I was a par excellence academic nerd who was atrocious at sports. My gross motor coordination was extremely poor until my late teens, and by then it was too late to be good at any team sport because everyone else had years of experience where I had years of failure. I don't have good depth perception -- perfect eyesight until my 40s but could never really tell where things were -- which made most sports impossible: I could see the ball perfectly but had no idea exactly where it was in space, which means I usually failed to hit or catch it.

As a child, I went through extremes in movement patterns. I could sit and read for five hours straight, almost motionless, and then I'd get up and run for an hour non-stop. I had tons of energy -- actually, until maybe 5 years ago.

So what does a highly energetic KLUTZ of a child do with all that energy? Especially if one is incapable of participating in most sports?
1. Run. I wasn't particularly fast, probably because the moving parts wouldn't co-ordinate, but at least I could do it.
2. ride my bike, as long as an hour through the city, and often into neighborhoods where I wasn't supposed to be in.
3. Jump. Over things (bushes and trash cans) and from things (staircases, trees.)
4. Climb. Trees, fences (ones with "No trespassing" signs had special appeal) and buildings. I can climb pretty much anything. And then when I climbed over the fence that said No Trespassing, and climbed up the wall of some building (NYC apartments, factories and such) I could leap across close rooftops onto more buildings where I wasn't supposed to be. HA! The amazing part of this is that my bicycle never got stolen when I hid it in bushes or whatever so I could go climb those buildings. I would've been in major MAJOR trouble if it did, because then a kid with no money would've had to figure out how to get home many hours walking. Although at least I wouldn't have been lost, because I'm like a little homing pigeon.