Why are we bad at sports?

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I mean, what is the mechanism behind it. Something to do with the CNS, I can understand how that can affect coordination, but I don't really have bad coordination:D I'm rather good at dancing. I'm just weak, crap at sports, like running, jumping, strength etc. Like I was born with abnormally weak muscles. But maybe that is just crap genes, not AS:D Also I have bad handwriting, no handwriting at all actually. I have no idea what my signature is, it's kind of different any time I write it. Everything looks different everytime I write it:D I mean, when compared to other ppl that seem to have a specific type of handwriting all the time. But I never developed that somehow. Please share your knowledge and opinions, I'd much appreciate it:)

Wow, interesting somehow.

For me it's really because of my bad coordination - I used to get "ill" when there were dancing lessons at school... >.<

But I can build up muscles VERY fast! Especially in fact that I'm a girl and that I'm spending most of my time in front of my computer.
But maybe it's just because I'm eating all day long ... ^^'

My handwriting is also veeeeeeery bad. Maybe we should post some pictures of it - that'd be interesting, wouldn't it?!

I've always been badly coordinated although I was a skinny child who looked athletic, like a runner.
I didn't have much staying power because I got uncomfortable easily and experienced certain pains when exerting myself over a sustained period. I wasn't very strong, either. I am better now and can exercise without much discomfort even though I am still not that great at it (because of coordination. Everyone still seems faster and better)
My upper arms have always been weaker while my legs have been okay, strengthwise.
My handwriting is much better than it used to be

I remember feeling, at one time, like I had the worst handwriting in the school.

I think it's largely down to problems with the vestibular system being hyper/hyposensitive in those with AS. It's just another sensory issue.

Don't know. Can't throw, catch, kick or hit. The problem seems to be with unthinking coordination: I can learn specific actions very well, but when I have to adapt them to circumstances - for instance, to hit or catch something which doesn't always come at me the same way - I'm hopeless. I seem to be quite good at bowling, where everything is nearly constant.

Although I've always written a huge amount, my handwriting is terrible.

WOW, why are you called "wolfen"? That sounds like a steriotypical german male name. At 17, you may still have a fair amount of growth hormone, the average female doesn't workout too much, BOTH mean you have a good ways to go before hitting a plateau. Also their expectations aren't so high, so it is hard to compare based on such subjective things. And eating IS important. After all, MOST people, of either sex, can get very overweight and still get around, etc....

as for me, when I was in my teens, I could build muscle fast. I didn't really try until I was in my 20s but I then got disappointed that the machines had so little weight. I learn things differently from most people I guess, so dancing is problematic. My reaction time with things like balls isn't that great, and I can't catch. I usually don't even try.

I'm sure it's completely different reasons for different people. My problem is that my feet are terribly uncoordinated and my balance/body control sucks. Sports that aren't focused too much on those things I can be pretty good at, as I have VERY good hand-eye coordination (i.e. baseball, ping pong); I can hit, catch, and throw with very few problems. I can snowboard OK despite the balance thing (but I can't ski or skateboard, as my feet aren't bound together so I have to coordinate them separately).

I also overthink sports a lot of the time (go figure that one) so fast-paced sports with big teams such as football and soccer are pretty overwhelming.

Interesting re: dancing and feeling ill. I have also experienced this. I think it has to do with the fact that you were trying to copy another's physical motions, which is something that we are simply not programmed to do.

Re: OP, I would say that it is a mix of dyspraxia and our inability to get into the whole team-shared emotional experience. For the record, my father and grandfather (likely aspies) and myself were all very good atheletes.

In my case I have very good co-ordination in music, especially poly-rhythms (3 against 2, 3 against 4, etc.), but when it comes to hand-eye co-ordination, I can't play video games as even though my reactions are ultra-fast (like when driving) I can either be accurate or fast - not both.

In baseball I made a good hitter and outfielder, but for infield - FUGGEDDABOUDIT - the ball would be in the next county with my quick "aim".

I also can't see the hockey puck on televised games, nor can I see struck golf balls in the air.

I'm a bad dancer, although once again in rhythms, especially latin jazz, I am tremendously good at that. To learn how to dance correctly an instructor would have to move my feet, etc., and tell me what angle they are, how fast to move them and how far, and on what beat. I can't learn by watching.

Don't question it - it's just Aspieland!!

But we're not bad at sports.

Take Clay Marzo for example. He's probably one of the best surfers in his age group. His ESPN segment (can be found on Youtube) discusses his AS.

I was really, really clumsy as a kid and was horrible at mimicking physical routines, but I could kick butt in a game of british bulldog. my pain threshold was really high so I could take a battering and won pretty regularly.

my brain seems to have developed to compensate my childhood issues, since I took karate as an adult and did pretty well. I doubt I could be a dancer, though. I'm not flexible, I still have a slightly stilted gait, and I run into things a lot. I had to be coached as an adult how to walk which alleviated hip pain that I used to suffer from.

I'm bad at sports because I don't like them. I once enjoyed playing with a basketball by myself, but eventually that grew old as I ventured into more cerebral things.

I'm bad at sports for 3 reasons:

1. Poor coordination
2. Unable to predict others, This is not a problem when I have an assignment. I also liked to play safety in football games, as I could see everything happening in front of me.
3. Sensory problems. When I played basketball, I wanted to play guard and receive passes from and make passes to teammates, while occasionally driving the basket. Instead, everyone pretended to be a forward. I get dizzy under the basket and when I did play outside, the commotion in front of me was a blur.

I think I've figured it out, at least for me. I never played team sports, but did a lot of individual stuff (x-country running, biking, skateboarding, snowboarding). 3 years ago I joined a rugby team because I wanted to try the team sport thing. It was way out of my comfort zone. I found that I picked up some things really well, and remained pathethic at other things.

The things I do well have specific skills that I use in a predetermined way. I'm really bad at actions that depend on making decisions quickly on the field based on what's going on. So it's the sensory processing bottleneck problem. When there is a lot of sensory information to evaluate, I experience a little time-shift while I wait for the analysis results. NTs have hard-coded circuits that evaluate the information much faster.

Muscle memory isn't effected. My reflexes are as quick as anybodies. And sometimes I snowboard better in white-out than when I can see, because less information means faster processing.

I don't know if it counts as a sport but I was a great at flag and baton twirling in high school. Ambidexterity was a big plus in that. I was surprised I liked it so much because I only joined to get out of wearing those stiff and itchy band suits.

I was awful at basketball though. I never really knew what I was supposed to do on the court. My team mates would get mad because I would not pass the ball when I needed to or I would try to pass when I shouldn't have. I think you need psychic skills to be good at basketball.

Did anyone else see the Minnesota Vikings vs. Kansas City Chiefs football game on Friday, 08/21/2009? I closely watched the entire game. The Vikings won 17 to 13. Yes!! !

I can be as good as Tarvaris Jackson, who completed 12 of 15 pass attempts for 202 yards. He was definitely the "best" Quarterback the Minnesota Vikings had in the game.

Or, I can be as bad as Brett Favre, who completed 1 of 4 pass attempts for only 4 yards. Some sports reporters were saying that he just seemed to have trouble finding the intended receivers. A lot of reports were about Brett Favre's "rusty" performance and how it must improve in order for him to stay a Quarterback with the Minnesota Vikings.

Despite this football circus, rumors are that the Minnesota Vikings will KEEP Brett Favre as their starting Quarterback and TRADE Tarvaris Jackson. I've been though the same type of situation when I was in school. They are not fun. A "time of fun" becomes a "performance run-around".

While I am not a professional football player, I constantly go from having "good" and "bad" times in activities that involve hand-eye coordination. Some examples: dancing, pool, bowling, croquet, archery, baseball, football, golf, tennis, ping pong, raquet ball, badminton, swimming, driving, hockey, etc. Anything that involves "multi-tasking" or concentration on several things at a time.

I've learned that I can improve my performance by resting "well" before an activity. I really start to "screw up" if I try these activities when I'm tired out. Sometimes, I wonder if my problems are due to "Aspergers Syndrome" or just a natural limitation of mine. At the same time, other folks have similar problems, like with with driving, if they get tired or try multiple tasks. I don't really know "why" I seem to have these coordination problems.

I'm not very interested in sports because I just can't seem to CONSISTENTLY play well. Like I mentioned earlier, I seem to have "good" times, and "bad" times, at random.

Does anyone else have the same experiences?