Out of My Element

One time I felt out of my element was when I was at handball practice in Germany. I had no friends, as it was the beginning of my time there, and I wasn't sure how the game was played. Not to toot my own horn but when I was younger, I was used to being one of the best on the team, and now that I was the newbie and wasn't great at the sport, I felt lost. It didn't help that none of my teammates were friendly enough to help me understand the rules of the game and that my coach was fired for inappropriate language and actions. I felt like a total loser when it came time to run through drills. You see, handball is a complex and very physical game which one must practice over years. Being an amazing handball player that my host mom was, she explained that I wasn't going to be good until I had practiced for awhile.


Now I know it sounds like poor me, but I'm used to learning fast and things working, but this sport just wasn't working. I would fake being sick, to get out of practice and pretend like I had other things to do on game days. Eventually, it had broken me down so much that I told my host parents that I wanted to quit. Fearing that they would be disappointed or mad in me, it took me awhile to bring it up. I finally did, and they were just fine with it and I found a different sport to fit in to.