Our Voices in Sport: Dyspraxia Stories
Exercise is extremely important for our bodies and minds. While everybody needs to be able to move their bodies to help promote the production of important hormones, keep muscles active, and prevent injury, “exercise” can look very different to some people.
Even coma patients have to exercise (yes, you read that right) with the help of physical therapists and/or medical staff to perform stretches and repositioning movements.
When you first think of exercise, you might envision team sports or going for a run. If you are dyspraxic, you might reflect on your school years and remember your PE lessons (and all of the emotions that may come with those memories).
If there is one thing that we know all dyspraxic adults can relate to, it’s struggling with both the emotional and physical impacts of facing challenges relating to sports.
If you are a dyspraxic young person or adult wondering “what sports could work for me?”, or maybe you’re even thinking “it’s 100% not possible for me” and feel somewhat discouraged by past experiences. Hopefully, hearing from others might help alter your perspective or make you feel seen.
Zoe Miller, 44, shared her weightlifting journey with us. “I see a personal trainer to ensure I train safely and with good form. My gym classes have an instructor.”
What motivates Zoe is achieving things they didn’t think would be possible and “proving to younger me that I am not just terrible at sports (maybe just not rounders!) and seeing my progress”
“I am more 'sporty' than I believed, having been pretty rubbish at school. I have increased my strength. I am proud to have muscle at my age.”
“I have realised how important a good instructor is, and how I need instructions phrased. I also need someone who believes in me.”
When discussing what challenges dyspraxia can cause, zoe said, “Following instructions and then panicking when I can’t. I might interpret a move differently from others, for example, positional concepts such as 'legs at 90 degrees” can be hard.
I also experience challenges with hypermobility and energy levels.
Having to find a cue which makes sense to me. For example, it took me ages to understand hinging from the hips. Dyspraxia also causes me to crash into others during a class. I mainly do spin classes for cardio to avoid this problem.”
Strategies that help me include self-compassion when something takes me longer; making sure I reflect on progress; not ruling something out when I don’t understand it.”
Lastly, Zoe wants to share these words of encouragement. “My advice to others who are considering a sport/activity is don’t write yourself off. If you have had negative experiences, you just haven’t found the right one for you. For example, I couldn’t do indoor climbing and didn’t even last the intro session, but I can lift weights I never would have dreamed of.”
Ryan Taylor, 14, has been swimming since he was around 3 years old and started playing football at age 10. Dyspraxia did make learning to swim take longer than others his age, and he expressed how coordination challenges “make playing football difficult and very tiring as I need to concentrate extra compared to team mates.“
Ryan says that he has “enjoyed meeting new people and making new friends.” And from the looks of the photo, he has also earned himself a very handsome collection of trophies and awards!
Ryan's mum, Claire, says, “Ryan has learnt not to rush and to break things down into small, easier goals to aim for. He knows to keep trying, repeat and don't give up!”
Ryan’s swim teacher did know about dyspraxia prior to meeting him, and so they knew how best to teach him. His football coach had not heard of dyspraxia before but has been really supportive.
Some words of encouragement from Ryan and mum, Claire “Do try lots of different sports until you find the one you enjoy the most. Learn it slowly and carefully. And most importantly, if you love it, don't give up when it gets hard, find a pace that works for you so you can really enjoy it.“
Allan White, 55, shared that he has been shooting traditional archery since the age of around 13. “I do it for fun and am entirely self-taught.”
“Based on my involvement with shooting air rifles, clay pigeons, etc as a kid, it seemed that unlike other sporting activities, shooting sports were something I could master with reasonable practice. Thus, archery just seemed to be a logical addition to similar activities I have enjoyed from a young age. Now it's about the only marksmanship sport I do recreationally.
Mastering the timing of my release has been my biggest challenge. I seem to be more fine motor impaired than gross motor impaired. Though I do have a modicum of equilibrium impairment.
I don't know if this qualifies, but I actually have more difficulty with re-fletching arrows than shooting them.
I like casual socialising and friendly competition at the ranges that I go to but I don't participate in formal tournaments or anything like that. I don't think I could deal with the pressure and I think it would in some way detract from the benefits I normally get from traditional archery”
Are you thinking of taking up archery? Allan shared “First of all, just go for it. You never know how well you'll do until you try. At the same time, be sure that you are around safe, supportive and understanding people when partaking in any activity that seems interesting or appealing.”
