Very good read

One of my favorite posters over at Slowtwitch and the owner of Bikesport Michigan, a triathlon store wrote a pretty good editorial. It's about a kid who was overweight and struggled with self-confidence through school before going on to become a prolific endurance athlete and successful business man. Although the ending becomes obvious (he's the kid in the story) it's well written and in general a feel-good story.
http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/editorials/0000104.shtml

It has a lot of parallels for me in my life, although my low wasn't quite so low and my high was quite so high, at least in terms of sports. Struggling with weight and my body image was ALWAYS an issue for me, and in fact it still is. I've certainly improved a great deal over the last few years and I don't let my weight define me as much as I used to, but there are still many days when it has an impact on how I feel. I remember being very self-conscious and shy as a kid and I think it took me a few years to break out of that shell. I contribute a lot of that to my (now) wife who really helped me become much more self-confident.

In any case, it's good to read about how teachers or others can help a kid overcome some of those problems.