Ugh, Girls

After an unbelievably long-winded disagreement among my baseball team over how much "instruction" we all needed over the wintertime, I was finally allowed (with a buddy) to run a practice.

(Never mind that I'd played 15 years of softball and even coached, we definitely needed guys if we were ever going to get anywhere. neither here nor there.)

Needless to say, it went really, really well. More structured than anything we'd had in the past, people learned something, got some solid baseball time in, and *enjoyed* it. Except for one thing. As anyone who has played a sport knows, you tend to end practice with something hard. We didn't really have the room indoors for sprints, so we decided to finish off with push-ups. Four sets of ten, to be exact, along with the general "do 'em on your knees if you have to, just do as many as you can, try your best, blah blah blah" speech.

I admit that I like push-ups, in no small part because I'm kind of built to do them (high center of gravity, short arms, small frame...it's undeniably easier for me than some), but the best things about them are: though they're hard, you don't leave anyone behind (unlike running) and you have your head down and can't really spot who can't do them (unlike pull-ups) so everyone is very free to work at their own pace. If you can only do two, well next week maybe you'll do three, right?

The next week, we had a quick meeting where I was told that the push-ups had been "a little much" and maybe could I tone them down for the next one (yes, I am allowed to run another practice. Shocked?). Luckily, I had the presence of mind to stare at my feet and say nothing because I was pretty furious.

This one clearly goes in the 'I can't stand girls' category. Despite watching two people, both of whom are female and neither of whom is a bodybuilder or a professional athlete, DO every single push-up, they had decided that it was too hard. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there isn't a man in America who would have had any reaction other than "I'd like to be able to do that - how do I get there?" And he would know (possibly by instinct..) that good exercise IS "a little much." If you can't do the push-ups, sweeties, and for some reason don't have the desire to work at it and get better, well then lie on the floor and fake it! Don't ruin it for people who want a challenge.

Why is it okay for girls to give up? Even if you, reader, *don't* think it's okay, these girls clearly do. So we're not really getting anywhere.

The good news is that most of the new people had no arguments. So I guess we're headed in the right direction. I'm still deciding exactly what to do about the push-ups next time.