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Played Ice and roller hockey throughout high school.... Band director always used to cautioned me to " have the best goalie mask, otherwise my tuba playing days would be over"

I have been involved in BMX since a my freshman year in high school. (I am older now, haha) Not the racing stuff, but the other side of the biz. I keep in shape that way, and recently I have picked up playing hockey, although I am bad at it. At least it gives me something to do during the winter.

I think that this stereotype is somehow true.
i was a soccer player for our high school team and we lost the region final.
also i was in the national competition as a deistance jumper and a 100M sprinter and did the 300M sprint in the 1*100+1*200+1*300+1*400 race, the first runner finished in the 4'th place and then i took it and ran 300M in 42 sec and got to the next runner first and even got a trophy for that.

Oh, man, seriously, what are you talking about ? To my opinion playing the tuba already qualifies you to be an athlete. It´s all there:
-working out real hard to build up muscles and endurance in face and breathing apparatus. (Never had sore abdominals or cheeks the day after practise? Well, you better PRACTISE, then!)
-the posture control and coordination skills needed to elegantly turn the horn around to drain it for good during concerts is equivalent to wrestling and gymnastics at the same time.
-Doing that with 5000 bucks worth of instrument compares to the thrills of freeclimbing.
-the "Gimme fahve, maan!!" after every real successful completion of "Them Basses" is just the expression of team spirit that ´ll water every football coaches´eyes.

GO BIG HORN

Hans

It was a long time ago, but I played football, basketball, and track. I went to a small school where most musicians were athletes and vice-versa.

I was, and still am an athelete. Currently, I am able to play Semi Pro football, while still completing my job as a musician. It's a great way to stay fit, and release some of that testosterone that's left over from playing band excerpts.

Daytondrive.com

On a side note:

Semi pro football is springing up like wildfire across the US. It's a great way to watch quality sports in the NFL offseason. Check out a local team!

I didn't play any sports while in school, but now help out with the HS basketball team. Sports are an important part of someone's development, just as it is with music.

Now while I didn't play any sport back in school, I did help out with the swimming and baseball teams back then. For baseball, we did have a guy who played trombone and even tried out the tuba one time. Nothing with swimming. Though in the years since, I have noticed a few local swimmers playing the tuba in band. It's probably because playing tuba requires you to use your lungs a lot and keep them moving, just as it is with swimming. Any swimmers/tubists out there?

Hank74

bloke wrote:*Most of the coaches at my high school were rude (and just plain "mean") pigs, and it rubbed off on their students. I avoided all of those folks like the plague. (One or two of the coaches were even fired for "fraternizing" with female students.)

That describes my school sports program precisely.

I played little league baseball for six years--until you had to pass a tryout to get on the team. Being unable to see stereoscopically out of my left field of view, I saw double when trying to hit a baseball, and never could quite get the bat and ball to be in the same place at the same time. In response to "Keep your eyes on the ball!" I would have to respond, "Which one?"

In high school, I stocked groceries and carried a sousaphone. Thus, I was strong enough. But I had (and have) absolutely no speed or agility.

My own story of playing intramural softball in college has a different conclusion than Joe's story. On one occasion, I was walked and was on first. The fellow batting cleanup behind me hit a long, in-the-"park" homer. He was pushing me by the time we both reached home plate, nearly side-by-side. Can you say "slow"?

I have at various times, however, engaged in long-distance endurance activities, where determination is more useful than speed or talent. I eventually worked up to ultra-distance triathlons before finding that the time requirements were too invasive. But this is not a "sport", but rather "athletics". And being solitary, it's not the sort of athletic activity that would be tolerated at a high school, even if I had realized at the time that it interested me.

I bitterly despised school sports programs, because of the way they rewarded physical bullying. Being one who could not run but who generally made A's, I was an easy target for that hazing. I'm not claiming any lasting damage from it, but I don't see where it contributes usefully to anyone's development.

Now, though, I see music programs being treated like sports programs, with competitions out the yazoo and band directors that are more worried about trophies in the glass case outside the band room than in selling music as an academic discipline worthy of being thought part of the core curriculum, or as a life's passion worthy of pursuing into adulthood.

Rick "only enough of an athlete to deflect accusations otherwise" Denney

Rick Denney wrote:

bloke wrote:*Most of the coaches at my high school were rude (and just plain "mean") pigs, and it rubbed off on their students. I avoided all of those folks like the plague. (One or two of the coaches were even fired for "fraternizing" with female students.)

That describes my school sports program precisely.

I guess I was lucky. I was on the track team and the coaches and kids (many of whom were also on the football team) were all really nice and supportive. If you were having a "tough day", the ones who finished first would stay and encourage you to finish, etc.

BTW, I always like to impress kids today by telling them I ran the 100 in 9.76 seconds. I just fail to mention that when I did it it was measured in yards.

In high school I played ironman football, basketball, track and field (400-800 meter, shot and discus). Still (and especially now), I wouldn't consider myself an athlete.

i played baseball for 7 years into highschool, soccer for 6 years into highschool... i got to college and started bicycling comnpetitvely I still do it now! only not compoetetivly,... its kind of hard in boston.. too many pot holes. but my bicycle is worth as much as my F tuba

bloke wrote:For a tennis player to hit a baseball l-o-n-g with a bat, all he needs to do is to use no wrist control whatsoever.)

heh. I know what you mean!! A pitched fast ball isn't as fast as a good serve, and you don't have to "control" it to keep it inside the baseline. Just whap it! And you know where it's going to be, more or less, when it arrives in the hitting zone.

I was a USTA certified official in 1995 or so.

When I was in high school...that was before Title 9, and there simply were no sports for women. Nothing. In grade school I was on the track team and the volleyball team, but the opportunities disappeared when I went to high school. Later, in college, I was varsity softball.

MA, who probably would not have been a linebacker anyway

soccer (the real football!) - goalie
basketball
cross country runner
volleyball
bicycling

while in graduate school:
floor hockey - goalie (intramural league, University of South Carolina,
team name: Worst Nightmare)

Mark

Seems way too long ago
Distance Runner

CrossCountry
Track (distance, quarter)
Even did a marathon (once, that was enough)

Everything aerobic helps.

I played football, basketball, and ran track in high school. Its kind of weird, but a lot of people didn't even know I was a band geek...

Co-Captain of my school's Ultimate Frisbee team. Most people don't count it as a real sport, but then again most people haven't experienced competitive ultimate...

check out http://www.buda.org for more info

This is kind of going in the other direction but it is still interesting to know.

Malik Rose (formerly of the San Antonio Spurs and just traded to NY) played the tuba through high school. He has made noise in the past about getting out for our excellent "Tuba Holiday" that Ray Grimm organizes every year but has always ended up with NBA conflicts.

Some of us in the Symphony got together with him for a commercial once and got him to play a few licks with us (off camera!).

Whenever I get the chance at our Youth Concerts I mention the fact that Malik studied music in school since he had become such a popular personality in San Antonio. The kids always "ooo and ahhh" over that.

He also plays some trombone...

Swimming and weights beginning in my mid-20s. These days, occasional swimming, weights, yoga-type stretches, and distance running. I've run the Army 10-Miler almost every year since 1992. I turn 57 this week, and, since you were wondering, it feels pretty good when I consider the alternatives.

Jonathantuba wrote:One of the reasons I learned to play tuba at school was to get out of sports!!!

Absolutely.

Rick "who didn't miss the bullying" Denney

I played football for couple of years in high school. I had to quit because my knee was screwed up. I could still play football but I would just have to play through the pain. I realized that I wasn't that great of a defensive tackle and I was much better at the tuba (and playing the tuba didn't involve doing 200+ push-ups a day).