Never Say 'Never'

OK, so it is true, my friends and I did have matching pyjamas and we were known to wander around the Northern Districts and North Shore on a Sunday morning, sporting hangovers looking for something yummy for breakfast. It was just a thing that started when we used to have sleep overs, borrowed clothes, pyjamas were all part of it.

That was back in the days when rugby ruled, touch or austag were an added extra and I think I was even sneaking out of rugby training at Eastwood early to play night comp netball at West Pymble. I just couldn't give up that cute little skirt and submit completely to wearing baggy striped jumpers and ill-fitting shorts for sports.

One thing I knew for sure was that I would NEVER participate in any form of martial arts, mainly because I did not want to wear those white unisex pyjamas that did nothing to define ones figure. Oh yes, BM (Before Munchkins) logic at it's very best, (or worst.). I thought that boxing was for neanderthals and that martial arts were for people who couldn't box.

A couple of weeks ago as I pulled on Emma's grappling pants in lieu of my missing gi and ran on to the mat while the lovely Alicia looked after MissyMe, I laughed at the irony. Yet again I was immersed in something I said I would NEVER do and it felt natural and normal. I can't imagine life without muay thai, karate, grappling, brazilian jujitsui and all the wonderful people I have met doing it at Pollets Mixed Martial Arts and Blue Mountains Martial Arts Centre.

© 2010 Luisa Foliaki - Proud Mumma of MicroMe & MissyMe

For the record, they are really called jandals and I am referring to those things you wear on your feet, not on your nether regions, (or stuck in them as the case may sometimes be). I think the last pair my parents bought me was when I was about 13, they sat in the verandah at our crib for years as I decreed that I would NEVER wear them, singlets, track pants or ugg boots as they were foul.

Singlets were the first thing to go by the way side, I moved from Central Otago New Zealand to Sydney Australia; it is hot and humid. For comfort, singlet tops, (not quite the same as singlets you know), were an absolute must. They are also kind of cute and come in many groovy designs, so this compensated for the disappointment I had in giving up another NEVER at the age of 21.

At 35 I was afflicted with the state of pregnancy and as summer grew nearer, my belly grew bigger and my poor little feet got sorer and wider. Another NEVER was about to fall; jandals were the only things that really fit my feet comfortably and so the flip flop wearing began. Luckily they came in a lot of pretty colours and designs and this gave me comfort as I gazed at my deformed feet in the mirror, because I couldn't see down past my belly button.

I did wear tracksuit pants once; the day after I fractured my tibia at rugby training, my shrewd housemate took my car for the day, leaving me with her manual car. She wanted me housebound and on the mend, so to ensure I didn't attempt to get out of the house some other way; she only left out her tracksuit pants for me to wear. One thing was for sure, I would NEVER leave the house in them, however I will compromise with jazz pants or leggings for sport.

Ugg boots, it is so cold, it is all frosty and there is a biting wind more often than not this winter. Twice I have had boots in my little hot hand that would fit me and keep my feet warm, yet I couldn't bring myself to hand over cash for them. I skate around the house in my socks wearing them out and wondering if I will cave in and another NEVER will transform me just that tiny bit closer to being a bit bogan; would it turn my world upside down?

© 2010 Luisa Foliaki - Proud Mumma of MicroMe & MissyMe

My experience as an athlete began at the ripe old age of 6. During one of many sessions sitting on the outside step of my pre-fab class in primary school for refusing to sing some lame song, (probably something in the Kumbaya, Hokey Pokey genre), my school Principal got me to join the older kids trying out for school athletics. Later that day my mother was informed that I should be enrolled in athletics and off I went to the world of sprinting, long jumping and shot putting. I really had no idea what I was doing, however at the end of the season, I had broken the club records for these events and I think I got some cup at the end of the season for Club Champion. Oddly enough, in all the time I did athletics, we NEVER did any training in the gym and I thought gyms were for people who couldn't play sports, (child logic in action again).

My brother, sister and I all represented Otago (finest region in New Zealand for the uninitiated) and did local rep sports for netball, (my brother in rugby of course) and being kiwis we played just about every and any sport going as you do. I NEVER ever went to the gym for anything other than P.E. at school and even then I was dead lazy to the point of forging little notes about my period nearly every week, (yep, I was a biological anomoly for sure). When I moved to Australia, I didn't know many people, so my then boyfriend encouraged me to play a sport. There were netball courts up the road from our house, so I started playing netball for West Pymble.

When that became too bitchy and I got sick of bathing my cuts and grazes in a dettol bath each afternoon, I finally decided that there was something in all those comments that I should play rugby instead. I rang and checked out the opportunities and the following weekend I ran on at T.G. Milner for Eastwood as an outside centre for my first game against Easts. First flogging would be more accurate, however my main concern was whether or not I could tackle or if I would be tough enough to make the grade. I made the first tackle of the game and planted the girl good and proper and that was the start of some of the best fun of my life. We trained twice a week and when it rained, we often trained in the gym as a team. I still NEVER trained in the gym and if we were meant to be there, I was more likely to be AWOL in the bar sipping vodka and raspberry.

Another phobia I have is swimming in swimming pools, however since having children, it has become a necessary evil to enable them to learn to swim and they enjoy it. I found it quite funny when I realised yesterday that not only was I swimming with my children regularly; it was at a gym and I even worked out in the gym before hand. I am guessing that some people also consider a dojo to be a gym and if that is the case, by the 2nd day of the week, I had worked out for 4hrs in a gym and done some swimming. So the list of things that I NEVER do has diminished even further, however I am still holding out on ugg boots, (see prior post). I am still a tad gym-phobic; it's weird to work out when you aren't actually competing for anything, however I'll give it a burl until I discover the next sport that steals my heart like rugby did.