Friday, September 26, 2014

Sports

I have always HATED participating in sports. I'm not athletic or coordinated, so it makes sense that I hated PE and sports when I was growing up. Now I work in a reall small school and we always need coaches. I volunteered to coach volleyball, since it's the only sport I know anything about. At today's game, I FINALLY realized that I've always hated sports because they are completely reliant on hearing!

Think about it. Before you serve, you what for a whistle. Refs use whistles to get attention before they use hand signals. If you can't hear the whistle, you don't know to look for hand signals. We yell at the girls to "Communicate!" and "Talk to each other!" Obviously, I could never hear anyone else since I was watching the ball and not lipreading. Then throw in all the sounds from other games and cheers from parents...I must have been so lost. No wonder I hated it! Of course, I was even more lost without hearing aids and those break when you sweat. 

It makes me wonder how different life would have been if I'd been able to hear as a kid. I might have actually fit in. I could have enjoyed going to football games or doing other group things. I didn't know. I am so glad that I didn't know what I was missing!!! I love this experience of realizing how much better my life is, even though I had my first ear activated over two years ago.  Living a miracle is pretty incredible.