
Fantastic story – really appreciate you sharing. Love a story that has learnings along the way.
Thanks.
Merrill