Are you good at sports? I have always been uncoordinated (運動神経が悪い). When I was in elementary school, I took tap dancing lessons. I enjoyed the lessons. We did very easy steps because we were small children. The teacher would say, "Step, toe! Step, toe!" to the rhythm of the music. On one beat, our teacher would say "Step!" and we would step forward with our heel (踵). On the next beat the teacher would say "Toe!" and we would lower our toes to the floor. Each movement made a satisfying "click". It was very fun for a little uncoordinated girl like me!
Why am I telling you about tap dancing in a blog post titled "Tai chi (太極拳)"? Because that simple "Step, toe!" move was maybe the limit of my coordination (運動神経). I was bad at every sport I tried. Everyone thinks that I'm good at basketball or volleyball because I'm tall, but I'm SO BAD at sports, and so uncoordinated.
A few years ago, a student told me about a Tai chi class. It was held at a nursing home (老人ホーム) once a week. I thought, Tai chi looks very easy! I bet (きっと) I could learn to do Tai chi! And it looks very cool （かっこいい)!
I attended the first class. There were many students in the class. Most of them were older than me. We started with a long warm up. The warm up was very hard! Stretching. Strength training. Balance training. I was so uncoordinated already, and we were only doing the warm up! And the other students were so good and cool and graceful *.
Then the teacher started teaching us the movements for Tai chi. They looked very easy. The movements are slow and fluid (液体のような). I thought, Oh, I can do that! But I underestimated (見逸れる) the complexity (複雑さ) of the movements.
It turns out (結果的に) that you have to be very coordinated to do Tai chi! You have to pay attention (意識する) to every part of your body at the same time! It's very, very difficult! But the other students seemed to learn it so naturally. How? Why?
I continued to attend the class for about 2 months. I bought a DVD that taught each movement in great detail. I practiced at home. But I never did improve. At each class, I felt so conspicuous (目立). Everyone knew that I was a beginner, so they always told me to come to the front so that I could see the teacher. But I really wanted to stand at the very back! Being a tall foreign person made me stick out like a sore thumb (very 目立）! If I turned left when everyone else turned right, it was very noticable!
I finally gave up. Sometimes my students tell me that they want to give up in English class. I tell them, "Don't give up! You can do it!" But I gave up on sports! Now I get exercise from stretching, walking, and riding an indoor exercise bicycle. My uncoordinated arms and legs can handle (付き合う？やっていける？）those activities.
I'm so jealous (うらやましい) of people who are good at sports. Are you good at sports?
* I'm not sure how to say "graceful" in Japanese. When I look in the dictionary, I can't find a word that fits. In this case, "graceful" means elegant movements--like a ballet dancer or a cat.