I was small and wore glasses, essentially non-athletic though in shape (HWP/not fat). But I always got chosen last. Sometimes, I could understand why. But the general perception was that I was bad at everything and I wasn’t. I was especially good at dodgeball and was usually the last one standing–a combination of being small, nimble, and underestimated.
One of my proudest athletic moments was in 6th grade when I was in a four-person footrace and there were ribbons for the top 3 finishers. This jerk called Tommy (classic overweight bully) got a ton of mileage out of mocking me as the one who would come in last. But this was a long-distance race and he never had a chance. I came in 3rd (ribbon!) and Tommy was left eating my dust.
So it bothered me somewhat when I was little, but once HS came and PE was more an elective, I left that behind.
I went a nice long time (from 4th grade through 7th grade) without mandatory phys ed classes, so I didn’t have to get picked at all during that interval. In early elementary school I was not picked last, just last out of all the male people. The teacher would invariably ask a pair of boys to be team captains and they’d alternate picking students for “their side”; all the other boys would be picked, then about 7 or 8 of the girls, then somewhere around that point I’d be chosen.
From 8th to 12th grade I was again in PE this time as an actual official class, sex-segregated to boot. Usually “squads” were assigned by the coach rather than some team-leader doing the picking, but there were a few occasions when impromptu teams were formed by picking in the traditional sense. Usually last or within the last 3-4 in such cases, I was once picked FIRST by a guy who deliberately assembled a team of the nerdiest and least athletic and wimpiest guys in the class. Don’t know why, he himself was one of the jocks. We actually did OK, all things considered. (We came in second out of 4 teams in the relay race). One of the nerdy guys refused to participate, figuring this had to be yet another exercise in humiliating us. I was inclined to expect that as well but except for the snickering from the other jocks it was done straight-up.
Interesting. At both my elementary and high school, it didn’t matter. Everybody did gym, but in high school it was only for the first two years, IIRC. (And it was one semester of gym, and one semester of swimming.)
I was picked last sometimes when I was young. Maybe because I was a clumsy beanpole or maybe because I stood in the back and stared at the ground, hoping nobody could see me. I couldn’t tell because I was standing in the back, staring at the ground, hoping nobody could see me. When I got older and actually tried some of the sports it turned out there were one or two I was good at, then I got picked sometimes. But always, always last for baseball and I understand.