For most of my life, I was painfully non-athletic. I thought sports were stupid, and avoided them at all costs. As I understand, this isn't atypical of highly asthmatic kids. After a few episodes of gasping for air after being forced onto the soccer team, I gave up and spent as much time as I could being at the place on the field where the ball wasn't.
I was in a tae-kwon-do class for a number of years, and got to the purple belt level, but didn't particularly enjoy it at the time. I was pudgy enough to be slow at sparring, and a conveniently large target for my quick-kicking opponents. Enough of that.
In college, I decided to try being more athletic and joined the University of Wisconsin Crew Team. As it turned out, I was about a foot shorter than all of the other rowers, and ended up not making the team. However, I had excellent organizational and computer skills, and the coaches saw the opportunity for some free work. I ended up being the varsity team manager for the next four years - driving the coaches' boat while they screamed at the rowers at 4:30 in the morning, creating templates for boat assignments, arranging logistics for regattas. It was fun, and I felt a little closer to being an athlete.
One of my host dads in Up With People, Steve Heyl, is a medal-winning powerlifter, and told me that I had the perfect build and predisposition to excel at strength events. He planted in my head the idea that I could actually do this. I wouldn't get around to actually practicing it until years later, but that was the start.
Since then, I've come to enjoy sports (mostly individual ones...I'm a team player in the business and academic sense, but still don't enjoy soccer.) My current main activities, which you can learn more about by clicking the links below are: