Can an aspie be sporty?

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We've been suspecting that my brother might have asperger's for ages because he's very anti-social. Though today I was reading stuff and recalled my brother being very much into sports, competitive sports, and played those nearly everyday in his youth. He still watches sports on TV a lot. Then I started wondering maybe he's not an aspie. (I'm the opposite and sucked big time at every kind of sports.) He does seem to have some autistic traits, especially the social stuff. So, can an aspie have good motor skills and love team sports? Or maybe it's just my wishful thinking hoping we have something in common? (We have always been completely different people and our interests and talents don't overlap at all. If I'm good at anything he's not good at it for sure, and although we talk to each other, we don't really understand each other much.) Now I feel a bit stupid about thinking he's aspie just because he's socially awkward and doesn't do eye-contact well.

Growing up, I never adjusted to group activities or sports, and it's mainly because I didn't want anyone to have to depend on me (and I hated the interaction). My brother and I had a lot of energy, but we never got the concept "you need to meet with your soccar team on tuesdays at 10am at this park." We didn't know we were in soccar until recently!

It was my momma's bright idea to have the three of us signed up in tae kwon do. It was a great workout, it was fun, and it wasn't too up-front and personal. We all got to learn at our own paces. It was fun taking it together, because we were able to practice at home, too.

I heard about an aspie surfer who's supposed to be one of the best in the world.

As for myself, I can't stand group sports but I'm fairly good at swimming, tennis, and squash.

I'm an aspie and I've always loved sports and been really good at them. It is the stereotype that aspies are not good at sports but there are always exceptions to these stereotypes. It is strange because although I am very good at most sports, I was particularly good at football (soccer), I am very clumsy and my coordination is poor so I'm crap at things like dancing. You can't rule out AS just because your brother likes sport. It is the social problems that weigh most heavily in getting a diagnosis.

I was good at skiing and i loved to skate.
Unfortunately i had to change ski, and i don't fell confortable with my new ski, so i have no fun.
Now the only 'sport' i do is walking.

I just competed in the Eastern Surfing Association Northeastern Regional Championships (Grand Masters short board and Legends long board). Didn't make the finals, but I did OK.

Does that count?

I played Little League throughout most of my childhood. I remember enjoying it but wasn't very good(although if you asked me back then, I would have said I was the next Babe Ruth). I was always on the same team as my little brother who was 3 years younger than me. I was the stereotypical "right fielder" type. I also played football for 2.5 years in high school but, again wasn't very good. I enjoy watching football and play fantasy football and buy Madden the first week it comes out every year (mostly for the owner mode).

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I had no idea psychopathic traits were common among aspies

I play full contact professional female football (had a game in WA just this weekend)

Does that count?

http://autismwomensnetwork.org/category ... rla-fisher

http://stories.makingmylife.com/2011/01 ... ll-player/

Of course we can be sports oriented. Once you met one person on the spectrum, you have met one person on the spectrum.

My son plays lots of different sport and is very good at it he is 12 and AS he also has a flat foot and is clumsy. He has won so many medals and trophies i have no more room for them. I love sport and thats why I got my children invovled from a very young age. So it is rubbish to say that Aspies cant play sport it is a great way to help with social skills my son has many friends from sport but he of course doesnt really feel they are his friends that is where the difference comes in I guess. Also to say a Aspie cant make friends is rubbish.

When I was 18 in Army basic training I managed the obstacle courses pretty well.

Although I tried baseball (Little League---years ago) and other contact/group sports in school, I disliked them. I was also terrible at them. I also found the yelling from the players, coaches, and parents to be distracting and confusing. I gravitated toward individual type sports like bowling and golf. I loved bowling. Golf was ok, but I always hated when I was at the course and someone would walk up to me and say, "Can I play along?" AGHHH!! ! "Leave me alone!! !"

An autie can be good at sports, but I will say it is rarer among us and for even those few athletic auties have a harder time mastering sports. I did football,wrestling, and track and field. While my social problems were obvious, my natural physical strength and endurance allowed me to be a nasty tackle on my team and I was playing varsity by junior. I also was a good wrestler, although not very technical, I could outlast my opponents and push them out of the ring easily. I have tooking up MMA now, Gracie Jiu Jitsu and Boxing, and my boxing coach says my technique and combos are superb. I also know a guy that was autistic that trained Brazilian Jiu Jitsu,Muay Thai, and Tae Kwon Do that is now fighting in professional mma.

I think it is better for autistic people that want to do sports to do Martial Art sports or combat sports and avoid team sports. In Wrestling,Tae Kwon Do,Judo,Kickboxing,Boxing,Karate and other combat sports, the rules are simple to understand, were as team sports have all these restrictions and conditions for scoring, as well as sport-specific terminology, which for the literal minded autie, can be difficult. Combat Sports build self esteem and individualism as well as being a great way to excercise, rather than the conformity of team sports. And in combat sports there is no social pressure to succeed from teammates, your failure or success is all based on your effort, which will appeal to the individualism inherent in many auties. Some people say that team sports build social skills,but, there are tons of ways to build social skills that don't include team sports. Tons of neurotypicals have never played team sports and have developed great social skills.

I think the reason many auties don't like sports is because of their exposure to mandatory team sports in school, which in many ways reproduced the oppressive social hierarchy of school. The only combat sport in most schools is wrestling, and thats getting cut from more schools every year.

I'm a natural sports person

It's less common for an aspie to be sporty than not but all aspies are individuals and have different strengths and weaknesses. I know some aspies who are very sporty.

In some sports, low muscle tone is actually helpful - but then again, not all aspies have low muscle tone issues.

I wouldn't reject a diagnosis simply because someone is sporty but it would usually count as a negative trait, particularly if it's team sports.

Similarly, your "anti-social" trait isn't really an aspergers trait (did you mean "unsocial" (anti-social is quite a different thing altogether).

There are lots of reasons why someone may lack social skills - they don't all imply aspergers.

Yes. Personality and personal interest can vary widely among people on the spectrum. Aspies can certainly like team sports. I've known a few who loved football and baseball. I also think playing team sports is a good way for an Aspie to work on his or her social deficits, because it give you a structured environment to work in, where the rules are laid out and people know what's expected of them, that is, if things are done fairly and sportsmanlike. One of the reasons I didn't stick with team sports as a kid was because the teams I was on--soccer and swimming--there was a lot of unfair stuff going on that upset me.

As for motor skills, poor motor skills is a common issue, but not every Aspie will have motor skill issues to the same degree. Also, one thing that a lot of people here don't seem to realize (or want to accept) is you can improve motor skills with practice. The brain is an ever-evolving organ, and if you make it work in a certain way that is challenging for it, it will develop more efficient neural pathways for that activity. So even if you have a neural deficit regarding motor skills, you can improve on those deficits by consciously training your brain to create new neural pathways through practice and repetition. This can be seen with people with traumatic brain injuries, and it is believed by autism researchers to holds true for most people on the high functioning end of the spectrum as well.

Personally, I think it holds true for me. I've always been physically active, although team sports never grew on me, but as a kid I loved rollerskating, skateboarding, running, equestrian sports and swimming. I think all of that helped me improve any motor skills deficits I might have had. As a teen I got into aerobics which really made noticeable improvements in my coordination, balance, body awareness and body-mind connection. I think a lot of motor skill problems Aspies like me have is that we aren't very body-aware, and challenging physical training of any type will improve that awareness, especially things that demand you to refine a variety of precise, controlled physical movements, like any sport.