Can an Aspie be athletic??

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I played lots of sports but the only one I was good at was tennis. Unfortunately the sports I like the most are team sports and they are the ones I was weakest at playing.

Im an Aspie and I'm good at Football/Soccer whatever you call it and I am also good at short and long distance running and long jump and Hurdles

I wasn't very good at sports as a kid, except for track, and for some reason I never followed through on that. As an adult I have finished 2 marathons, each one in less than 4 hours. I tried playing softball a few years ago for my Church. I had fun but still wasn't great at it.

I finished two marathons in under 4 hours, one in over 4 hours.

Maybe the flexibility/low muscle tone side is a big advantage for more precise movements/touch rather than clunky stiff movements. The hyper focus or ability to block out/ignore pain can help with endurance and determination. The low muscle tone and lack of co-ordination could be a disadvantage but once we learn something and adapt to it we excel. Use to take me half a day to mow a lawn, now I've been doing it as a business for 11 years I can do 12 a day. I've just learnt how to do it well and my body has adjusted.

I am certified as a Kung Fu instructor of a genuine Martial-Arts style that does actual Full-Contact practice & fighting so yes Aspies can become Athletic. You just need focusing your time into training.

Which ones? I did the Philadelphia in 1997 and the Quad Cities (IL/IA) in 1998. Hope to do a half marathon this fall if I can stay healthy. I have had off and on knee problems and messed it up pretty good last august, and slightly reinjured it last month, but have been running again. As you can see, I haven't done any long distance races in a very long time.

1995-1997 NYC Marathon

Never made it onto any team sports in childhood, but done a lot of horse back riding at a competitive level. I think not being sensitive to pain in a regular way helped me in this regard, I wasn't afraid to take risks to win, and liked fast paced competitions like eventing. One time I fractured some fingers when I was unseated and sent flying into a concrete wall at the start of a three day competition, I splinted them together, held the reins differently and carried on in the competition. I went to the A&E after the final was over and I was placed third, so it was worth it at the time, but now I am more concerned about the long term implications of these type of injuries.

I recently started tag rugby, and ladies 7 a side rugby and I'm really enjoying both, unalike other team ball sports the skills required are less taxing on coordination, the focus is more on speed and agility. I run regularly, so that helps, and not being sensitive to pain in a regular way is also a bonus.
But I am struggling with coordination while running, proprioception and spatial awareness with regard to moving as one unit and predicting the plays which I need to be a part of.

Yeah...I tended to struggle, too, in American football contexts when I was younger---especially as regards the placement and the movements of the other runners. This is why I was pretty heedless when I ran into a bunch of people. Fortunately, I was short and stocky, and had a low center of gravity, so I was hard to tackle. I took pride in my touchdown abilities--despite my inability to discern the patterns of the other team.

That's interesting. Even as an athletic Aspie I always seem to struggle in sports that require a constant change of position and look completely lost. No wonder I play Hockey (as a goalie) and Softball!

I was a pretty good goalie in my intramural Junior High School soccer team.

If I would actually play another position, I tended to get overly aggressive. That's why they stuck me at goalie. And I liked that!

I can be quite aggressive too. It usually shocks people to see what a bad temper I have and how competitive I get.

I first got interested in goalie (and catcher) mainly because of the heavy gear. When I heard this was another ASD trait I was not surprised. In fact, I have been researching a few hockey goalies who flopped or had short careers (like Jim Carey) and they sound quite like stereotypical Aspies. It would explain why goalies are generally considered ''weird" by players and fans alike!

What used to piss me off was that even though I was a pretty good baseball player as a kid (and have the stats to prove I was well above average), my coaches ALWAYS put me in the bottom of the order or tucked away in Right Field. I still to this day don't understand why. Luckily, my softball team FINALLY sees I am pretty good and I usually lead off the lineup now.

Austin Riley 3 time karting champoin

Dead on. I spend hours in BMX parks practicing pumps, cornering & tricks. It's at the point where I barely even feel my crashes on XC rides or in the city. Too much muscle tone can actually cause all manner of intractable injuries, calling for surgical aid. Natural muscle tone for me is about the same as for anyone else, I think people have it confused with connective tissue.

This is the one question that has plagued me the most in being un-diagnosed , as it seems to be a general consensus that people with ASD are uncoordinated goofs.

I'm 33, and 99.9% sure I'm on the Autism Spectrum. The traits I have are glaring (without digressing too far from the OP, but, still prefacing--I'll try and keep it short)...I have nearly uncontrollable stereotypies (since as long as I can remember), stemming from being excited or nervous, feel extremely uncomfortable with eye contact, have a couple of obsessive interests, abnormally high rote memory function and reading comprehension, have failed in friendships/relationships with not being able to move past the basics of intimacy etc....

BUT, I was an absolute freak athlete when I was younger--specifically in baseball and basketball. I played on several select teams for both, as well as varsity in high school--the most prolific in baseball, as I could throw one 90+MPH by the time I was 17.

That being said--as good as my hand/eye coordination seems to be, ironically, my fine motor skills are crap (if that makes any sense whatsoever). I have a hard time lacing shoes, or anything that requires intricate, precise motor movements (i.e. cutting things to exact measurements, or working with tools in general).

So, it's very confusing that I seem to be quite disproportionate in my traits/abilities. My best guess is that my genetics are chalked full of so much athletic ability (2 former pro athletes, and 5 collegiate athletes in my family), that even with my apparent ASD, enough managed to manifest itself where I was able to excel