"Lonely" sports and AS

Post Reply New Topic

i have really good upper body strength and very poor lower body strength.

swimming laps was a completley absorbing special interest for a couple of summers in a row - swimming kilometres regardless of weather, temperature, conditions.

then one day...as i do...i just stopped.

I think the only sport I've ever really loved is figure skating, probably to the point of obsession.

Looking back on it now, it makes a lot more sense why I spent all those public sessions (ie not training) doing spins! As well as the fact that figureskating is a patently lonely and non-team sport.

I feel exactly like the thread-starter. And my two strongest (or rather, my only strong) sports are running and rowing.

Ditto here. I walk by myself and I ride my bicycle solo. Treadmills are inherently solo, so there is no problem there.

ruveyn

I'm good at one-on-one sports like Tennis and Badminton. I used to be a good sprinter in school too.
Team sports weren't my strong point with the exception being cricket, which probably didn't require as much team co-ordination as other sports like soccer or touch football.

I love sports particularly cricket though.

I hate all sports because I have bad motor skills, but I hate teams sports even more because I can't do team stuff well anyway but when it comes to sports I simply can't do it.

I've read in numerous books, and been told by my psychologist, that this is very typical with AS. Back during my initial Asperger's self-discovery, this was one of the first pieces of the puzzle that I was able to put into place. I used to be obsessive about running, years after leaving high school. I never would run in school because I didn't want to run with the other kids, I didn't play any sports, etc; but as an adult I took to running and became obsessed, I ran every day and LOVED it.

Even aside from my terrible lack of hand-to-eye coordination and my insanely slow reaction times - I find team sports impossible. I don't even know how to attempt to play and it has nothing to do with the rules of the game but rather the social/interaction aspect. Any time I have been forced to play I find myself standing on the sidelines unsure how to join in or what is expected of me.

I'm terrible at team sports-I have bad coordination and I really suck at them so no one ever wanted me on their team.

I love things like swimming, hiking, biking, archery...and I also love running. However, I can only run fast and for a long time when I am happy or excited, so of course...I wasn't that good at running in gym classes...

I love kickboxing for self-defence, but sparring always confused me.

Team sports were not fun. I've many memories of school games where I had no idea how to join in and would stand to one side for hours in the cold. They would make these into double lessons as well.

Year after year, I'd just stand there wondering whether I'd spontaneously know what to do one day. The teachers sometimes assumed I was being oppositional, but they mostly ignored me completely. A few years later, they were shocked when they saw I did well in individual sports. They'd never provided the opportunity until then.

I find this pretty amusing as well! 45 years after high school many of the social jock-types that I went to school with are now couch-jockeys with lifestyle-induced problems, while I'm still running and hiking daily and look reasonably fit (no virtue on my part--it's just my special interest). There was no place for a person like me (small, weak, not coordinated) to fit into physical education in those days. I think what amuses me is that it seems clear that "sport" was just a passing phase in those people for the goal of getting admiration, while running has been a life-long interest for me ( and most trail-runners I have met). There is no glory in it, since I'm damned slow, just self-satisfaction. I think some people interpret that as self-discipline. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I do it because I love it.

I am also prefering individual sports. My problem is that I am able to collaborate with others only when they are acting as I am predicting (as I should act). In another case I am not able to understand what another are doing and what I should to do.

I tend to be better at lone sports, I'm rubbish at most sports where you have to play in a team. Lone sports are definitely better for me.

I'm also better at lone sports.
I love swimming and aerobics and I like to use rowing machines and exercise bikes.
But I cannot stantd team sports, especially hockey and rounders which seem to be the two most played sports at my school, much to my delight...