The Mutual Exclusivity of Geeks and Athletes

Think back to your days in middle school and high school when everyone fell into the category of geek, jock, popular, goth, etc.. What stereotype were you?

Back in the day, I would say I was a band geek who, no pun intended, marched to the beat of her own drummer. I was out there, quirky, and I did my own thing. When it came to looks, I was a tall, bony, skinny bean pole with no shape and a less-than-ideal posture. I felt like I looked awkward and moved with the grace of a spastic monkey.

Today, I am still proudly out there, quirky and marching to beat of my own drummer. But for the first time in my life, I am happy to say I have rid myself of the skinny bean pole figure and the poor posture.

What did it take? Two simple things: 1) exercise (yoga) and 2) massage therapy (a rather painful, but amazingly effective, body realignment technique called Rolfing or structural integration).

Now that my body is properly aligned (I discovered my hips were out of alignment from playing flute for so many years with an incorrect posture) and now that I have muscle mass to support my movement, I don't look or feel awkward like I used to.

This observation made me realize why you will probably never see an athletic geek: these two stereotypes are mutually exclusive.

Do you remember any classmates - most likely geeks or nerds - who had poor posture? Were they at all athletic? Now try to think of a jock or an athlete with poor posture. Kind of hard, right? That's because if you work out and have muscle mass, you will not look or feel awkward. I guess those ballerinas know a thing or two.

Take heed parents: keep your kids involved in some type of physical activity - be it sports, ballet, gymnastics, karate, etc. - as an insurance policy against your kids blooming with the grace of a spastic monkey or posture of an orangataun, as I did.

"Stick Girl" rests her case.