What No One Tells You About Being a Tall Athlete | My Journey As A Former Athlete

Good morning everybody. You are currently listening to a Tall Girls podcast hosted by a tall girl named India. I hope everyone who's sitting in today is doing super fantastic. Before I get into this episode, I do want to say make sure you're following me on my socials, a Tall Girls podcast, on Instagram, TikTok, and picture so that you can stay upstate on all of the latest podcast episodes and catch a glimpse of my everyday life. Also, feel free to leave my review and let me know how tall you are. I'm genuinely curious, and I also have a monthly newsletter you should subscribe to that Everything is going to be linked in the description. First and foremost, I do want to give a big, big thank you to everybody who wished me a congratulations on getting into my first choice of my master's programs. Honestly, when I said on the previous episode, yeah, make sure you wish me congratulations, I honestly didn't think anybody would do it, but a couple of you did, so I really do appreciate that. That means I have some true true listeners here, So I really just wanted to say thank you for that and fun fact, I actually met another one of my followers. Oh my, oh my gosh. This month is literally just filled with tall girly things. It started with the pop up shop for Tall Size. I met a lot of people there. But then actually I had I had her on the podcast twice, Rachel Willingham, and she has her own brand. She sat her own brand called Rach will And it's funny because I interviewed her on this podcast before she started her brand, and then I interviewed her again after she started her brand, and it's just amazing to see the growth in her journey and the transition that she made into that process of, you know, actually owning her own brand, having her own brand, and it was honestly amazing. She invited me to her showcase where she collaborated with an artist. I think his name is Ross, I think so. But she upcycled a bunch of denim into these cool dresses and these cool pieces, because one of them was like a skirt and a top type of set. But I'm gonna include pictures in the video version because I'm pretty sure is going to make more sense. But I'm also gonna do a little vloggy blog of that over all my socials, So make sure you peep the socials to get the full rundown of how her showcase went. But honestly, I was just so glad when she reached out and said, Hey, by the way, I'm having the showcase in New York City. You should comments like, yeah, I'm definitely gonna be there. I love supporting all the tall girlies, the Tall Boss Bibbs, and it was just an amazing night. So definitely make sure you're following me to check that out. Now, getting into today's episode, we're talking about, you know, tall people playing sports and my journey personally as an athlete. Do you play basketball? Oh? You must play basketball? Or volleyball? Those are the two most common comments I've gotten as a tall girl growing up and honestly even now at this age. And you'd be surprised how disappointed some people are when I tell them no, Like I'm sorry, but you're a random stranger. Why exactly does it matter to you. It's pretty common that when somebody sees a tall person that they think that that tall person has some type of natural athleticism or is good at playing sports. Well, news flash, not all of us play or have played sports or is good at it? Crazy? Right, I just want to play something really quickly to just you know, support this point. You have to stop asking every tall person you meet if they play sports. Our height does not define us. We have other interests. Only about zero point one percent of us will play sports, will go on to play it professionally, or we do not live to entertain you. However, there was a time where I have played sports. I have done it for quite a lot of my life in the past. To be honest with you, I just don't really talk about it as much. I don't know why. I don't know. Maybe I just feel like, well, number one, it really doesn't define the person I am right now. I mean, it has given me some of the attributes that I do have now, but I don't really feel they need to talk about it because you know, it's in the past, and I don't really know if you guys would care to hear too much about it. Maybe maybe you would. I mean, I don't know, I was just making that a sude and honestly, it was a very interesting time in my life, I would say. But I did promise way back earlier in the year in my New Year's resolution episode that I would be more vulnerable with you guys, and this is part of it, so let's get into it. And this is honestly, this episode is for the tall girlly who feels some type of pressure to play sports even though it's not really her thing or she's just not interested in it and she wants to explore other options. I just want that tall girl, just like how I wish I had that in my past. But I just want that tall girl to know that she is not alone. She is not the only one. There are so many of us out there who aren't interested in sports, who don't play sports, and who do other things and are absolutely thriving in it and are happy in doing it. But also I do want to give a disclaimer that I am not trying to sway people one way or the other saying that you should just like how, I'm not saying that you shouldn't play sports. You know, do what makes you happy. If that if sports is something that you want to do, do it. If sports is something that you don't want to do, then you don't have to do it. Here, I'm just trying to provide a perspective in the tall girl world relating to sports, and you know, some sense of relatability to somebody who may have similar experiences as me. So my timeline relating to sports because I have played quite a few in the past. Honestly, I actually started out with dance like I used to do ballet, and then I switched over to tap dance, and okay, two things were a little bit for me in terms of that. The first thing was number one, I was obviously the tallest one there, so I did feel quite out of place. I'm not gonna lie about that. So I didn't think it was really my scene from the start because I honestly wasn't super super comfortable because I was so much taller than all the other little girls who were there who were my age there. But then also number two, my coordination was just not it. Like I will say that I'm slightly better now in terms of like the coordination and rhythm, just slightly though, but back then it was really bad. Honestly, I was growing into my body, had long limbs, didn't know how to manage them or control them, so it was just not a vibe, is what I'll say. So, yeah, I did that for a while, and then you know, after that my memory because you know, I was very young, so I don't necessarily remember when I stopped or how I stopped, but I know that at some point in time I did get into basketball. I started that when I was like six or seven, and quite frankly, even though it's pretty cliche, that was that was my main thing for a while. I mean, I did other sports in the while I was playing basketball. I did like swimming, soccer, baseball, but basketball was my main thing until I turned twelve. And because basketball was my main thing, this is what I'm going to be talking about for the most part. And I will say, you know, I was actually pretty good. And I'm not being like, oh, because it's me and I'm being biased, like I actually, like, objectively, I think that I was pretty talented. And you know, it even got to the point where I was so good that I was quote unquote too good to play with my peers, the other girls my age. So when a lot of summer camps and I wouldn't say tournaments, because we had to be around like the same age as our team, I mean obviously not exactly the same age, but around the same age. But in basketball camps for example, yes, I went to basketball camps. That's how heavily invested we are. We were in that I was often put with the older girl. Like imagine at eight nine ten year old with teenagers. That's how talented they believed I was. And you know, like I did have a lot of potential. I'm not gonna lie, but I think when that realization of how much potential I had hit the rest of us, and I'm saying us, I'm gonna get into that a little bit later, that's kind of when it started going downhill, because it was that age around eight nine ten, especially around nine to ten, where I had a huge, huge, huge, huge, huge amount of pressure from my parents and coaches to you know, go all the way with this sport, if you know what I mean. Like there were talks about college basketball, pro basketball, and even the Olympics from such a young age. And listen, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with dreaming big and you know, wanting big things for your child. But you know, something also to keep in mind is that I was very young, like I like I ate nine ten, like I was not thinking about college, let alone being an adult and playing professionally or anything. But that's just me. I just wanted to be a child. I just wanted to be a kid and just do things that kids did, you know. But definitely as that time got closer and I got older and started approaching like my preteen and honestly almost my teen years, that's when it just it wasn't the greatest, you know, there was just I don't want to get too too deep into it, but there was just a lot of nitpicking and a lot of really rude comments and things said to me that was like said over and over again that you know, it kind of stuck with me in my subconscious in a way. Literally anything that I would do on the court, they were just there was always something wrong with it. There was always something like we could have a great game, I could have a great session, but there's always always always something wrong with what I did. No matter how hard I tried, I always did something thing horribly or badly. And then on top of that, after a while, you know, I was made to feel as though if I didn't play basketball, if I didn't play that sport, I would be nothing and I would be wasting my height and I would look stupid for giving it all up, and honestly, it was kind of a way to I personally think I don't know if it's actually true, but I think that them saying all of that that, oh I'm gonna be nothing. Oh you're gonna look like a dufist. Oh you're you're gonna be wasting your height, You're gonna look stupid to everybody. Why would you do that? This and that and the other. Like, I think that that was a way to kind of scare me into continuing to play the sport. And you know, after a while, I just I did like playing Honestly, I did like playing basketball, Like I enjoyed it because like I like, you know, I like team sports, I like talking with other people. I liked meeting new people. I just had fun playing at tournaments and stuff. But just that unreasonably high pressure and just all of the I don't want to say bullying, but just adults saying that to a child is actually kind of crazy, That's really all I'm saying. Just all of that kind of made me start to resent it in a way, like it was being used to judge me and shame me and even guilt trip me into doing things that they wanted me to do. And honestly, I feel like this is a very good thing for parents to understand. I mean, there are some parents who listen to this podcast, but I don't know if they have kids who are in sports or anything, but listen, if you do, it doesn't even have to be sports and anything, like for any parent, you know, I just want to say that, yes, it's great to have big dreams and big hopes for your child. It's amazing. But I think something really important to remember is that your child is still a child. Just like how they can't comprehend the value of money at that age because you know, they don't they never had it. They don't know how to manage it, like they just think that. I mean, because I'm pretty sure you're paying for most of the things or all of the things for your child, So they can't comprehend the value of money. They also can't comprehend the value of those big things like being a pro athlete and going into the Olympics and stuff. Trust me, they can think that it's super super awesome, but they physically can't understand what actually goes into it and how that's gonna work for them. And then on top of that, they're still growing and developing minds, Like interest change, not even as a child, like as an adult, Like as you get older, interests change over time, and it's like they can want something now, but they may not want it like down the line. You know what I mean. You know what I'm trying to say, I'm just trying to Basically, the point that I'm trying to bring up is that I just don't think that we should be putting so so much pressure on young kids to just be these big things, and you know, at that age. That's just my personal opinion. I don't want to be like, I know, I'm not trying to sway anybody to do anything or say anything, but that's just my personal take on it. I just think that it's a little bit too much for a young child, Like they should still be allowed to be a child and have interest and honestly develop their own opinions over time. Can we stop putting unnecessary pressure on tall people to play sports? Can we stop implying that we'll be wasting our height if we don't play sports, Like, can we process the idea that we can and may want to do other things? Besides that, not all tall people have to be athletes. Yes, our height can be an advantage in sports, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that's going to be our passion. There are some of us who like music and art, there are some of us who like video games in public speaking, and there are some of us who like doing that. It's just a reality. Yeah. So anyways, I stopped around the age of twelve playing basketball. I'm not gonna go into how that ended, because it was a bit messy, I will say, And you know, it's very interesting because it's like I was twelve at that time. Why the only thing that should be messy is my handwriting or something in school, Like I shouldn't really be in messy situations with grown adults. I mean, nothing super super bad happened, Like don't think that anything crazy happened, but it was just like unnecessary drama, That's what I'm gonna say. So, yeah, I stopped playing at the age of twelve, and that's when I transitioned into my second main sport, and that was tennis, and I thought that it was gonna be something. I was like, okay, like it's pretty chill, like it's fun, like let's get into it. No, once I started getting pretty good at it. The same exact thing happened again with basketball, the same toxic cycle with Okay, I'm very good at it. I have massive potential, ope the unnecessary toxic pressure, and then you know, people coming at me saying this and that and the other if I don't play, and then it didn't end messily as basketball did. I kind of got out of it, I guess you could say, because I stopped playing towards the end of high school and you know, class of twenty twenty, and that was the big P word, the pandemic, So there was a lockdown and sports just nothing, honestly was happening at that point for anybody. So I stopped playing and never went back. And I'm not saying that my life is better without it, but there's just a lot less headache now. There's a lot less headache now for me. And you know, I found my love for music. I've mentioned that a few times on this podcast. I found my love for music during high school, and you know, I did that, and you know I still have a passion for that and that's something that I definitely want to continue doing. So yeah, that is my little story, my little timeline of me being an athlete and how kind of toxic it was for me, especially as a younger, as a younger child. So a big part of me, I will say, is at least glad that you know I've had I've made. I'm not gonna lie. After when I stopped playing basketball, and even after I stopped playing tennis, I felt like there was a big part of me missing, kind of like when you graduate high school, graduate college and it's like, dang, like what's my identity now? Because I'm not a high schooler, I'm not a college student anymore, Like who am I? Like? What is my identity? I was made to feel like being an athlete should be my identity, A big part of my identity. So when I left, I I don't want to say I was having an identity crisis, but I was kind of struggling a little bit like wow, like what am I doing? Like what's my purpose in life? You know? So I think that definitely taking that step back from sports kind of helped me explore other parts of me that I wouldn't have been able to explore if I were an athlete and just had all that pressure and constant people talking and in my face and all that stuff about it. So I'm sorry, I'm just rambling at this point, but yeah, that's really what I wanted to say. So, yeah, I've made peace with it. I know I've made peace and process that this used to be my life and I can move on. So I just wanted to say all of this to say that it's okay if you have interests outside of sports, if you're a total girl, and it's okay if you do have interests in sports, it's okay both ways. I just wanted to say that it's okay if you don't play sports, because not everybody has these big success stories that these athletes do have. A lot of us have, you know, gone through tough times with it, and others just don't really care too much for it, and that is okay. Everybody's story is different, everybody's live paths are going to be different, and that's okay. So if you're a tall person, did you play sports at any point in time in your life? Like, how was that for you? I want to hear the good, the bad, the ugly, And on that note, I am going to conclude, Thank you so so much for tuning into this episode. I really appreciate it, and I appreciate you as always. Feel free to hit me up onut my socials at a Tall Girls podcast, on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest and let me know. Let me know what we thought about this episode. Let me know if about your journey as an athlete, if we had any similarities, or if we didn't have any similarities, if you had a completely opposite experience like I only hear about it, Let's talk, Let's have a discussion on it, and until then, I'll catch you in the next one. Good night and goodbye.