Speaking of SPORTS and Autism

Jack’s a baseball player!

A very unique thing about this summer is that, for the first time, Jack participated in organized sports. I’ve always wanted to have him try soccer, plus we had a baseball opportunity fall in our laps, so this was the year Jack tried out sports.

A few tidbits about the sports situation around here: the teams are run through the city recreation center. They are quite low-key, especially at Jack’s age. The coaches are on the field directing the kids in where to go and they don’t keep official score. For the most part, at this age the parents aren’t too wrapped up in technique or mistakes; we all cheer and are amused by the funny antics that happen before our eyes.

Hey Batter Batter

The coaches worked a lot with Jack to get the technique down.

First up was baseball: the deal was that one of the moms in Jack’s school carpool was coaching a team. She knows Jack, her older son has autism, she had an extra spot on her team and she really thought Jack should be on it. So after much thought and prodding, we signed up. This was a coach pitch team, so in theory, the ball was practically lobbed right on the bat for them.

I learned from watching the first moments of practice that this was going to be rough. Jack still struggles to stand in line, to go where he is told, to follow instructions and copy the movements the other kids are making. Performing amongst peers put an immediate spotlight on his un-coordination and awkward actions. The coach found quite quickly that Jack needed physical help to push him along as he followed the others around. I’ve never heard his name called so much in one hour as when I watched him try out sports.

The coach was nice enough to spend after practice time with him. I think her experience with autism and her patience served him very well as she broke actions down and taught him clear steps to the skills. For example, to catch a grounder, 1) spread your legs 2) put your mitt on the ground 3) scoop it up and 4) squeeze it closed. They would repeat the steps countless times and by the end, he would get it! That mitt on the ground position was one that he would hold most of the game if he was told to.

Jack the catcher

Games went pretty ok—Jack loved wearing his “uniform” and the atmosphere with all the cheering was fun. His coach frequently put him in as catcher. I thought this was very generous of her, and then I realized her thinking—it was a really repetitive position in this league: stand there with mitt down (he let every single ball go past him), and after the pitches, collect the balls and throw them to the coach pitcher. It was ingenious: it got him very much involved in every play, but it didn’t matter like catching a ball out in the field might matter during the action. Perfect.

And Jack hit the ball! Several times! His favorite part was running the bases. He got so excited for himself and I loved it when he would cheer for anyone who did well.

I particularly enjoyed the sideline action: when Jack was waiting for his turn to bat, he sat on the team blanket with his teammates, interacting with them a bit. He would get his equipment when it was time, going back to grab a forgotten mitt if needed. It was like he was part of a team or something!

For the most part, baseball went pretty well. I think it was a combination of an understanding coach and the low-key atmosphere. Jack really did progress and I believe he enjoyed it. I was happy to cheer him on and know he was getting some exercise.

Kick’n It

So proud of his participation medal!

On to soccer. There was a month or two break after baseball and Jack was totally on board to be on a soccer team. This was a completely different experience with getting him on a team. I wrote ‘autism’ on his application, asked for an understanding coach, wrote some suggestions on what would be an ideal team for him. When we found out his assigned coach, she had no idea about Jack. She sounded open to working with him, but a little wary. The team had been together for a few years, so they were familiar with each other and were pretty darn good.

I said I would be there at the practices, ready to help with him if needed. It was a little uncomfortable to be the only parent there observing. It was awkward to come on the field to clarify things to Jack, but such is the life of a special needs mom. I had much reflection time while I watched, so get ready for lots of my thoughts throughout the season:

• 

  Coach helps him to line things up right.

  I told the coach that, as we learned with baseball, Jack might need to be physically moved around to show him where to go. She saw early on that this was actually necessary, not just a protective mom’s suggestion. If he was told to do anything, even though I could see he had a desire to obey, there was a blank stare and maybe a confused movement that always seemed to be the opposite of what she wanted.

• Similar to baseball, during practices pretty much all I heard was Jack! Jack! Jack! I realized the coach was spending most of her focus and efforts on trying to help him. I could see that she was getting frustrated that one of her players was out of sync with the team. I began to feel a little selfish as my desire to have my son try out something “normal” was taking away instruction time and attention for the rest of the team.
• I don’t think it’s in people’s nature to give simple instructions. I believe it has been through Jack that I’ve learned to phrase things in easy terms, such as, “do little kicks and run”, instead of the coach’s, “you need to dribble the ball and head down that way and when you see some one is open, you can pass it to them.” Vague language just isn’t going to work with literal autism kids.
• Jack just does not have the physical strength as other kids his age. He will put all of his might into trying to kick a soccer ball and it weakly rolls a fraction of the distance as his teammates’ kicks. It was the same as watching him throw a baseball. No, we haven’t given him the same practice time as them, but low muscle tone really does come with the territory.
• 

  Jack the goalie!

  Wow, sports brought out a lot of crazy habits in Jack. I was a bit shocked to watch him switch back and forth between biting his nails, picking his nose, picking at his bum, rubbing his face, shaking his head and so on. I mentioned my concern to my husband and he enlightened me—he’s nervous! This is scary for him and he knows people are watching and he’s supposed to do well. Shoot, I didn’t mean to stress the kid out with a wholesome outdoor activity! I would now assume that he does these same nervous habits at school, I’m just not there to observe them.

• 

  Jack and his line.

  Jack is VERY loyal to his position. In a few games his coach told him to “stay by that line to guard the goal.” And STAY he does. Our family was cracking up watching him run back and forth along the goal box line. The ball would come just inches from the line with a perfect opportunity to have a clear kick. But it would require leaving the line, so Jack looked torn as he tried to stretch to kick the ball from the line, but couldn’t bring himself to kick it and get off of his post. We even saw him perfectly follow the line around its corner to get over to a play, again inches within reach of the ball.

The most surprising/disheartening thing to come out of the soccer season came from Jack’s declaration before almost all of his games: “I don’t want to play. I’m bad at soccer!” He’s starting to notice things. Now, this is good. This is progress and part of growing up. But, it will bring some sadness and hard times for my precious son.

Go Jack Go!

There were really, really great moments in soccer. Just seeing him run around with peers was lovely. Ahh exercise and fresh air. Jack knew the gist of what was going on: chase the ball and try to kick it. He would go to the middle of the action and did kick it several times. In the last game, he played goalie and we saw him jump on the ball to save it!

And then there were the social interactions. I loved seeing Jack get excited with his team. One kid scored a goal and Jack was the first to run and give him a high-five. We also had a precious moment of interaction with a peer after a game. I shared this story on instagram (follow us there @gojackgoblog!): “But the very, very best part happened in the parking lot afterward. We were parked next to one of the kids on the opposing team. On his own, Jack stopped the boy and said quite enthusiastically, “Hey. Um. >long pause< You are a good soccer boy.” Sweetest moment ever.”

My Current Conclusions about Jack and Sports:

These sport seasons were wonderful experiences. I am very grateful to the coaches who devoted extra attention to Jack. I am thankful for cute teammates and their forgiving parents.

However, there are 2 reasons that I might not sign Jack up for traditional team sports again:

1. Like I said above, I think Jack was taking too much time and energy from the coaches. At some point that isn’t fair to the rest of the team. Luckily, I don’t feel Jack truly “messed up” a game (ie. tried to grab the soccer ball with his hands, or scored into the wrong goal, or hit someone with a bat…), BUT he didn’t contribute to the team at all. I believe that in the next year or two that would be VERY troublesome to the team, coach, and parents. Yes, I recognize that he would get better as a player with more experience, so that is something to think about. I will definitely ask Jack next year if he wants to do play again and go from there.
2. Our previous Occupational Therapist strongly encouraged us to put Jack in individual sports, where he would be competing against himself. Examples would be swimming, track, or gymnastics. We would need to guide him through working on beating his previous times or scores and focus less on the fact that he might come in last against his peers. Sports are tricky any way you look at it, but they are so good too. They push him a bit, get him to move his body and work toward some goals.

We’ll see what the future brings sports or activity-wise for Jack. For now, Jack will enjoy his time resting from sports, while I figure out what my next devious plan to get him engaged will be…

>> What kinds of experiences have you had with special needs kids and sports? Please share your thoughts on the toll it might take on coaches to work with them! <<