Has anyone here done well at team sports?

Post Reply New Topic

I had to qualify "sports" with "team" - can't be golf
So, have you??
I imagine some unenlightened folk might say "If you're good at sports, then you can't really be handicapped" - which of course is a more archaic way of defining disability.

While I did some soccer/football in my earlier years (like around ages 9-12), I was never all that good and only irritated the other NT team players, no surprise there

So, that put me off the notion of team sports for a while, and so many of my peers were raving about it. This was back in the 80s and 90s, pre-diagnosis (but knowing I was different). Also, true to the Aspie stereotype, I'd amassed a great deal of trivia from watching Jeopardy! and other sources, yet I knew squat about sports stats while my NT peers could rhyme them off like nobody's business.

But I digress...speaking to original topic of "have you performed in team sports?", I soon enough came to the conclusion that it was be a risky venture, and the greater danger to me would be from my own team, not the other team... I could picture myself taking the brunt of any hazing rituals or locker room abuse, where it would go past a criminal threshold and there'd be no unbiased witnesses to corroborate my story. Like I didn't have enough C-PTSD already from errors in communication and the outbursts I'd have to deal with after (!) so NOPE.

That said, I do know of one rare exception: a former co-worker said that her son who was (is) on the spectrum and was in middle school already started playing football (Canadian / American football) since he was a big guy so that helped... he didn't match the "Aspie stereotype" of being wiry or chubby. But he actually played well, and got respect from his team-mates. So it goes to show that there are examples out there; there may be role models for anyone on the spectrum who's got the courage and capability. Yet I think for most of us, myself included, entering team sports is a perilous venture; I describe it almost like a Jew trying to infiltrate a skinhead chapter. If they sense your autism and its weaknesses, it elicits a predatory instinct in them, which could have some very unpleasant consequences.

Mine was tennis

I was never good at team sports. I played American football for one season in 7th grade and it was an embarrassing disaster!

Before that I played soccer, but spent the entire time praying the ball would not come near me!! I never understood what I was supposed to do if it did!

I tried track and cross country, but got bullied by the field players (shot put, pole vault, etc…) and football players, so I quit that.

I have been a runner for about 25 years, but I NEVER enter races and run almost exclusively by myself.

I was never good at athletics and did poorly in physical education classes in school. I suppose Autism might have been a factor, but...

I was in my 50's when I learned I had a congenital heart valve problem. The Aortic valve has three flaps and two of mine were stuck together. As near as I can understand it, my heart was able to pump adequate amounts of blood at lower levels of exertion but not at higher levels of exertion. With hindsight, I'd say that is a reasonable description of my athletic abilities when growing up.

I was in my 60's when I was talking to a childhood friend and learned that I had been in the wrong age group in school. In theory, in our school district, school admission was based upon your age in early September (the start of the school year). If you were five you could go into kindergarten, if you were six you could start the first grade. Um...I started first grade a couple of months before my sixth birthday; I should've gone to kindergarten. (I think my friend was disappointed to learn this. He was born in August and had always thought he was the youngest kid in each class.)

Sooo...I was physically impaired by an undiagnosed heart problem and by being younger than almost all of my classmates. Autism was just "dessert" on that. I didn't want to get involved in team sports and did poorly when forced to.

P.S. Yes, I was in the military. By choice. Not knowing about the issues above. And I was very, very careful...

I was on the national archery team, but it's hardly a team sport.
I got bumped a grade in primary school so I was always a year behind developmentally.
I guess socially too.
High impact sports were a problem due to dislocations (hypermobility) leaving me with cross country as my only viable school sporting alternative and I hated it.

Team sports always baffled me. I didn't understand the way they were set up or how they worked, like how am I supposed to follow what's happening on the field or court when there is so much going on at once? I still couldn't play them now or ever in my adult or young life. I was also not competitive so as a kid I also missed the point of sports and didn't understand why I was supposed to try to score or help my team score. (Not that I didn't understand it intellectually, it just seemed so weird.)

I'm also really bad at sports that are not team sports, like tennis and skiing. I'm bad at dancing too. I don't think I understand how my body is moving in space.

It dawns on me my earlier response is only part of the story...the part where I could not do well for physical reasons.

I don't know whether it was Autism or just me but an additional part of the picture was that I was also not interested in sports. Not team sports nor individual sports; not participating nor watching. I found science fiction much more interesting. My lack of interest in sports was obvious from when I was very, very young...before I got old enough to also be bad at them. As I recall, my father saw the bright side to my lack of interest in sports, he wasn't interested in them, either, so it was sort of a relief to not have to feign interest in them for my benefit.

I play a team sport, although I'm not particularly good.

I think I'd be better if I had of played (organized) hockey as a kid, rather than having to learn a bunch as an adult.

^Field hockey or ice hockey? My housemate used to play field hockey. She's autistic and while she wasn't the best at it, she loved it all the same. She got a "most improved" trophy one year.

I preferred solo sports growing up but when I was in my early twenties I was asked by someone I knew if I'd like to join their league ten-pin bowling team. I did and found I enjoyed it, even bought my own ball. But I found that I didn't so much focus on how the team was doing, it was MY score that was important to me. Our team was called Suspect because one week we'd do well and the next we were abysmal. Gradually as I got to know the team members, I followed their scores as well.

For several years I played many hours per week, year-round, of pickup volleyball in Chicago. I was very good ("A" player). However .... while there were always new leagues forming, or, teams forming for one-day competitions, nobody ever asked me to be on their team, even though I was always trying to get on teams. This was "A" level, and even BB level, apparently there's more emphasis on "fitting in" people-wise, than with rec-level leagues.

One time I discovered pickup games every Sunday at a church gym, and loved it. One day, they told me they didn't want me coming there anymore. I was stunned. They didn't say why.

One day at the park, where there were always many nets set up beginning around 5 pm, I had a pickup game malfunction: I couldn't find a team; nobody wanted me (almost always I was actually able to get in PICKUP games, "A" or "BB" level.

There were multiple teams milling around, waiting their turn to get on the court, and I was outcast. I was pissed, so I stepped onto the court and refused to get off. A team was "forced" to let me play. After the game, I left for home.

This has nothing to do with my skills. From a technical standpoint, I fit right in and could take any position. But I guess it was the spekkie vibes that rubbed them the wrong way. But back then, I had NO idea I was autistic and actually thought THEY ALL had the problem.

Competitive volleyball in Chicago was known to be very political.

Heheh, that's funny about ice hockey, here there's only two ice rinks that I know of. Ice hockey is a novelty while field hockey is much more common. I've never heard of ball hockey before but it sounds interesting.

In league ten pin bowling, the aim is for high scores. Highest score I ever got was 191. I got a badge for that. Team scores were averaged out and whoever got the highest score that week were the winners. There were four players per team. I used to like that because there was time between each bowl to "recover". I don't like going bowling with only one friend because before you know it, two games are finished.