This week’s theme for the 52 Ancestors challenge is “sporting.” This post is about current family since I don’t know anything about ancestors who liked or played sports.  I had to think about this one for a while because sports just don’t rank terribly high on my list of things to do, but my husband and son enjoy them..

I did grow up spending a lot of time swimming at the YWCA and while visiting both my grandparents’ cottage on Little Sebago Lake in Maine and my aunt’s and uncle’s cottage on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.

Besides swimming, I loved to water ski. I have vivid memories of all the times that Mr. Newby and my uncle tried pulling me up out of the water on skis, only to have me fall headfirst back into the lake. I also remember Grandfather taking over during the week we spent in Maine and it was there that I successfully got up on water skis for the first time. By the following summer, I transitioned to a slalom ski and rarely used two skis after that time.

I have only one photo of me water skiing, but it brings back tons of fun summer memories.

Winnipesaukee, Summer 1966

My uncle bravely took on the challenge of getting four of us – friends Debbie, Suzi, Cindy and myself – up and skiing all at the same time. Although we could all slalom by this time, we stuck to two skis. At first glance, it looks like there are only three of us, but if you enlarge the photo, on the far left there are actually two skiers, Cindy and Suzi. I am next to Suzi and Debbie is on the far right. We went quite a ways before one of us fell and I don’t remember who that was, but we then got in the boat for the ride back to shore.

While I am not athletically inclined, my husband and son both have some natural skills. Hubby Dave has enjoyed playing golf and basketball for most of his life. He played Little League baseball as a kid in the 1950s.

Dave in His Little League Uniform

Son Michael likes the same sports, but he also loved a more modern sport – rollerblading. He was one of the youngest children on our street. In the early 1990’s, rollerblading was quite the “in” sport in California. Michael was four years old and he really, really wanted to rollerblade with the older kids. I finally bought him an inexpensive pair of skates. He put them on and then took them off. The next day, he put them on and tried standing up. A few days after that, he was rolling around a little bit. Before I knew it, he was flying up and down the street on his skates. Before you ask, yes he wore the appropriate equipment. I even took him to a roller blading class for lessons. I think the lower age limit was 7 and he only 5. I told the teacher he already knew how to skate and this was the only summer class I could find.  Michael really, really wanted to take lessons. The teacher was very nice, but asked to see him skate. She decided he skated better than most of the other people who had signed up, including the adults.  He was allowed to take the class, in spite of his age.

He even made three local newspapers. He was a great little skater, but I think he was in all three photos because he was the little guy out there:

My Little Rollerblading Star

That’s about the extent of the Stufflebeans’ sporting life!