Sunday, January 20, 2013

Archery


Regardless of one's college major, most states require every undergraduate to enroll in physical education courses.  In state universities, these are legislative regulations, no exceptions.  Actually, only P.E. instructors cared; but, you know: the law is the law. Why else have lawmakers? Administrators didn't care.  They just wanted forms filled in.

As the rules didn't say anything about what a P.E. class had to be to pass muster, at Cal State San Francisco, John Haake and I signed up for girls' archery.

We didn't have to change, or shower, or sprint to the next class in the few minutes remaining. And if it rained, we didn't even have to leave the library.

The targets were set up at the football field, a comfortable walk from the main campus building. Neither of us was particularly skilled.  Big deal!  Neither were any of the girls.  And nobody cared, not even the instructor.  She told us she was grading us on showing up and on helping each other. BUT we had to retrieve our own arrows.

The best part about the practices was that between every volley of arrowing,   we all sauntered to the targets and back together. Girls do talk a lot.

After a while, we were actually hitting the targets oftener than not.  One girl made a bulls eye once. She had the instructor sign the target. She took it to her sorority.

I hadn't planned it, but all through high school and college, I only went to a regular P.E. class a total of three semesters -- in tenth grade, once Cal. State San Jose, and once at Cal State S.F.
       
At Berkeley they let you play noontime basketball.  Several fellows made themselves a team (of sorts) that would do. At San Jose they insisted that, if you were going to teach, you had to play on a squad of some sort three times a week.  One semester of that qualified for P.E. credits.

I wasn't cheating my body, and, clearly, nobody cared.  My sister, who followed me to S.F., asked me if the archery girls had to wear “those awful gym outfits.”  When I said no, she said she would sign up for the next semester.  I don't remember if she did or not. Probably not, because she began dating a basketball player. The basketball court was nowhere near the football field.

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