For my entire life I have told people that I am not athletically inclined. I complain about my lack of hand-eye coordination and grimace when a soccer ball rolls towards my feet. I am legitimately scared of Frisbees. I didn’t know that baseball game had 9 innings until last year. But the truth is, I am athletically inclined. Just not in your most conventional way.

When I was three years old my mom signed me up to play on a Rec & Ed soccer team called the Koalas. I learned how to kick the ball, distinguish which goal to score in, and how to pass only to your teammates. But despite the weekly practices and the enthusiasm of my fellow pre-schoolers, the majority of these soccer games I spent in the corner of the field. I picked flowers, played with the grass, and watched the other kids play. But most of all, I twirled. I stood in my iridescent purple soccer shorts and shin guards that came half way up my thigh and twirled. I was not a soccer player. I was a ballerina.

I began dancing at CAS Ballet Theatre School at 5 years old. I walked up the stairs for the first time in my brand new pink tights. My baby fat filled out my new leotard, creating rolls above my elastic-waist skirt. I have been dancing for almost 12 years. I have walked up those stairs hundreds of thousands of times now.

Though I would never pursue classical Russian Ballet as a profession, it has undoubtedly changed my life. What started as a once a week social hour for little girls has turned into something so much larger. I often dance everyday. I am a member of a pre-professional dance program. I am in the Ann Arbor Ballet Theatre Company. I teach young dancers on a regular basis. Dancing isn’t just an extracurricular for me, it’s a way of life. I spend more time in the dusty dance studio above Stuccis more than I do in my own house. I see my dance teacher, Carol, more than I see my sister.

So sometimes I wonder why that doesn’t count as a sport. It may not be a team, but you still play to win — compeeting with peers for the best parts, the most attention, the perfect fouette. Throughout the years, I have worked endlessly to develop muscle, flexability, and balance. I don pointe shoes for the end of each class, and often times, I have to buy a new pair after only a few weeks because I have broken the shoe in half.

And just like a high school athlete, my fellow dancers and I deal with injuries on regular basis. We spend a large portion of class stretching only our achiles tendons in order to prevent tendonitis. After large performances, I have found myself with shin splints. The studio constantly smells of Icy Hot and is littered with Thera-Bands and self massagers.

So, I guess I just don’t understand why dance doesn’t deserve to be on the sports page. I still may not understand what a birdie is, or why I can’t pass the starting line in football, but I am sure as hell athletically inclined.