Sports: women doing long jumping and pole-vaulting

[Leo656]

We did play it in gym class, but in America a lot of kids' parents work and so at a lot of schools they have After-School Activities sports programs to give kids something to do until 5pm so they don't have to go home to an empty house. Although a lot of kids would sign up anyway just because it was fun. At my elementary and middle schools most kids signed up regardless of whether or not they had parents at home. You got to hang out with your friends for a little longer and you got to run around and have fun. No real downside to it.

They'd have a rotating cycle of various sports throughout the school year. Basketball, hand ball, dodgeball, kickball, field hockey, soccer, volleyball... little of everything.

They didn't do the trophy thing every year, though, just a few years when the school's budget allowed for it.

Kickball is exactly like baseball except there's no bat. They roll the ball to you like it's bowling, and you kick it. That's kickball. It's awesome.

[Prowler]

Extra-curricular activities are a thing here too. But I don't remember dodge ball ever being one. More like judo, karate, computer stuff, arts stuff, etc.

I did karate in 1st and 2nd grade. Then the school stopped having karate and I switched to judo in 3rd grade. I got to yellow belt even.

But after I finished primary school I never took part in an extra-curricular activity again. So yeah, 4th grade was my last year doing judo.

One thing I always found fascinating about Japan is the fact their high schools have clubs. From watching anime each HS has several clubs made by students and then each gets its own stand at the school festival later that year. Such festivals are a Japan exclusive thing afaik. But they always seemed so cool.

There's like, cooking clubs, tea clubs, archery clubs, reading clubs, chess clubs, etc at their schools. That would have made my HS experience a lot more memorable and less boring.

[Leo656]

Haha, oh man, I can't even imagine an American school having karate or judo as extracurricular activities; that'd be a liability and insurance nightmare. Some kid would take a bad spill or skin their knee or get a bloody nose and their parents would sue the school out of existence, that's how it goes over here.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Haha, oh man, I can't even imagine an American school having karate or judo as extracurricular activities; that'd be a liability and insurance nightmare. Some kid would take a bad spill or skin their knee or get a bloody nose and their parents would sue the school out of existence, that's how it goes over here.

Nothing like that ever happened at my school when I was there between 1st and 4th grade. I wasn't afraid nor was my mother of me getting hurt. I never got hurt either.

I even got to particioate in a tournament with other schools out of school. It went badly because the other kids we faced were a year older than us. And that can be a huge difference. So I lost both battles in less than a minute lol.

But I didn't break or sprain anything.

Anyway aren't parents there afraid of their kids getting seriously hurt playing sports in general? Like I dunno, American football?

[Leo656]

Kind of, but I think the fact they're not deliberately striking each other means there's some plausible deniability if anyone gets hurt. Whereas parents these days are especially squeamish about their kids getting punched or kicked, even in a controlled environment.

I mean they still have karate schools and stuff like that. But a "regular" school having something like karate would be a no-go. Now, they generally do have wrestling, obviously, and that and football carry their own risks and elements of danger. But I think martial arts is just violent enough to make it something they wouldn't allow in schools.

Nobody said our values were logical or made sense, over here.

I mean, stuff changes with the times, too. A long time ago, a lot of schools had Gun Clubs. Nowadays? Whooooo boy. It wasn't THAT long ago, but the way things are nowadays, something like that seems like something out of the Dark Ages. "You mean they let kids use GUNS... on SCHOOL PROPERTY?!" "Yeah, people were actually generally a lot less stupid back then, that's why they managed it." If you even SUGGESTED that kind of thing nowadays, they'd lock you up.

[Prowler]

Well that's certainly something.

Anyway, I pretty much never got interested in doing sports as a hobby again after 4th grade. I felt like 80% of kids and teenagers from my generation either played sports or did a martial art of some sort back then. That or they played a musical instrument.

I didn't. All I did was play video games, watch TV and browsed the Internet. I'd be confused whenever I was told I had no interests. It offended me even because people didn't consider my hobbies legitimate.

[Andrew NDB]

[Prowler]

I guess Andrew's pole is vaulting as well.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Prowler

I guess Andrew's pole is vaulting as well.

I'm pretty sure he'd vault his pole over Clara Fernandez, that's for sure.

[Andrew NDB]

[Coola Yagami]

Support Ukraine. Make a Russian woman submit today! Like the Iron Shiek would most likely say, bend her over and make her humble, Bubba!

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