A Reader Who Plays Sports, or a Jock Who Reads?

My whole life, I’ve realized that I rarely fit into the conventional mold. I’m not talking about angsty rebellion and sticking it to “The Man.” I’m saying that I found myself to be good at many things, but never great in anything. I had many interests, but never that one suffocating desire. In high school, this meant that I played on sports teams; participated in drama club; spent lunches in the physics classroom playing chess (getting my butt kicked in chess); making videos for school projects; and just goofing around.

In college, this translated to a kid who didn’t really know what he wanted to do, so he started taking pre-med courses to be a chiropractor. With the wicked combo of difficult classes and the realization that this really wasn’t something that interested him, the kid turned to an English Literature degree.

I recently read an article detailing the frustrations that readers feel when “non-readers” question them about their passion. It bemoaned the stereotypes assigned to readers, while doing the same thing to non-readers. This frustration came out in a jab at people who like sports. .In my mind, this person felt that the opposite of a reader was someone who likes sports—the jock.

And I understand this perception and stereotype; you would probably find this to be true more times than not. But this is the very thing that I find keeps people away from books in the first place!

It’s the idea that someone who reads is an introvert, soft-spoken, quiet, not a fan of social scenes, and un-athletic. This isn’t fair to a reader (I’m one), but it certainly doesn’t encourage people to read either. What about the twelve year old boy who plays sports but feels he has to hide his reading or he’ll be made fun of? What about the girl who loves reading but also really wants to try out for soccer? Have we made a divide? Have we created barriers between the two worlds? I may be the only person in the world who didn’t go crazy for Harry Potter, but I will be the first one to praise Miss Rowling for making reading “cool” and fun. I had a best friend in grade school who I had never witnessed read a book before Harry Potter, and he devoured those books.

Go back to college. I would sit in my Literary Criticism class in athletic shorts and a t-shirt, while my friends wore Che shirts with berets, boots, and skinny jeans. They drank coffee (fair trade), and I drank Mountain Dew. They enjoyed microbreweries; I enjoyed video games. They would talk about which coffeehouse they were going to after class, while I would head over to the fieldhouse to lift weights and play pickup basketball. And it was totally OK. I was friends with them, but we didn’t share the same interests outside of the classroom. We had a mutual love for books and writing, but my passions extended elsewhere.

I’ve written about it before: writing is something I love, but it’s not born of a deep pain inside my soul or a burden that wakes me up at night in cold sweats. Reading and writing have always been about learning and fascinating stories for me—something that will never go away. Sports have always been about the fast pace, the adrenaline, the reactionary plays, the exercise—something that will never go away. As readers, we need to stop making our world an inaccessible sanctuary. We want people to read, don’t we? Then we have to stop being so elite about it. And athletes? Read! There are too many bad stereotypes about athletes already. Let’s change that.

I write. I read. I watch sports. I play sports. I also love tons of other things. I have dogs. I have snakes. I don’t really fit into any one category. And I think I’m a more well-rounded person because of it.