EXCUSES, excuses. I can concoct some real humdingers to get out of exercising at the club or participating in any healthy outdoor activity. Too tired, too late, too hot, goes my mantra of self-rationalization. I can procrastinate with the best of them. Girls just wanna have fun
(playing sports)So it was with great embarrassment and humility that this world-class slacker attended the National Girls and Women in Sports Day Clinic at UH-Manoa's physical education/athletic complex on Saturday.
More than 1,000 young ladies, ages 5-14, got a taste of the sporting life, thanks to skilled female mentors teaching them everything from basketball to tennis, volleyball to track.
The energy and excitement level was high. Inspired by the can-do theme of the occasion, Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono promised to take a brisk run around Diamond Head right after presenting a gubernatorial proclamation at the opening ceremony.
She also gave out awards to three organizations who promote sports for females in Hawaii. When representatives of Bobby Sox Softball, the Leahi Soccer Club and the Manoa Girls Athletic Club came forward to receive plaques, the youthful audience applauded politely.
Then all heck broke loose. The girls, with many of their parents and Girl Scout leaders in tow, streamed off to their hour-long sessions of choice.
At Klum Gym, former UH women's basketball players were calling the plays. Six-foot, two Nani Flores towered over keiki as she taught them the bounce, chest and overhead pass. Meanwhile, on the other side of the court, Melanie Azama and Fran Villarmia made dribbling look way too easy for the girls, who good-naturedly tried to emulate them.
Over in Gym I, members of the UH Wahine volleyball squad were acting as female clinicians and role models for close to 100 young girls. Heidi Ilustre cried out in mock terror and ducked as one little 6-year-old spiked the ball. Ilustre's teammates, including Cia Goods and Kelli Cordray, patiently explained to their hyperactive charges what UH Wahine assistant coach Howard Wallace wanted them to do.
I got chicken skin thinking that some of these kids might be playing for the Wahine in just a short decade. Secretly, I also got a little jealous. Why can't we have a one-day women's sports clinic in Honolulu, where desk-bound paper-pushers like me can get pointers in basketball, softball, tennis, track and volleyball from accomplished women athletes? Our nominal fees could then fund the annual girl's sports clinic!
IN my dreams I'm learning how to dunk a basketball like Nani Flores and spike a volleyball like Heidi Ilustre. Until that fine day, however, I'll have to motivate myself to exercise and learn the fine points of athletics on my own.
It's much easier to do after a morning at the National Girls and Women in Sports Day Clinic. Its organizers deserve thanks for delivering the message that a female can be a winner in any sport she tries, if she practices really hard and finds the right fit.
Enough of that prehistoric societal shibai that women are the weaker sex, and that athletics is a guy thing. The term "woman athlete" is not a oxymoron; one day, it may be a redundancy.
Girls of the world, as Nike and your parents often say, "Just Do It." Or, as this now reformed slacker and newly motivated jock firmly believes, "No More Excuses."