I always dreamed of becoming a sports hero.<\/p>\n

I wanted to be the guy who scored the winning goal or hit the winning runs. \u00a0I wanted 100\u00a0000 people to cheer my name. \u00a0I wanted Mum to be proud but instead I became a sports journalist and this is why.<\/p>\n

My earliest sporting memory was the Springboks returning to international rugby in 1992 against New Zealand. \u00a0I was only nine but the match left a lasting impression. \u00a0Soon afterwards India\u2019s cricketers were touring South Africa. \u00a0I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up \u2013 a sportsman.<\/p>\n

An aggressive collection of sports equipment, shirts, magazines, books, autographs and whatever else I could get my hands on commenced. \u00a0I would put on my SA cricket shirt and bowl in the backyard for hours after school. \u00a0In winter I donned my Bok jersey and practiced goal kicking. \u00a0The large tree acted as the poles.\u00a0\u00a0However, it soon became clear I was hopeless.<\/p>\n

I could not run, jump or throw so athletics was out. \u00a0I could not tackle so my rugby career flopped. \u00a0My fast bowling was on some kind of morphine so I set my sights on becoming the next Shane Warne. \u00a0Sadly every ball I bowled was the wrong one! \u00a0Oh and of course I could not bat.<\/p>\n

My determination endured. \u00a0I tried baseball, hockey and soccer \u2013 when we lost a pre-season game 11-0 I knew I was no goalkeeper. \u00a0Maybe tennis would be my game. \u00a0Maybe not. \u00a0I got no love from that sport, or squash for that matter. \u00a0After being taught how to drive a golf ball my first shot was perfect; straight down the middle of the fairway. \u00a0The next 30 shots all went pitifully square along the ground and I knew golf was not for me.<\/p>\n

I was desperate to be the family\u2019s first sports hero. \u00a0So desperate that when my high school history teacher invited me to try rugby (again) I accepted. \u00a0Maybe this time things would be different. \u00a0They were. \u00a0Curiously I found myself in the front row. \u00a0Without knowing how to scrum I crouched, touched, engaged and pulled a muscle in my back. \u00a0I did not attend school for the rest of the week let alone walk again until the weekend.<\/p>\n

Forced to consider my options, I decided to cut my losses and do the next best thing and I am glad I did. \u00a0I would not trade my job for anything in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I always dreamed of becoming a sports hero. I wanted to be the guy who scored the winning goal or hit the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterstemmet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterstemmet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterstemmet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterstemmet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterstemmet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/peterstemmet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49758,"href":"https:\/\/peterstemmet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions\/49758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterstemmet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterstemmet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterstemmet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterstemmet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}