my kids will have to engage in a sport

I always told everybody that I'd want my kids to have a sport + have to know at least one musical instrument. No, I don't have plans to have kids yet but I have these sort of thoughts...

Sports 'cause it's a good way to actually learn "discipline" -- time management, team work, good food choices... etc. Above all, health goes hand in hand with it. While 'health is wealth' is a nice rhyme, it's one of the things people wish to have.. All the time Ally Mcbeal would say to herself, "I have my health, I have my health, I have my health...", whenever she felt she had nothing. haha... And it's the one wish the old folks say on their 60th birthday...

My future kids won't have to be an athlete athlete but at least they would have to learn the art of jogging/running. I'm no athlete myself, siguro trying hard, pero at least i try.. haha

I was around 7 years old when papa told me to wear my rubber shoes so we can go jogging. That first time was tough, I cannot keep up with him. That was I guess the last time I jogged with him. And I kind of hated it. To go away with running, I joined my parents when they go cycling instead.. It was easier than running (or so I thought).

Just when I thought I can forgo with running, I realized that when you want to try other sports, you would have to eventually learn to jog-run for endurance.

In high school, I had a hard time jogging as part of the soccer training, then came mountaineering in college where we had to do 4 rounds in UST without stopping as the least requirement to qualify; then 2 rounds in the outer perimeter of UP Diliman plus 2 rounds of the Sunken garden in 1hour 30mins. It seemed pretty hard at first. I learned that you would have to ask your brain to not stop even if every single part of your body is giving up. It starts there, when your brain coordinates with your body... you concentrate on your breathing.

Sports do teach you lots of things. It makes you know your limits and how you can possibly overcome them. I figured this out when I was training to be a mountaineer (sayang, I stopped ). All day, all the hours would be spent walking up... trying not to stop and give up, asking yourself why you're there when you can be just in your bedroom lying down... But when tomorrow comes, you'd be able to say I did that mountain, 4 days of walking up.. And you're proud of yourself.

and, going back...uh, sports is a way to keep kids out of trouble... that's what I recently read in Women's Health magazine that featured Pia Cayetano, a triathlete, who by the way I look up to in a way...

hayun, i'd like my kids to engage in sports.. i'll join them and i think it would be fun fun fun.