I have always been an athlete since the day I could walk.
Growing up, my dad got me to try out different sports. From gymnastics, track, swimming, soccer, you name it. It was something that my dad saw was important to grow up with. I ended up sticking to soccer and I used to HATE it. I was forced to play coed soccer (which always meant a team full of boys and one or two girls) and it always made me dislike the sport. I used to cry and never want to go to practice because it scared me. Being the only girl on the team, knowing I was never going to get the ball because I’m a girl, and having to play rough with the boys. Soccer was always something that I always hated as a kid. My dad ended up putting me in an a girls team after while and that is when I started to enjoy the sport.
I found love for the game and I never quit. It made me want to try out different sports in high school as well and it allowed me to pick up athletic skills super quick. Being an athlete was my life all through out middle and high school and I loved every second of it. Soccer is a sport that a lot of people start when they are super young so there were a lot of player in my high school varsity team that was really good. Since I had a huge gap in skills because of the time I stopped playing my dad really wanted to motivate me to do better. He was encouraging – in his own way. He made me practice on the field near my house on days I had no practice for my club team and tried to get me to exercise more. But it got to the point where the encouragement were comments that tried to get me motivated in different ways. Instead of just telling me to go on runs in the morning, it became “you look like you’re gaining weight” at the dinner table. Instead of “keep practicing, you’re going to get better”, it became “you’re getting fat.” It was really hurtful to hear sometimes, but I knew in his own weird way he thought it would encourage me to be more active. I grew to ignore the comments and I did my own thing and never lost sight of the things I love. I picked up a new sport in high school and I became really good in it super fast. Soccer was still a sport I enjoyed, but to me it will always hold a lot of pressure as well.
Thinking about my experiences with bodies and sports, it makes me sad to think that there are sports where body shaming is extra bad. Ballet, gymnastics, figure skating, etc. I have heard stories of girls who are so skinny to the point they are just skin and bones, are called overweight and fat. But now in everyday scenarios I am always very cautious with comments about appearances and I urge people to do the same. Words are so powerful and they hold so much weight. We all need to be mindful about the things we comment on or how we say things.
Unruly Bodies 
As someone who has never played a sport outside of physical ed classes in their life, I can still relate to the feelings at work here. While its true I never honed my skills in any game or athletic style, the main thing keeping me from really committing to participation or pursuing a sport outside of curriculum was ultimately the attitudes of physicality and status surrounding the players themselves. Doing poorly in what was intended to be a game, even with no experience, was a sign of incompetence not only in the athletic world but as a person; the inability to throw a ball to the right distance and destination was equated to being uncharismatic and undesirable. Thus, investing myself in athletics seemed like it wasn’t worth the effort, but I’m glad to see that people with experience within the sporting life, such as yourself, are aware of the stigmas and are actively working to change perspectives.