Any Athletic Aspies Out There?

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I am athletic and I participate in six sports in Special Olympics. I also do all good amount of working out to build up strength and conditioning myself for my sports and activities.

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Athlete is a very broad definition, you can be an exceptional athlete, it all depends on what sport you take to. I'm not exclusively talking about your classic competative sports football, baseball, or basketball, it could be ANY sport.

I used to be a runner, now I play baseball. My team is very impressed at how fast I am. If only I could hit!

Awesome! It's cool that there are more of us. I really think that the autistic world would be served better if they had at least some people to be certified counselors or therapists that had the condition, that worked hard and went through the grime of adapting to the world around them, while keeping some of their traits. It would help more aspies to know that they have some really cool and awesome things to offer to the world while at the same time being able to actually talk to someone who has been through what they have and share some coping strategies. I'm *hoping* to make it into UW for graduate school, as they have a very good psychology program, and a very good Autism Center at that. I actually got diagnosed there, and I met the director of it when I was asking for advice as to how to start my support group. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for approval from my university to accept this group as an official group to the university, which is starting to take a very long time Hopefully it will get started soon. If they do not, I'm going to write to them asking why they would sponsor a GLBT support group and not an aspie support group. I don't know what they would say. Anyways, I do have a Facebook account. I could message you about it if you'd like.

I am a tennis player, a high intermediate skill level. In most every other sport I don't play very well (though I can throw/catch a baseball and football), but I stuck with this sport and am fairly good now. Basketball, can't play at all, baseball/softball can catch flies but not groundies very well. I work out at local Planet Fitness 2-3 times a week also. I do have a problem though, of taking long time to perfect a stroke, and a friend says I don't serve as hard as used to. I read that is a characteristic AS trait, forgetting things you once learned.

So it can be done, maybe just have to stick with it like this. I read somewhere that is one method AS people can do, stick to just one sport. I agree with other poster who said AS people can learn coordination if stick with it - even if will never be natural athlete.

I also can ski at about a medium level (can ski advanced hills only if have room for turns, no jump turns). This is a little scary at times, though, because of AS - sometimes I get scared for many reasons because of difficulty we have with new situations. For instance you might hit a patch of ice, or fluffy snow where you were on packed - and this might be near a point where you need to turn, Or you can be ready to turn and come upon a stopped child, so have to go around. Or you can pick up speed and still have to negotiate a hill or many tufts of powder. So it can be a little stressful because of the AS with new situations. But on strictly packed snow, open area, it can be fairly fun if have room to turn. I am not a natural by any means, took awhile to learn.

In general I don't like physical work, though. Is anyone else like that?

-I am 45 and was just diagnosed with Asperger's a couple years ago, so still learning about it.

I did high level gymnastics for a long time (Level 9), & power tumbling (just the flips). And I swing dance. I think it's fair to say I'm athletic, though I have no hand eye coordination to speak of.

I'm a martial artist (which entails many different types of training and physical conditioning) and I strength train every week on a three day split. I think it's safe to say I'm athletic.

Pro Surfer Clay Marzo
Clay Marzo

I swim for both Special Olympics and the local mainstream swim club. I am the oldest in my squad but I don't care. I really enjoy swimming even though I can't see as well as I like due to keratoconus.

I met Clay Marzo's mother, Jill Marzo in Maui about a month ago, she was a really nice woman!

I'm pretty athletic. Here's a picture of me from my sophomore year in high school when I was ripped (compared to how I am now).

I haven't worked out at all since then; back then I weighed 112 and could bench 160. Now I weigh 128 and can only bench 145.

Nice picture, Patrick. Looks like he's trying to peel off your "half Nelson". Here's one of me attempting an arm-drag at an amateur freestyle practice...
Link to bigger size

I consider myself to be fairly athletic. I have great coordination (one of my few prides) and have pretty good speed. Love sports, love playing basketball, football, baseball. Though I struggle with the team aspect and do have to spend a lot of extra time practicing and homing in, though I think I'm pretty good when I do.

I amateur box and really enjoy it, though a recent injury has taken me out of the ring for a bit. Though most of my life I had a ectomorph body type, as I got older my metabolism slowed enough to allow me to finally pack on some extra muscle.

Not so good at most sport, any sport involving a ball, I am VERY bad at. The only sport I am any good at is cycling, I race at the cat1/pro level.

do you race?



do you ride any? who is your favorite team, favorite riders?

Hello Matt and all WP members watching this thread.

I'm a reasonable athlete.

I took up running as a teenager, to overcome extreme breathlessness when doing sports at school

I peaked aged 17 when I was clocking 3 miles in 14 minutes.

It was around this time that I discovered that despite being quite skinny, I was quite strong for my age and started 'lifting' which has been my friend for over 30 years now.

The years of pounding the roads in what were almost wafer thin soles, mean that I can no longer run any meaningful distance in comfort so I have switched to swimming (my first love) and cycling.

You will notice the absence of team sports in my sports 'portfolio'

Never got into sports as I didn't like being around a lot of people but I do a lot of weightlifting.