Ballet and Gymnastics?

I may have had the heart and mid of a girl but i was cursed with the body of a boy. And over the years this manifested itself in more ways than one. Of course there is the usual things as you get older. But i was always a big boy even when i was little. I was never blessed with the grace and flexibility of my other female classmates and I hated that.

As a bigger heavier kid (I grew up to be 6 feet tall though lost some weight later) i never walked lightly. My father once told me as a threat that if i didn't stop stomping around he'd put me in ballet. He considered it a threat. In my hear i wished he would. I knew other girls who were in ballet and other dance classes at a local dance school. They all had a pretty pink satin jacket with their name embroidered on it. I longed to be like them, to be a pretty graceful ballerina. My dad on the other hand never meant it and I doubt he'd ever out a son of his in something that feminine and i played it off like i hated the idea. So my ballerina dreams remained just that.

I believe it was for the best in the long run. Before i ever saw the pretty pink jackets and envied my classmates taking dance lessons, I took two years of gymnastics. There i the other girls who could wear cute leotards when i had to wear sweat pants. People only saw me as another boy not the girl i really was. But i also quickly discovered that i missed one key ingredient needed for both gymnastics and ballet. I had none of the flexibility of other girls. I couldn't do splits, i couldn't do a lot of the basic gymnastics stuff even floor routine stuff let alone balance beam or uneven  bars. Ironically at that age about 1st and 2nd grade for me since boys lack the physical strength to do men's events we always did women's events in class. I still watch women's gymnastics and envy those girls abilities to this day.