reprage

When I was a kid, my dad and I never understood each other. Dad was really good at sport, and I mean “national level” good at sports. And my dad’s uncle? He was some sort of coaching god within the New Zealand rugby community. To say that sport was a big part of my dad’s life would be an understatement.

Me on the other hand? I wasn’t into any of that. I liked science, engineering and space exploration. But when I was growing up, it always felt like Dad was pushing me towards some sort of sport. We eventually figured it out, but not till I was a teenager.

When I found out that I had landed a spot on the Tom Sachs weartester team, I rang him up, “Dad! I got Nike sponsorship.” He laughed and asked, “For what?”

I told him that I’d been sponsored to be a programmer and an artist. After a few seconds he realised I was being serious and wanted to know more. I told him all about the weartester program, and how an artist is an athlete.

My dad is one of those embarrassingly proud fathers, but telling him that I was living out some of his professional athlete dreams, while using my own skills? Well, I didn’t think that would happen. So Nike and Tom, thank you. I never dared to dream that I would be nerding in the majors.

A photo of me with my Dad. He is wearing his baseball uniform and I'm wearing my weartester uniform.

Originally written for the Sachsian Syndicate.

Previously: TGIM 15 - … because you are what you eat. And for me, that’s not just the food that nourishes my body but also the media that feeds my thoughts.

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