But Sting did not thrive in this environment. "I was unhappy--very much aware that I didn't belong at home or in my town or in the school." He attended a Catholic private school (on scholarship), which was a complement to the Catholic upbringing provided by his parents; and while he would later jocoseriously reflect on the good a Catholic education had done him ("What did I learn from the Catholic Church? Actually I'm very grateful to have been brought up a Catholic, because for a songwriter to have this idea of guilt and sin and eternal punishment is very good."), young Gordon was a good student but a discipline problem. "I did well despite the teachers. Not many of them liked me. I was very arrogant. [. . .] I was involved in an older disruptive group, my friends were delinquent, and I was delinquent by association." This stemmed largely from the simple fact that he did not feel comfortable among his peers. It was said of him (and would be true for many years to come) that he was the sort of person that had many acquaintances but few friends. "I think as a child I found everything difficult," he reminisced in 1994. "I found speaking difficult; I found playing football difficult; I found learning difficult. And yet I was determined to do something well, and so I ended up with the guitar and concentrated all my efforts on being able to play the guitar. So, no, my life was not easy as a child, but I'm very grateful for it, because it made me who I am. And I'm glad I'm who I am." The only positive way in which Sting did stand out is as an athlete--a sprinter, to be specific; but, despite being the Northumberland 200-meter champion, when he was able to finish no higher than third in the 100 meters at the National Junior Championships, he gave up competitive athletics entirely. (Sting would say something in 1979 which would shed light on this sort of behavior: "I only want to be the best. I enjoy being the best. I am an egoist. I wouldn't go on stage to do what I do if I wasn't. I'm supremely self-confident about everything I do.") And so, fittingly, it was only to music that Sting applied himself consistently.
Sting's mother was a classically-trained pianist, and she also introduced her son to many of the popular records of the day. (The first that Sting remembers hearing is Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up," which gave him "an intense feeling of excitement.") It was at the age of eight, though, that a truly seminal event in Sting's life took place: through an uncle he came into possession of his first guitar. Despite his love of the instrument, he was sent home from his first private lessons, his teacher complaining that the boy "will not be taught." But this in no way hindered Sting's dedication to his first love. "I began to write music very early. I was inspired by my mother's piano playing and fantasized a life as a musician, without any real idea about how to achieve that fantasy. But, thank God, it happened. I don't know what I would have done otherwise."
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