It is definitely not "self-inflicted by nerds upon themselves", at least not entirely. I grew up both a nerd and mildly athletic and became very athletic in col

It is definitely not "self-inflicted by nerds upon themselves", at least not entirely. I grew up both a nerd and mildly athletic and became very athletic in college and later. While there are certainly areas of positive support athletics for adolescents, much of athletics is as the OP describes. I have a very talent athletic family in general, with several cousins and one nephew that are playing or have played professional, and nearly all my relatives highly active in sports their whole lives. I was an outlier! And I can say, from the internal view, competitive sports tends to be pretty rough on people. Friendships made, yes, and it can be a great experience, but it is typically very excluding and very, very harsh. It really depends on where you grow up, too. None of this is to say that physical activities have to be like that, and most aren't once you get into college and beyond. But middle and high school in much of america? It can be harsh!