There’s been a bit of a historical moment in our house this week – my little girl came third in her sports day obstacle race and she enjoyed it! To explain, I hated sports day when I was a school and Dot is no different, in fact the morning of the event she was praying for rain with her friends in the school playground. She definitely gets it from me as her dad used to play schoolboy rugby for Essex.

I spent many a stress-free afternoon in the junior school classroom keeping my hay feverish best friend company while the rest of the class ran, jumped and egg and spooned their way to victory – or tears – at the annual team fest on the playing fields. I learned very early on that I hated sports day. I was rubbish at games, couldn’t catch a ball for toffee and ran with a waddle. Still do. One day I shocked myself by hitting the ball in Rounders – it was bowled by a left-handed bowler. I’m left handed. That might have had something to do with my lack of skill when faced with a right-handed bowler, but I can’t blame everything on being ‘cack handed’ as they used to say at school.

I learned to accept a long time ago that I’m not sporty. Once I’d got to grips with that then sport became more of a pleasure. I run/jog/walk at my own pace, I’ve recently started Zumba (though my merengue is more meringue), and of course there’s my horse riding…

I like to think of myself as one of those creative types – my brain just functions in non-sporty ways. I wish I’d felt like this when I was 11 though. Being bad at sport caused me much heartache and many tears as time after time I wasn’t picked for the team or was last to be selected along with the other non-sporty kids.

Which is one of the reasons why I’m so over the moon Dot enjoyed her sports day and did so well in her race. Hopefully for her sports day will be a fun exercise not become the great big bogeyman it was for me.