autism and basketball???

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I was wondering if anyone knows if there is any link between autism and being pretty darn good at basketball...I know that there is alot of research about autism and musical ability, but haven't found anything on basketball...

Now, you wonder why I bring this up? Well, there's that video of that kiddo with autism and the high school basketball game...then I went to the Barnes and Noble website, it is autism month, and one of the B&N employees talked about his son's great ability at "shooting hoops"...

and what started it all? My kiddo is 6 1/2...has never played any sports. We live in the house but have no basketball hoop or never has he been exposed to basketball, except of course, when he was about 2 and someone got him a little plastic hoop (he had it maybe a couple of months, but nothing major...) Well, the other day we went to a friend's house...They have a basketball 1/2 court in their backyard...my kiddo, who is rather short...hehe (takes after his mom) grabbed the basketball and started shooting hoops...The basketball hoop is probably about about 9 feet high at least...he's probably no bigger than 3 1/2 feet tall...and sure enough, time after time, he would make the throw and not even hit the "rim" of the hoop...We were in awe...this continued for almost an hour...missing only a couple and that was only when he would look at us and was distracted by our cheering...but when he didn't look at us, he continuously made it...

So, not trying to say he'll be a professional or anyting like that, but he did better than MY HUSBAND!! !

Anyone else have a child that's pretty good at basketball as well? Any ideas if there is any relation here?

my aspie son has aspergers, and is absolutely VERY uncoordinated. no basketball here.

Ditto here...2 very uncoordinated little guys.

My son has no coordination, we have a hoop and he wont play.

However the social group that he goes to on a Saturday two of the boys there play basketball (i'm not sure how good they are) they also swim for state teams

Yay for your little guy.

It's always exciting when you discover your aspie can do something really well when they have never even tried it before.

My son cannot play basketball for the life of him. And music ... so NOT talented, lol.

HOWEVER, I will say, that it seems to me our kids function at extremes: with most every task, my son seems to be either exceptionally talented, or well below normal. Very little middle ground. Shoot, I can't think of ANY middle ground: just amusingly horrible, or blow-you-away talented.

Where those talents and weaknesses lie is NOT consistent for all children on the spectrum. While there seem to be some areas with bigger clusters of talent or disabilities than others, there still aren't any universals.

If your son has a talent for basketball, give him opportunities to enjoy it. Shoot, a child like mine faces so many ordinary daily failures, he absolutely needs to showcase those areas of sheer genius just to keep his self-image up (which his is, fortunately). Grab every opportunity you can that will let your child's unique talents shine. Assuming HE enjoys it, of course. And team sports can prove a positive opportunity for your child and your family. It will stretch his social skills, and give you a social community of parents to enjoy (my son actually plays soccer even though he has zero talent for it, lol - he just "likes" it), assuming you can get a coach who will work well with your unique child (I always make a special request - the last thing you need with an Aspie child playing team sports is a macho coach who doesn't tolerate quirks).

It's so true about the extremes. He's 6 1/2 and really doesn't have the whole taking a shower or bath right, so we still have to help him...in addition, tying his shoes is non-existent right now (he loves Crocs...haha)...he also has a pretty big speech delay (right now at about 3 1/2 yrs old, he's 6 1/2)

However, he's great in music (took music just a couple of months, we were told he had perfect pitch) and he loves music...He doesn't talk much, but yet he'll learn a song and has a beautiful voice...then, this whole basketball thing happened about a week or two ago...we were shocked...

I homeschool him partly for that same reason...I don't believe we should focus on his weaknesses, as much as his strengths. He does see a speech therapist, and we do all of that...but we don't treat him any differently than other kids and we always encourage his love of music, etc...(now it'll be basketball), because we do see what a difference it makes in his life.

Thanks for the tips, etc...I guess as someone stated, some lack in one aspect and are are excellent in others...

I played basketball with our home school group in high school. I was the absolute worst in the whole team, but as there was not many players, we all got to play. I never really got decent at dribbling or long range shooting or even layups, so I played center.
I got to play basketball which I liked and we got to play against other high schools in the area. I had a lot of fun, and the best memory was winning our last game of the season. It was the only game we ever won, but I am still proud that I stuck to it and really earned that win.

No talent for basketball here. I don't even like to watch it. I am not good at sports at all, but I do watch track, gymastics, skating and tennis.

I can not play basketball, softball or baseball. My mom tried getting me into a basketball program when I was ~12. meh.

better with soccer.

Well, he seems to enjoy it and seems rather good at it...so, we'll probably give it a try...

I thought maybe there was some HFA/AS thing and basketball, but obviously, not...hmmm