I thought aspies were uncoordinated

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I think I might have read this somewhere, or maybe this is just a generalization. I think this is one reason why my parents don't believe i have AS because I've played a particular sport for over 10 years. But when it comes to everything else I'm clumsy. I trip when I'm walking. I fall down stairs I can't play any other sports, I'm pretty much uncoordinated except for that one sport. What do you think about this? Is it possible that with years of practice starting at an early age a person can overcome being uncoordinated in one specific area?

I do think this is the case. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it myself. Our oldest son (now 24) started playing soccer at a young age, and he was PAINFULLY uncoordinated. He wasn't very good when he was young. But he kept playing until he was 13 or 14 years old, and by then, he was positively graceful and good at soccer. Not too good at any other particular sport, but at soccer, he was good. Right when he was beginning to be gifted at it, he quit. Drove his parents crazy, but what are you gonna do?

So, yes, I do think that you can get really good at a sport even if you're on the spectrum.

If you stick with a sport you'll eventually be mediocre-good at it. Only sports I took to naturally were dance and roller blading and I did novice acro for years. Normal sports... I SUCK

I think its a learning thing. I used to be uncoordinated but a huge factor in that was I didn't know if I was right or left handed. Holding a bat would feel good righty one time and better lefty the next but over time I settled most activities to one or the other. I write righty but shoot bow left throw left but bat righty now. Oddly enough I have to have righty and lefty hockey sticks still. I supervise routes at a small refuse company and run a one man recycling truck most days. I am positively a ninja out there. Spacial awareness is my thing. I just know where everything is and how much space is around me. But if you put me on a truck I've never run before it takes me alot longer to get the hang of it than it seems to take for others. But once I get a routine I make sure I am as efficient as possible at it.

Yeah, we are uncoordinated but if we practice, our muscles will memorize the techniques.

For example, while my basketball skills sucked (I couldn't dribble very well), I could at least develop a decent jumper after playing for a few days.

Though, I still walk into walls from time to time.

Yeah, we are uncoordinated but if we practice, our muscles will memorize the techniques.

For example, while my basketball skills sucked (I couldn't dribble very well), I could at least develop a decent jumper after playing for a few days.

Though, I still walk into walls from time to time.

It's a stereotype, like any other.


I've always been really coordinated- I was even in gymnastics and dance when I was younger.

I suck at most sports. I did well in marching band though, which takes a HELL of a lot of coordination.

I can't keep rhythm (can't dance no matter how hard I try, or who tries to teach). However, my fine motor skills are outstanding, as I used to have a job as a camcorder repair technician, and I like working with very small mechanical and electronic things. I also have excellent balance and coordination (such as when riding motorcycles/bikes, walking on balance beam, etc). However, I can't avoid walking into pillars and walls. Doesn't make sense.

Charles

I could run and jump as well as anybody. I was good at sports that required that, but I do poorly if something requires hand-eye coordination like shooting freethrows. I am also kind of klutzy and awkward on the dancefloor though it is probably not as bad as I feel. Overall, I am actually a decent athlete.

I've found that I pick up sports very quickly...at school when we did something new, I was always the best after 2-3 sessions. I was lucky in that we did a load of different stuff like fencing and lacrosse. At some point though, I'd hit a wall and end up right in the middle of the class after a few weeks.

The way I always figured it was that my speed of thought and ability to quickly grok the concepts and rules gave me an initial advantage, but my general clumsiness and/or lack of fine motor coordination stopped me from becoming accomplished. I think it holds for other stuff than sports as well. At various times, I've been reasonably good at soccer, badminton, basketball and fencing and I've also played trombone, tuba, timpani, drums, bass guitar and electric/acoustic guitar. With all of them, I've reached a decent standard quickly and then failed to improve despite a lot of effort. If you can settle for being average and accept your limitations, you can still accomplish a lot.

Another part of it is choosing your battles, I think...I knew I was never going to be a skillful, technical footballer so I worked on using my fitness and physical size (I'm 6'4") to become and rough-and-ready central defender. Same with basketball, I was never going to be a Michael Jordan, but i won plenty of leagues and competitions by aiming to be more like David Robinson. I tend to leave the highlight-reel stuff to other people.

I don't think I can recall a time when I was ever uncoordinated. I've always been pretty good at sport and as for being clumsy I'd say I'm completely the opposite. Have a great sense of rhythm too.

It's a generalisation. I can ride my bike. But I am very clumsy at most other things.

I think it's vary random symptom, I drop a lot of things, could not dance even if my life depended on it and forgot how to ride a bike when I was a kid because I didn't do it for quite a while. On the other hand I'm very good at football (soccer) and play guitar.

I'm good at all sports where accuracy isn't a problem. My coordination and athletic ability exceeded average when I was like 12 (though I struggled with it prior to that).

I used to think everything came down to coordination, but muscle tone counts for the rest. You might not have the technique and form down pat, but if you have the strength in the right areas, it helps!