Music and Athletics

RunningtheBasses
Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:51:40 +0000

lorelie makes a very good point. We’ve had some experience with injuries.

S3 (math not music) was a solid athlete who eschewed interscholastic competition for intramurals at a DI school. During the intramural volleyball championship game, he landed wrong after a spike and basically separated his foot from his leg. The doctors at Yale-New Haven managed to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again; he graduated on crutches. But three years later, that leg is still not the same.

S1 (fine arts) slipped and fell while holding a ceramic mug and sliced his hand open the semester he was scheduled to complete work for his senior show. A lefty, he quickly learned how to paint with his right hand. The show went on as planned. Eventually, he made a full recovery.

I can’t imagine a music major playing competitive sports. S2 (music) was also a successful high-school runner and THAT took a tremendous amount of juggling that often resulted in either an unhappy coach or conductor. He had hoped to be able to compete while pursuing a BM. He was told it couldn’t be done due to schedule conflicts and time demands. He was disappointed but the fact that no teams had anyone majoring in music made him realize this was indeed impossible. He runs for leisure and participates in the occasional road race, which suits him just fine.

Life is a series of compromises, and college provides ample opportunity to practice prioritizing.