still relatively new to being in a band--sadly skipped the whole teenage garage band phase--but being a sports kid taught me pretty much everything I needed to know about it except how to sing (and we even did a bit of that on long bus rides).

honestly think every able-bodied kid should spend some time on a sports team, the same way I believe that anyone running for office should have some previous minimum wage work experience and spend a weekend in jail...how better to understand the very basics on which these systems operate?

teamwork. camaraderie. fighting spirit...but those are easy buckets.

there's so much more to it...for instance, I'll never develop an ego about being the band's mouthpiece, mostly because I learned early that every position contributed to fielding a competitive team.

sure I got to sling the pigskin a few times playing football, and that's fun because everybody looks at you do it, but this experience gave me the personal belief that the guy standing in front of me keeping the fattest kid at the other school from crushing me with his body was also worth celebrating.

obviously taught me the value of practice...it ain't my favorite thing ever at all but it is important. you gotta do it on a regular basis or you'll suck even more, that's way more annoying than doing this same thing agaaaaaaaain omfg ugh no no no no [ragged sigh] fine it's for the team.

it's such a flashback, I swear...wasn't the best player on any team I was ever on so that's nothing new to me, like I have 6 and 7 ratings pretty much across the board on and off the field but as my little league coach always used to say, I really hustle out there and my chatter is top-notch, super supportive teammate, great for morale, everybody give it up for the band!

seriously, one time I won an end-of-season reward for "team spirit" which is a usually a nice way of commemorating a swell kid who is only kinda bad at sports.

came with free ice cream.

sports should definitely teach you that win some lose some attitude that will drag you a long way through life...got into martial arts as a teenager and sure you may be able to kick some people's ass but in turn there's probably somebody right there in the dojo that can put that boot to your buns as well and it's best to always keep that in mind.

hell, sometimes ya just get lucky. or maybe the other guy does. point is neither outcome says anything inherently about you as a person.

EOD, it's only a game.

being a sports kid gives you a short memory too...no, not in the youth football CTE way (mostly), more like you're always gonna fuck something up at some point and the longer you dwell on it the more likely you're gonna fuck something else up and kill us all...get out of your head and back in the game!

I was also ready for the physicality of being on stage. ya might not think of performing music as a physical pursuit, but park yourself behind a set of drums and see how long you're breathing easy. flailing rhythmically for a whole episode of SpongeBob will even tire out a toddler...and that's one of the positions that gets a seat!

so the next time you're doing calisthenics, try busting out a few rap verses.

I'll never be a workout nut, made the big choice between extra cheese and six-pack abs long ago, but I still believe strongly in the importance of using one's body on a regular basis...as the Sunscreen Song impressed upon me in the middle of my youth sports career, "it is the greatest instrument you will ever own."

arguably the loudest instrument in the band from time to time.

organized sports offers enough structure to hold a project together without completely constraining the actions of individuals, a sense of belonging to a concept larger than oneself...and more importantly, the ability to choose belonging. leadership is role-based instead of top-down hierarchical.

it was my first experience with free association.

although I was at least cishet and tallish so that made life as an early 2000s high schooler easier than it otherwise would have been, I was far from rich and probably wasn't what we'd call conventionally attractive (yet :p )...so with an unremarkable hand to play in social environments, sports gave me the steady stream of endorphins I needed to get through some very awkward teenage years.

the toolkit I needed to one day foment the pleasant uprising.

...because a band, like a sports team, is a psychological pursuit at the root...I may know next to nothing about music theory, but I know a whole hell of a lot about team culture, and it can be summed up thusly:

all power to The People.

--Flor!!

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