I promised myself that I would devote my Sunday mornings to football (soccer). Last week, my friends Jon and Aika were with me playing at the Sunken Garden in UP Diliman. It rained but we still went on. Football in the rain. Woooh. This is the life. Haha.

I am not the athletic type. Certainly not. But it doesn’t mean that I have no interest in sports. I love sports. In fact, when I was in high school, I was our school paper’s Sports Editor (and Associate Editor and Layout Artist and Photojournalist). I was also my school’s representative to sport/Physical Education quiz bees, because of which I have travelled many places. In college, I was first a Sports Science major before shifting out to Film.

Although it doesn’t really show, I am madly in love with sports — especially football, tennis and bowling. I am not great (not even good) at any of them but heck, I absolutely always have fun playing.

FOOTBALL

I don’t remember exactly when I fell in love with football. I have always hated basketball and volleyball. Maybe because when I was a kid, I couldn’t play well because of my then useless left arm. So since I couldn’t move my left arm, I started kicking basketballs around the garden. I started playing futsal in grade school but I never really became good at it. It was my biggest frustration.

Then I got addicted to watching football on TV. I instantly became a Bayern Munich and Chelsea fan. During the 2002 Japan/Korea World Cup, I began admiring Miroslav Klose, who is my ultimate idol right now.

One of my most prized possessions is my Adidas 2006 Germany World Cup ball. I don’t let anyone play with it unless I’m watching. Haha. I bought it out of utter sadness after Germany lost to Italy in the semi-final match. It was darn expensive but heck, I was lonely.

Again, I’m devoting my Sunday mornings to football. So if one Sunday morning, you see someone playing football at the Sunken Garden who looks as if he doesn’t know what he’s doing, that’s probably me. Haha.

TENNIS

I was introduced to tennis in my early days in college. I didn’t really like lawn tennis when I was younger. I used to love badminton. I tried out for our high school varsity team but I failed. I never held a badminton racket since. It just dawned on me that my addiction to hitting shuttlecocks should end. Cocks aren’t for me. Balls are. Tennis balls.

One of the first PE classes I took in college was lawn tennis. I had no idea how to play it then. We had a diagnostic test — 20 balls would be thrown at you and you have to hit them right and send them over the net. My score: 0. As in zero. Na-dah. It was embarrassing, really. Our instructor asked me “Have you been playing table tennis?”

Yeah, I used to play pingpong. My bestfriend Victor was a table tennis varsity player and we used to play a lot in high school. Our instructor told me that I approached the ball “pingpong style.” I hit them with my wrist arched and not moving my entire arm.

There were tennis courts in front of my apartment when I was a sophomore so it was convenient for me. Ah, tennis. Tennis is love. Love-love.

BOWLING

When I’m bored, I play bowling. That’s just it. Haha.

So, come on. It’s your turn. What are your favourite sports? ;)

images courtesy of istockphoto.com and ttdesign.com

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