Autistic Athletes?

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I know it's very rare, but are there any athletes on here with autism/AS? I play football and run track myself, and I fell as if I'm one of the only people with AS that does that.

I find this intriguing.

I stink at sports myself but I'm hoping some people reply too.

I did bodybuilding for several years. I had the power of ASPIE-LEVEL OBSESSION on my side, and it is a powerful drive indeed. I think the best compliment I got was "Damn Keith! Your shoulders look like bowling balls!"

Up to a few days ago I was into martial arts. I did that for better than a year. My instructor decided that he was not going to let me test for greenbelt due to A) poor eye contact, B) lack of a "kata face" (facial expression), and C) robot-like movements. He doesn't know about Aspergers Syndrome.

Initially I was angry about this "discrimination" but when I calmed down my rationally won. If I got my leg cut off then I would not expect to remain in a martial arts class. I would not expect them to let me continue because it would cheapen the entire deal for everyone else. Martial arts is something that has certain physical requirements. If I was to make an issue about it and try to get some special exceptions, then it would take away from the value of the art for everyone else.

It would become a issue of always having to "re-draw the line." Next thing you know, some fat guy is saying "I can't do pushups cause i'm too fat. But can I get promoted anyway? You don't discriminate against fat people do you?" To make exceptions for that example or anything simply takes away from the value of the belt in question.

I need to change my avatar.

Just a quick question here, but what is the "kata face" supposed to look like? I've never figured that out. As for eye contact, I imagine that I'm looking at a dot just in front of my opponent's (whether he/she is real or imaginary) face. In order to keep up with most of the other students in my class, I have to train a lot harder and come in for all the optional practice times at the dojo, but it's worth the extra work.

im new this year to the winter track program but i throw shot put

I mountain bike and lift weights. I used to Swim and run track.

I get up and feed the cat, does that count?

Used to do competitive road-racing (cycling), aikido and kendo and some informal shooting (distance and accuracy, not rate of fire).
These days... I watch F1 on tv and race it in a computer sim... does that count?

former marathon runner

Thank you for the clarification. Logically, it is more important that the person testing is able to do the kata and kumite properly, but I understand why the facial expression is highly regarded. For the eye contact, I imagine I'm staring at a spot just in front of where my opponent would be.

In karate, it is the kicks that are difficult for me because I don't have very good balance, but with more practice, they should become easier and good enough to pass the class I'm taking (I wouldn't be ready to test for level). One of my favourite parts about karate is getting to learn the Japanese terms for things.

I play lacrosse, on my high school team.
I do gymnastics(my school dosen't have a team, but I wist it did).
I run on my own time, I love running.

Gymnastics and lacrosse are my favorite sports, but I'm bad at both of them.
I'm a fast runner.
I'm also good at football(very very good), but my parents and gymnastics coaches don't let me play being I could get injured too easily.

I'm a longdistance runner. I started in 7th grade with the mile and the 800 meter race, and in highschool I did crosscountry for 4 years and track for 3 years (I'm a highschool senior who got done with their highschool crosscountry time). I plan on doing crosscountry in college as well. Anyways, I've been to the state championships three times (twice as a team, and this year as an individual), and my fastest overall time for a 3.1 mile course was around 20:45 (it's not the exact time; it's been awhile since I had to remember it). Let's see...and my fastest mile time is 5:45, and my fastest 2 mile time is 12:45 (weird how they're in the 45's lol!) Anyways, I love to run and I'm hoping to run marathons when my body matures more in the future; I love crosscountry way better than track!

I ran cross country for my school team and then in the Spring I'm going to join my school track team, but yeah.

I walk up to my stereo and program certain songs to listen to. Does that count?