Athletic ability v Dyspraxia

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I love football. I love watching it and have a ton of videos/DVDs and a mind full of obscure facts and statistics on the subject, but I'm hopeless when it comes to actually playing it.

I was wondering if it's possible for someone with AS to be a naturally gifted footballer. There are plenty of examples of genius footballers who are unable to function in everyday life (Paul Gascoigne, George Best, Diego Maradona) but none of them demonstrate symptoms of AS (Gascoigne has Manic Depression). I mentioned in another thread that I saw Jonathan Woodgate in my local town centre -- he looked completely lost, kept staring into his mobile and when he saw me in my Tottenham gear, he wanted to run a mile! (someone suggested that these are symptoms of social anxiety).

It's a common stereotype that footballers have limited intellectual abilities. This is not always true; Jurgen Klinsmann is fluent in five languages, Arsene Wenger has a Masters degree in Psychology, Socrates (the footballer not the philosopher) is a qualified doctor and Danny Blanchflower was a very accomplished writer and journalist before he died.

My question here is whether or not it's possible for someone with AS to have all their natural abilities in an athletic capacity instead of in Maths/IT/Science/Arts etc. Please feel free to cite other sports -- football/soccer is as arbitrary as baseball, cricket, tennis et al.

Just wanted to say I love footy too

From what I could gather from his book it seems Gazza has pretty severe OCD as well. Woodgate certainly has the aspie eyes and the stiff look. I've read tha Paul Scholes is very much a 'keeps himself to himself' quiet type of guy in the dressing room and is also quite intense looking. All speculation though.

I think it's entirely possible to have natural abilty and AS, I was extremely obese in my youth and was the child of a single mother who hates football but if it weren't for those two things I'd have been a natural, I was great in goal but bad joints mean I don't do it any more but wish I could. I make do with Football Manager these days

Dyspraxia is not a necessary condition for a diagnosis with AS. It seems to me entirely possible that a person with AS might at the same time have a prodigious athletic skill.

lol no exactly hard to miss

No. I was scouted by my university baseball coach and ended up playing hockey instead. One of the great things about AS is that we can excell at almost anything if we make it our obsession. In my case, I spent hours lifting weights and working on rudimentary skills (hitting rocks with a shovel handle for an hour a day, etc). In the case of hockey, I was able to circumvent my dispraxia by developing a very physical/defensive style of play and allowing the finesse-oriented players to score the goals and get the glory.

Of course, profound atheletic ability runs in my family in addition to AS-related traits.

I played myself for years and was very talented. I was always on allstar and travel teams as a child, we competed in tournaments. Not to say I'm unclumsy - I just had a knack for it in particular. So yes, I think it's possible to be naturally gifted at it and be AS too.