Why do so many aspies have an intense hatred for sports (excepting martial arts and brainy games)?

[Wrangler29]

I notice a strong common trend among people with asperger syndrome is hatred towards sports. In fact its so common among aspies of different traits and scaling in the autism spectrum to the point I would even classify it as universal (minus VERY RARE exceptions).

Not just sports but even for the most sport physical activities in general including non-competitive ones such as hiking. In particular I notice in particular mainstream spectator sports such as soccer, baseball, basketball, and so on are most hated by people with asperger syndrome.

However strangely I also notice people with asperger syndrome often tend to big into martial arts if they are at all into sports and (obviously) much of the brainy sports with minimal physical activity such as chess and e-gaming (debatable if its a sports) tend to be dominated by aspies or have its fandoms consist largely of aspies.

Why is this? In particular why does martial arts tend to be the only physical sport that attract a large number of people diagnosed with aspergers? I can understand checkers attracting a disproportionate % of aspies, but how come martial arts gets so much attention from aspergers people? What is it about martial arts that appeals to aspies that say tennis doesn't?

But in general why don't asperger syndrome people like sports and also even non-sport (or at least mostly non-competitive) physically intense activities such as say aerobics, dancing, and bodybuilding?

 

[Progster]

First of all, not all Aspies dislike sports. Some are even very good at sports.

Many don't like to play sports because they have body coordination difficulties as part of their condition, and that means quite simply, that they aren't very good at them. Then, because they aren't good at them, they get picked on and bullied at school, so it's understandable that many would not like sports.

Also, Aspies often find it hard to fit into the culture around sports - going to matches, supporting a team, which often involve being in noisy environments, or a lot of social interaction which can be difficult.

Also, we have different interests - Nobody, Aspie or neurotypical, has to like sports. People are free to their opinions, to like something or not to like something, to choose their hobbies and interests.

Is it a crime not to like something? Is it such a big deal if we don't like sports? It's this very attitude that causes us to feel so alienated by society.

 

[Suzanne]

For me, it has to do with bad coordination regarding the ball. My husband cannot fathom how I am so bad at badminton. However, I enjoy table tennis and have always been rather good at it.

Also, it is the element of competition. I am not a competitive person, but there is a lot of competiton in sport and the superiority when one wins that causes a distaste in the mouth.

As a child, I would do anything to get out of playing sports lol

 

[Theta.G]

I find it incredibly boring as nothing ever changes in mainstream sports. it's the same thing over and over and over with no change outside of jersey color. Same plays. Same tactics and skills. Same rules. Get this ball, put it past this line or in that net. 20 years later you can expect it to be exactly the same with no new innovations. Occasionally someone will do a flashy play that hasn't been done in a few months and people will see that as awesome because it hasn't shown up in a while. Now, introduce alcohol and it actually becomes somewhat tolerable.

If you had to watch the same episode of simpsons over and over just because everyone else is doing it and you want to be part of the group, would you? For the rest of your life?

Sports are for those who want to conform and be part of the group. Throwing on a jersey or hat makes them part of something with others. "Yaaa woo-hoo i put on for my city on on for my city ya hahaha" and have fun with others who identify with the city / team. There are more reasons, but this is a big one. The need to conform. Conformity can be soul crushing for an aspie so, there's your answer. I know i'd much rather stay in and watch a movie i like than force myself to go to a football game and not feel any connection with those i go with. All that would do is reinforce our differences and bring things we don't have in common to the forefront of conscious thought.

Yet they still try to drag us out to see these events. a social gathering. When is the last time an NT sat with an aspie to watch Esports? We don't demand such things of them because they won't even try to get into it.

 

[OkRad]

I have to do movements all the time or I am in a very bad way. I have done gymnstics, like other on here (no disgusting drs, thank God but I did have a coach who was very inappropriate with us!), I run a lot, I go to the gym, I walk, etc. But I hate to watch it on TV . I can't sit long enough. I get bored to tears. Rommate wanted me to watch football. Gulp...........had to but would rather have been laid out on a rack in Roman times. OK, maybe 30 seconds.....5. seconds? OK 2 seconds on the rack and no stretching, but you get my drift.

 

[Gritches]

I find it incredibly boring as nothing ever changes in mainstream sports. it's the same thing over and over and over with no change outside of jersey color. Same plays. Same tactics and skills. Same rules. Get this ball, put it past this line or in that net. 20 years later you can expect it to be exactly the same with no new innovations. Occasionally someone will do a flashy play that hasn't been done in a few months and people will see that as awesome because it hasn't shown up in a while. Now, introduce alcohol and it actually becomes somewhat tolerable.

If you had to watch the same episode of simpsons over and over just because everyone else is doing it and you want to be part of the group, would you? For the rest of your life?

Sports are for those who want to conform and be part of the group. Throwing on a jersey or hat makes them part of something with others. "Yaaa woo-hoo i put on for my city on on for my city ya hahaha" and have fun with others who identify with the city / team. There are more reasons, but this is a big one. The need to conform. Conformity can be soul crushing for an aspie so, there's your answer. I know i'd much rather stay in and watch a movie i like than force myself to go to a football game and not feel any connection with those i go with. All that would do is reinforce our differences and bring things we don't have in common to the forefront of conscious thought.

Yet they still try to drag us out to see these events. a social gathering. When is the last time an NT sat with an aspie to watch Esports? We don't demand such things of them because they won't even try to get into it.

Holy crap, I could not have said it better. Let me build on that.

I'm a fan of the Minnesota Vikings (football), but otherwise I can't watch football (or any sport) if I don't care about that team. I didn't even watch the Superbowl because I didn't have a dog in that fight between the Patriots and Eagles. Unless I have money on the game (which, I don't gamble) or my team is playing, the Simpsons analogy is quite astute and there are other things I'd much rather be doing. Sports themselves are boring. Watching your "tribe" fight in a pitched battle against another tribe is entertaining.

The "I put on for my city" quote is a good one, because that's exactly what it is. If you want to be a good Minnesotan, you had better watch the Vikings and be prepared to talk about it ad nauseum the next day. It's a societal thing, and if Aspies are often excluded from the societies in which they live, it would follow that they wouldn't participate in the social custom of watching sports so you can talk about sports later and be a part of it, either.

 

[Theta.G]

Holy crap, I could not have said it better. Let me build on that.

I'm a fan of the Minnesota Vikings (football), but otherwise I can't watch football (or any sport) if I don't care about that team. I didn't even watch the Superbowl because I didn't have a dog in that fight between the Patriots and Eagles. Unless I have money on the game (which, I don't gamble) or my team is playing, the Simpsons analogy is quite astute and there are other things I'd much rather be doing. Sports themselves are boring. Watching your "tribe" fight in a pitched battle against another tribe is entertaining.

The "I put on for my city" quote is a good one, because that's exactly what it is. If you want to be a good Minnesotan, you had better watch the Vikings and be prepared to talk about it ad nauseum the next day. It's a societal thing, and if Aspies are often excluded from the societies in which they live, it would follow that they wouldn't participate in the social custom of watching sports so you can talk about sports later and be a part of it, either.

You bring up another really good point!!
I don't gamble on games either, not with real money. But sometimes i'll do micro betting on e sports just to keep it interesting. 40 cents there, 20 cents here. Won enough to buy a couple games LoL so it worked out in the end.
It's like a long delayed dopamine hit. It must be sports fans feel when their team scores.

Also good job on articulating you described perfectly

 

[clg114]

Well, I guess I am a weirdo....again. I like sports, or maybe I should say that I like to watch sports. I do not do team sports for obvious reasons. I have played a few individual sports, but not very well. I am to clumsy. I also like to recreate outdoors, camping, fishing, exploring and shooting. But I do not know if that would be considered sports. I will be glued to the TV for the next two weeks watching the Winter Olympics.

 

[Mia]

My husband and I must be the exceptions then as we are both Aspies. He cycles, and I cycle all summer, we both walk and hike and swim when we can. We have both badly played squash and my husband tennis in his younger years.

Was on a gymnastics team, a field hockey team, and as you've mentioned I've done lots of aerobics, dancing, and at one time held a first dan black belt in taekwondo.

Why did I enjoy martial arts? And spend so much time doing it? There are very rigid rules to the sport, and forms, when you do it you are taught exactly how to kick, strike, punch or block. There is perfection in it, an actual beauty and skill and it's individual and I was good at it. You wear the same clothing as everyone, you do the same things each time in practice. The sport itself, focuses on etiquette, discipline and self-confidence, the reason I liked it in the first place.

As for watching sports, I watch hockey. And I'm watching the Olympics. No one Aspie is the same, you cannot paint us all with the same brush.

 

[Progster]

I like some sports such as swimming, cycling and hiking (though that's not really a sport). I also used to play tennis a lot against a wall, on my own, and I used to go rock climbing. But I was never really any good at sports and had poor coordination. I found dancing particularly difficult - that was one of the things that I refused to do at school.

I find watching sports on TV boring. I like to learn new things, and you don't learn anything from watching sports.

I also never got these armchair sports critics - people who don't play sport themselves but sit around at home on the sofa and criticise the players' performance on TV.

 

[VioletHaze_03]

It was really funny that you bring this up. A few weeks ago i went to a social skills group for kids my age, and every one of us liked video games and hated physical activity. Honestly, i think there are a lot of reasons. The most important would be the lack of social skills/sense of teamwork. For me, it's a bit of a sensory issue. I don't enjoy going outside, or being physically active. It feels annoying to me, much like the way water and swimming feels now. I had to do a bike tour with my parents this summer, and the whole thing just overwhelmed me, to the point where i didn't want to talk afterwards. I dance, but only because it isn't too strenous for me. Mental sports are easier because there is no overstimulation, if anything annoys me i can logic my way out of it. But mostly i like something where i can make up all the rules, like in choreography and drawing. I won't be running a marathon any time soon, but at least i have a strong brain

 

[kay]

I enjoy hiking and biking and canoeing and fishing. Never tried martial arts and doubt I would like it since it seems to involve a lot of indoor class time with people. I do think I might have like baseball had anyone let me play. The other kids were just mean. But then again they may have saved me a head injury so perhaps I should be grateful.

 

[Oda]

First of all, not all Aspies dislike sports. Some are even very good at sports.

Many don't like to play sports because they have body coordination difficulties as part of their condition, and that means quite simply, that they aren't very good at them. Then, because they aren't good at them, they get picked on and bullied at school, so it's understandable that many would not like sports.

Couldn't have said it better. My body coordination is terrible. In school I'd keep accidentally hurting the other kids because I couldn't keep track of where I was in relation to others, and where all my body parts were at any given time. I also couldn't catch or throw balls, and when it came to choreographies I'd always be the one a couple of steps behind, or going left when everyone else was going right.

I vividly remember a time when everyone had been picked for a team and I was the only one left, and then the teams started fighting about who should take me (neither one wanted to have me).

On the other hand I've always been very good at sports I could do by myself. I used to run long distance competitively and have won every single race, because I couldn't stand seeing people in from of me. I swim (I used to be a life guard), and I love hiking, kayaking (not canoeing cause then you'd have to coordinate with another person) and skiing by myself.
I also used to horseback ride, oddly enough I can work with a partner if that partner wasn't a human.

 

[Progster]

I vividly remember a time when everyone had been picked for a team and I was the only one left, and then the teams started fighting about who should take me (neither one wanted to have me)

This happened to me, too, and it was one of the reasons why I always hated team sports. Plus, when I was on a team, nobody would pass me the ball.

 

[Bella Pines]

Oh my gosh, I totally agree with that.

I have an intense hatred for all sports except martial arts. I love ninjitsu and taikwondo. I didn't realise it was an aspie theme.

On the face of it, the obvious answer would be because we are so individual and not team players, but actually I hate ALL sports. I hate running on my own, I hate the gym, I hate aerobics or zumba or the latest craze, I hate pretty much everything that involves physical exertion. I can just about stomach a yoga and pilates because I am interested in chakras and the balance and quiet helps me focus.

So I think I hate it for a few reasons. Firstly, physiologically, I never get the coveted endorphine release. I guess that must be a neurological thing. Everyone always says they "feel better" after exercise or get a rush. I don't. At all. In fact I feel exhausted. So maybe my post exercise whatever receptors are reduced and my brain is full with other things.

Secondly, I question everything, everything I do has a purpose, everything. I don't do anything 'for fun' or for the sake of it, or for the experience. Even here, the reason I check the forum is to better understand myself, become less bored and read interesting thoughts like this one and maybe help someone who is struggling with something that I've been through. Exercise has little purpose, yes I do it to keep healthy and manage my weight but really, running around in a circle? Ending up where you started from? Soul destroying. I'm sneering just thinking about it. And don't get me started on the art of moving a ball from one place to another and back again, pointless doing it and pointless watching it.

 

[Katleya]

The number of females here who were very active in gymnastics tends to make me beg to differ... also, while I had noticed a love for martial arts, I hadn't seen anything that would have led me to believe we hated other sports. There are several avid cyclists up here. A bunch of divers. Former gymnasts. Most of them solo sports, though. I'd place martial arts somehow in the same category, in that it's definitely not a team sport.
I also suspect the discipline & high technicity are attractive --along with the fact that the number of combat techniques classified in martial arts amounts to such a large number of sports that it makes it hard for martial arts not to come up in a list of preferred sports, spectrum or not.

I'd say there's more of a problem with team sports due to the social codes and the blind following of norms that elude us, the necessary cohesion to be part of the team, and the fact that more often than not, Aspies tend to be rejected or even bullied.
Team sports tend to be more overwhelming. Crowded changing rooms, anyone? Just the thought of it would have been enough for me to decide against playing a particular sport. But give me something that I can practice solo, or as a remote member of a team, and I'm ready to sign up.

As a teen, I was on a gymnastics team that reached national levels, even though we barely made it to the top 10. After that, I ran track, and was pretty good (aside from the fact that the starting blocks were confusing me everytime, like I couldn't remember which foot was my good foot to start with). I quit after nearly 2 years because the girls on the team hated me, bullied me, and we were about to take a trip to train in the mountains. I didn't think I could handle all of the hatred I would have to deal with while stuck for 8 days with them. I probably wasn't that bad at track, because one of the girls who would spit in my back because I ran faster than her made it to the Olympics (and dropped the baton, disqualifying the team, I was finally avenged).

Also, yeah, like several others have said already, poor coordination or dyspraxia among many doesn't help.

As for watching, I still feel it's got a lot to do with the social aspect of it: gathering with loud people in front of a TV screen? What's the point? Sitting in a huge stadium, risking being bumped into, with blaring noise and crazy lights everywhere? Oh, boy...

 

[Mr Allen]

I do hate Football, but mainly because it attracts morons, like every time Leeds United come down to play Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough, there's ALWAYS trouble between rival fans, because for some bizarre reason Owls fans have a deep rooted hatred of all things Leeds, including BBC Look North, which is produced in Leeds.

Also, most of the big "Stars" of UK Football get paid far too much IMO, I mean come on, £20,000 a week to kick a plastic ball round a field for an hour and half every Saturday for about 6 to 9 months a year? Eh?

 

[Bolletje]

I don't care for watching sports, but I don't hate sports altogether. Watching someone else play sports feels about as pointless to me as watching someone else eat food.

I still hold a few track records at my old athletics club, even though I quit 20 years ago after an injury made running impossible for me. I did quite well as a cyclist, and as a tennis player.
I don't particularly enjoy working out, as I get bored easily by the repetition. I'd rather take a group class from a good instructor, or freestyle dance. It needs to be fun.

 

[Iamnotarabot]

If you talk about watching sport, i never cared about that neither, except sometimes when its my country playing but its pretty rare and for big events...

But yeah never did a lot of sport overall, football was a disaster for me due to my lack of coordination, couldnt do judo neither i was uptset by physical contact...climbing scares me also

I only realy truly liked hiking , running , i never did it at a competitive level but at school even at hightschool i was the best at running, only time when i could just let it out and just go, when i actually trained to run id like to always "break the barrier" of my physical limits, that was awesome...

I should do it again but i am a bit too overweight and it might hurt my knees.

I loved riding horse also but We couldnt afford this activity only a few times i did it.
Ho and i did and should do some work out again, i always stopped because i couldnt continue the routine how i started it ( diet, hours of training) , now i understand why any change triggers me so much...

I think your interest in sport or other general free time activites truly depends on what you did as a kid, i wasnt very lucky as a kid ( if i am truly asperger) because every activity i tried i was blocked by how it was organised , physical contact, group activities in general, it always blocked me.

I realy think I could have done anything, it just needed to be introduced in a proper way...(maybe not climbing xD)

 

[Metalhead]

I guess that, in my case, my incredibly poor physical and motor coordination while growing up made me hate sports very quickly when I was forced to play them in public school. For the people who have the coordination to do well with it, I wish them well, but I have had more than enough embarrassing displays of my lack of coordination as a child to give physical sports a thoroughly undeserved nasty image in my mind.