Were you allowed to play sports?

by love11 31 Replies latest social physical

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  love11

  I was never allowed to play sports, because it would be too much association with worldly people. No skating, dance class, racquet ball, softball, nothing.

  In my kingdom hall, only the "spiritually weak" played sports. We were never allowed. But others in the hall, were allowed. A boy at my hall joined the high school football team and got his name publically reproved because he was associating with worldly people and persuing worldly goals.

  If I even said hello to a worldly person, I was given a glare by my parents. Could you tell me your experience with sports?
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  donald

  i forged my parents name on a permission slip to play football...it all worked out till the 6th game when i got hurt....boy did get in trouble with that one....donald
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  blondie

  I played sports in gym class and practiced after school with some of the other girls, e.g., tennis. I played other teams in school. I know of JWs that took dance classes. But organized, competitive sports was out. I don't think you can be publicly reproved for this though since it is not a disfellowshipping offense. I can see a special needs talk being given about the subject without mentioning the person by name, marking them.

  I think the real issue is all the time that it takes up with practice, travel, and play. Interestingly, the WTS maintains an indoor gym at Brooklyn Bethel and Walkill with basketball courts and space for exercise classes. They might have added more since I was around.

  Blondie
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  love11

  I don't think you can be publicly reproved for this though since it is not a disfellowshipping offense. I can see a special needs talk being given about the subject without mentioning the person by name, marking them.

  There could have been more to his situation that he was not disclosing to me, but that's the answer I got. Also, after his name was read the talk was about the danger in playing sports. They compared it to being in the Greek Olympics and how the sports had pagan origins.
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  IP_SEC

  I wanted to run cross country in school. Dad said, "son you can do what ever you want, but guilt this guilt that and dont forget guilt that too."

  In the scheme of things I really dont care that I didnt get to run cross country. I'd rather gone to college, as I was, graduating at the end of the "no college days".

  Well skrew you GB, I got in to IT and make more that anyone else in my congo.

  The caulk suckers
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  Oroborus21

  Greetings

  My older brothers were initially allowed to play sports but my brother broke another kids arm in Football and so they pulled them out. My other older brother was allowed to run track when he was in High School.

  My sister and brothers I think also were allowed to do Orchestra (when they still had that) and everyone was allowed (it was sort of a tradition) to work on the school newspaper and do photography.

  Beginning as a kid my Father signed me up for and let me participate in summer Little League and I was already doing what sports there were in school like a sort of Elementary School olympics with all the elementary schools in town . It was maybe a couple of seasons later when he was made to "step down" for other reasons. This coincided very nicely with my becoming a teenager and lasted until I was 18 and left home for college. Thus I was able to do the organized atheletics teams in school which in my hometown start in 6th grade.

  So from 6th to 9th grade I did Football, Basketball and Track during the school year and baseball in summer. In high school I did Football in the Fall and Tennis in the Spring semester. I burned out on baseball by the time I hit high school.

  Incidently I also not only got to do but was actually very involved with the planning and production of Prom and our classes Homecoming floats, went to most of the dances, was nominallly in Math-Science club, Honor's Society, and A-club (which included weekend camping trips with the guys to Elephant Butte Lake one year and to Bonita Lake another year) and also I was a cast member Senior year in our production of West Side Story.

  It wasn't until long after I was gone to college that my Dad got reinvolved and eventually reinstated to his position as an Elder (in the new congregation in the new town they moved to).

  I thank God that I didn't have a "traditional" JW upbringing. I am a very strong believer in the value of Sports and other extracurricular activities.

  The subject came up one time when I was playing football. My mom asked my brother whether it was right that I was playing Football since we were JWs (by the way I was not baptized so this obviously was a factor since the Brothers could never and never did try to tell me squat). (By the way, in my hometown, Artesia New Mexico, football has the status like in the movie Friday Night Lights)

  Anyway, my brother's response to my mom was something like, "Well, you know exactly where he is (playing football) on Friday night. Do you know what WE (my brothers, their JW friends, my cousins, etc.) were doing? At half-time we would go to the stores and SHOP LIFT stuff and at other times, we would go and smoke some pot."

  I guess my mom didn't think playing football was so bad after hearing the alternatives.

  -Eduardo
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  love11

  Good for you IP!!!! I wanted to go to college sooo bad. Of course, the girls in the cong. were told it was worldly to go, but alot of the boys in the cong. went. I thought it was funny that the very elders who said not to go to college were doctors and lawyers- all college careers. My girlfriends married young and did what a "good" wife does- stay at home. Now they are struggling single moms on welfare.

  I used to play crochet in my backyard with my little sister. hahahaha
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  love11

  WOW eduardo- You sound like you had a well rounded childhood. That's amazing! I'm shocked at how open your parents were. I'm happy for you.
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  lisaBObeesa

  no sports for me.
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  Oroborus21

  yeah love11,

  it is too bad they are shunning me now

  My dad is a big-wig now in his area, started some new spanish congregations in Oklahoma and has to keep up appearances.

  But during the 80s it was perfect. AFter he stepped down, he went into a depression and went inactive for the whole decade. This combined with a bunch of economic setbacks I think put him into a whole funk for the whole decade. He couldn't even tell me anything if I didn't go to meetings because the moment he started to tell me something like "you should be going to the meeting" I would shoot back with "And so are you, and even more so since you are supposed to be leading by example." that shut him up. I was rotten I know.

  I did go as often as my busy scheduled allowed and took my mom with me. It was just the three of us by then as all my older brothers and sister (6 in all) had flewn the coop.

  A big factor too in my being mostly normal was that ALL of my close friends were non-JWs as there simply weren't any JWs in my class or even very near my age in my town.

  Yet at the same time, I was a misfit with all the worldlies since even though I wasn't baptized I was a goody-two-shoes with no drinking, sex. smoking etc. and of course in other areas of not celebrating holidays etc. I was strictly JW living so it wasn't that I was living a "double-life"

  -Eduardo