I kinda don’t get the picking thing. Obviously it happens…. but we knew who was strongest and weakest athletes so we usually gave the strongest athlete the weakest to even out teams.

Then kinda mixed up the middle.

Anonymous wrote:Bunch of losers on this thread

Not anymore. I think I’m fitter than most adults my age now. I can run circles around so many former star athletes still pining for their glory days.

Yes because I was clumsy and overweight and would go the wrong way. It was nothing personal. I just had to wait and know eventually I'd be picked last.

I was the top of the class academically and it was mildly embarrassing at PE and recess but I didn't care that much.

Yes but I was small and scrawny and didn't really care.

I was picked last for a while (because I was very small and not into team sports), but then once people realized that I was a gymnast and surprisingly strong, coordinated, and fast, I started getting picked earlier.

yep-last or close to last. I was big for my age, never fast, but made up for it in strength (I'm a powerlifter now.) I started playing little league in 6th grade and was terrible at it for a couple years, but by high school switched to softball and was pretty good. I was still picked last, but during softball season that only happened once or twice, until I knocked the ball over everyone's head and I'd be picked first or near first the rest of the trimester. Didn't matter if it was a wiffle ball or a padded softball--I could hit any ball well. I don't think I was ever the "team captain" who got to pick teams, not even once.

Anonymous wrote:Bunch of losers on this thread

hence the thread topic

and "loser" is a subjective term

Bunch of losers on this thread

Yes. Last place in field day events. Small and frail. I would get so nervous before P.E. and recess. Had every varsity sport coach for HS gym class and their collective approach was to just play a game of baseball/soccer/football/field hockey but zero instruction given. Assumption was that we already knew how to play (and honestly everyone seemed to, except for me).

yes always and not just while growing up - I went with adult friends to play baseball and it happened all over again!

I recall one occasion when I was the new kid in 1st grade and was picked dead last for gym squads. It felt dreadful. I did turn out to be an athlete and used that experience as a motivational mental tool to be better.

I moved to the US in first grade (American born-abroad). Despite my father playing football at a D-1 school, I had played no field sports before the moving to the States.

My first elementary school in the States was big on kick-ball; I was awful and was alaways picked last if at all. I remember being so excited when I was picked -- but later realized I was also being assigned to a fielding position of foul territory.

I was one of the kids picked last in sports, but I was shockingly good at dodge ball. I was scrawny with really good reflexes. I was a tough target.

Anonymous wrote:I think the process of choosing teams is awful for this very reason. Just have the teacher divide the kids into teams and move on. Why do we have to put kids through this???

I was amazing at dodge ball so I was always very high up on the list but I hated this practice even then.

This is so true! It's like forced humiliation.

I was always picked last, or close to last. My sports ( cycling, riding) weren't offered. I was, and still am, good at my sports and was even a pro for awhile. But I was terrible at sports involving a ball.

Anonymous wrote:I think the process of choosing teams is awful for this very reason. Just have the teacher divide the kids into teams and move on. Why do we have to put kids through this???

I was amazing at dodge ball so I was always very high up on the list but I hated this practice even then.

They don’t have kids pick teams or play dodgeball anymore. My kids are in MCPS and I’m always telling them how lucky they are that teachers pick teams. I was always last or close to it. Mainly because I was the quiet shy outcast.