Autistic presence in football

[Gerrit]

I was wondering if there has ever been an autistic player that has reached a club at a decent level sometime during football history?


The reason why I ask is because I am an Aspie myself. I have Asperger Syndrome in other words, which is a form of autism that is sometimes called "high functioning autism" (although there is a small difference between HFA and Aspergers in reality). I always find it interesting to hear about fellow Aspies/autistics that realised their dreams in life, but never heard of any sportsman who reached professional level while having a form of autism. In music there are several Aspies who made it (Gary Numan, Craig Nicholls, ... some say also Syd Barrett but he was never officially diagnosed) but I was wondering if there's ever been an autistic football player who reached professional level. I'd be very interested in hearing his story.

I personally by the way played soccer a lot recreationally but never took the step to affiliate with a club as I felt my lack of social skills to form too much of a barrier. I somewhat regret to not having given it a try, even though if I did it would probably have been problematic to really fit in in a team sport.

But I would be very curious to know if any fellow Aspie or autistic ever did reach a professional level in soccer.

[woodlands]

My neighbor has a 6 year old boy who is Autistic/Asperger. He can barely function in school without meds - he tends to kick and punch people. He has enough energy to fuel a nuclear reactor. He never tires.

They enrolled him in soccer this spring for the first time. In his very first drill, this kid arrived at the finish line 20 yards ahead of all of the rest of the kids. Many of these other kids had played several seasons already. When he arrived, he was jumping and down and saying "what's next?"

He literally dominated almost every single drill, practice after practice. In games, he was a literal goal scoring machine, and he probably could have broken records if he were allowed to.

He never tired. He would run non-stop for an entire hour, every practice and game. When he was subbed out of the game, he would run around the baseball diamond next to the soccer field, chasing other kids with sticks.

He was ruthlessly competitive. He could become extremely upset if he didn't score a goal. If someone beat him in a race or drill...he simply made sure that it would never happen again.

To describe him as a soccer player and a person, he was competitive, perfectionist, ruthless, fearless, violent, and tireless.

So you ask...are there are any undiagnosed mild Autistics in professional sports? I wouldn't be surprised if there were a ton of them who fit that description, even if they're completely unaware themselves.

That's just my wild guess, though. Maybe a professional in this area could comment.

[Schwalker]

Try looking at Oliver Kahn for a prime suspect...:o

[Gerrit]

I would be mainly very interested in knowing if any diagnosed players ever made it to a professional level and if they have been any open about their condition.

Probably most autistic or aspie players will struggle to get beyond amateur level. After all many of us have problems with physical contacts and a slightly less controlled motorics, which are small problems that however can turn into big issues when going to a more professional level.

If there however has been any openly autistic/aspie player that ever made it to a decent level, I'd be very keen on knowing it. On a different forum (one for Aspies) where I post we once tried to list famous Aspergians but we mainly found several that got far in arts. We failed to list any somewhat well-known sportsman who has been diagnosed or openly came out as having a form of autism.

[Musichascolors]

Garrincha?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrincha

Garrincha never bothered about the 'details' of the game. When his team-mates were celebrating World Cup win, he was initially bemused, having been under the impression that the competition was more league-like and that Brazil would play all the other teams twice

[Moishe]

I personally by the way played soccer a lot recreationally but never took the step to affiliate with a club as I felt my lack of social skills to form too much of a barrier. I somewhat regret to not having given it a try, even though if I did it would probably have been problematic to really fit in in a team sport.

To answer your first question, I personally don't know of any confirmed players with autism. As far as regrets go. Your not dead so find a co-rec league and get back involved. Better to play at a weekend warrior level than to have regrets.

As far as the social skills, an autism sufferer would be no less problematic than what futbol attracts anyways. Remember the saying that futbol is a gentlemans game played by hooligans.:D

I've got lupus mate and I use it these days as my motivator to ride my road bike at the highest level I can. Extreme joint pain and chronic fatique are the demons I get to fight daily.

You've got until death to get all the things done you've wanted to so do it because you can and the only thing to stop you will be you.

[woodlands]

As far as regrets go. Your not dead so find a co-rec league and get back involved. Better to play at a weekend warrior level than to have regrets.
You've got until death to get all the things done you've wanted to so do it because you can and the only thing to stop you will be you.

He's right. Half the people I've seen in recreational sports have lousy social skills. That's the beauty of sports; social skills aren't needed. :) Just keep quiet, pass the ball a lot, and try to smile once in a while.

And if somebody touches you and it bothers you, don't haul off and clock the guy :) - just pour that energy into running faster and playing more intensely. It's ok to humiliate and frustrate opponents on the field (as long as you do it legally) - in fact, that's the whole point of the game. ;)

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[sidis]

In the Bahia State (Brazil) there are a school that use soccer as a form of treatment of asperger/autism http://www.grupos.com.br/blog/autismoemdebatebahia/permalink/15013.html

[Gerrit]

Interesting. They may be the only de facto autistic team in the world? I wonder what they understand by "treatment" as we all know autism cannot be cured (and why would we need a cure? We're not insane people or so :mad: )

As for myself playing... My fitness is quite a disaster so I guess I would have some other problems apart from fitting in in the team squad. Maybe after a lot of training I could give it a go. I would fancy founding the first all-autistic official football club though (however an amateur team obviously, going beyong amateur leagues would require involvement of non-autistics to strengthen the squad, and I think founding such a club should be about other goals than booking victories and winning trophies)

[woodlands]

As for myself playing... My fitness is quite a disaster so I guess I would have some other problems apart from fitting in in the team squad. Maybe after a lot of training I could give it a go.

Start with one of those books like "walking for dummies" or "running for dummies" or "fitness for dummies".

Or there's always playing goalkeeper...

[sidis]

I wonder what they understand by "treatment" as we all know autism cannot be cured

The idea is use soccer to develop social skils.

[Moishe]

The idea is use soccer to develop social skils.

Soccer for social skills?:eek: Just kidding sidis I see where your going and the same can probably be said for a number of other sports.