<p>Springtime always meant softball. A friend and I would lean against the back fence way far away from the action…the ball would get back to us about twice a year and when it did, it wasn’t a pretty sight. I could go days and days without batting…there were always many girls who were more than willing to cut in front of me in the line up. About once a week the teacher would notice that she hadn’t seen me at bat, then I’d have to endure that humliation.</p>
<p>The thing is, we never - ever -worked on skills. We were just sent out to play. No working on catching or hitting or throwing…we just played and kept score.</p>
<p>Basketball was ridiculous…we just played and kept score and the teacher would blow the whistle constantly, calling fouls and various mysterious penalties. I really didn’t understand all the calls in basketball until my own kids played in a league when they were little where the ref would explain to the group everything he was calling.</p>
<p>How did those teachers collect a full time paycheck without ever trying to teach us anything? I guess it was just crowd control.</p>