Vent about Irish dance.

Instructions

So, I’ve been doing Irish dance for almost my whole life (for 10 years, and I’m 13 yrs old), and it’s really fun! I mean, it WAS really fun, until my dance team had a new rule by my teacher. After every class on Thursdays, we do something called Strength Training. You basically do crunches, lunges, squats, planks, side planks, etc. and I didn’t really mind that because it was optional (but recommended). Until a few months ago, where my teacher announced that the specific team I was on (which is the 3rd highest team in my dance place) was REQUIRED to do strength training. I was a little upset at that, as NO OTHER TEAM HAS TO DO IT. I know, I seem dramatic, but hear me out. My strength training teacher would try to push us past our limits, and it can get bad. She expects us to get up the millisecond we fall. If we’re down for ONE SINGULAR SECOND, my teacher would be like, “LET’S GO, GET UP! YOU SHOULDN’T BE FALLING DOWN THIS QUICK!” And she literally screams it, and it kinda scares me. There would be times where after I finish a side plank, and I can’t stand up, walk, or anything like that for like 2 minutes. Okay, I know I’m being dramatic, but here’s the thing that makes me upset. This isn’t about strength training; it’s about how my parents deal with my Irish dance. They just don’t care about my physical health. Today, I was feeling HORRIBLE after school. I’m talking a horrible headache, relentless coughing, stomach pain, and my nose constantly running. I told my mom I don’t feel well, and she said, “you don’t needa be missing this much dance class. You have a performance coming up in March!” And she also thinks that me not feeling well equals not wanting to do dance anymore. I told her that I still didn’t feel well again in the car, and she said “Sparky, do you not wanna do dance anymore?” And I tried explaining that me feeling sick to the stomach does NOT equal me wanting to quit dance, but guess what? She said I was “lashing out” at her. I WAS TRYING TO EXPLAIN THE “LOGIC”. And when I got to dance, I had to sit out the entire time because I was too sick to dance, and yet, my mom still didn’t give a s***. I kind of wanna quit dance now, but I also don’t wanna at the same time. I never even wanted to do Irish dancing in the first place. My mom just decided to put me in it because she thought it was pretty.