Are some people just rubbish at sports, no matter how hard they try?

[OnTheRoll]

I have never been good at team sports, even in school PE like netball. Now an adult, trying to master tennis and it's just not happening. It's been a few years, I am a member of a local tennis club, have group coaching, try to play 1-2 times a week, used to have individual lessons. I am improving but, after all this time, money and sweat, still very much a beginner which is so frustrating.

I just don't seem to make my body play it the right way. The psychological block of remembering that I was never good at sports surely isn't helping either.

Interestingly, at the same time, I am very fit, I run, I do resistance training, I train with weights - so no reason really not to see good results in actual sports.

I am wondering if some people are just not cut for it. I am not giving up but I am really losing hope and just tired of feeling rubbish on the court most of the time.

Agree OP some people are just bad at ball sports and that's OK. My DS is so bad and clumsy too but recently had OT assessments and he is way below average. His motor planning is terrible and he has dyspraxia. Those assessments or words weren't around when I was young. He has tried and failed so many ball sports we feel the best thing for his confidence is to try something else. He is a good swimmer for example.

I was always last in the race and am so slow at everything and unfortunately now fat so sports are not only difficult but embarrassing. But i have excellent co ordination and I can follow a dance routine really well, I can mimic a body movement immediately and remember a routine almost instantly. So I joined Zumba and sometimes do cringe dance routines at home. I enjoy it unlike any other exercise I have ever done. My advice is give up the tennis and enjoy what you are good at, life is too short to waste struggling and feeling bad about your shortcomings.

But you ARE good at sports OP! just not the team ones.

I was the same- awful at most sports and so slow at running. never managed a forward roll to my teachers exasperation, turned out my legs were slightly different lengths from the hip dysplasia too which might have been a factor. I rock at swimming though so there probably is a sport for everyone!

Some people just don’t find the sport that suits them, plus you ideally need a certain level of fitness to gain skills in any sport. If you put me on a tennis court or badminton court I’d be sod all use as I’m not fast enough, so on those I would be seen as being bad at sport. Put me on a rugby field and I’m part of a professional team.

There isn’t a single sport that will suit everyone.

I've always been shit at sport. Even as a very young child, I was the worst in my class. Even as a skinny four year old, I was last in every race. I'm also not at all competitive. At school I'd have rather sat in a maths lesson than do pe.

Roger Federer was once interviewed and asked if he thought he was a better player in his thirties than he had been in his twenties. He answered “I hope so, otherwise all the hours I have spent on the practice court will have been a waste of time.”

If you feel like you are improving then persevere. The thing with playing tennis is that it does take a lot of experience to be able to “read” your opponent’s movements, the amount of spin on the ball etc.

Of course.
I am crap at all ball sports. Right eyed, left handed, etc limited hand eye coordination.
however - tall, not too heavy, naturally muscular meant i was perfect for rowing which I excelled at.

Maybe. I’ve always found it came really naturally, so it stands to reason that for some it wouldn’t.

Yep. I can run or swim moderately long distances very slowly, but can't sprint, dance, catch, throw, kick, jump, balance or hit things with sticks. I've tried everything from tennis to windsurfing but I'm crap at it all. The gym is fine.

But it also depends on how hard you actually want to push yourself.
my son is also a perfect build for rowing but basically hates it as he doesn't enjoy the pain of being fit enough to be good at it

I'm rubbish at sports and always have been. I think not only lack of coordination but also body shape.
I've always been of a stocky build and heavy, even as a child, with short limbs. Doesn't lend itself to most sports!
I can swim ok but not fast and I did quite enjoy keep fit to music before arthritis hit.

Agreed.
Sports for me absolute no.
Music - comes naturally!

Dyspraxia means being amazing at team sports or music was highly unlikely to ever happen for me or ds. But piano/swimming hopefully helped a little bit with our coordination even if we were never going to really excel.

Hip dysplasia (not diagnosed until I got arthritis in it in my 60). Also a lazy eye, so no 3D vision. And dyscalculia.

So, no, I was never going to be any good at sports. Not even aerobics or dance

I'm not terribly sporty so it's bean an interesting experience watching my 3 very sporty DCs growing up (DH also massively sporty)!

FWIW @OnTheRoll to be properly good at tennis you almost certainly have to have played as a child and been taught the grips, techniques, spins, and movement so they are permanently established. It's a tricky sport to master as an adult. That said, you don't have to be very good for it to be a really enjoyable and social activity, so maybe put less pressure on yourself and just try to relax and enjoy it.

'bean'? Sorry mind must have wandered 😂

I refer to tennis as the family disease, so many relatives play(ed) it to high standard.
My dad never met a team sport he didn't like. And Then there's me...

Yes some of us are athletically declined. At anything. Everything. Which is why we'e super pleased to achieve a mediocre standard at anything, it was Ruddy hard work !!

Agree with this - team sports were always a miserable experience for me of being given a lot of shit from not being able to do the sport.

I've enjoyed individual sports like skiing much more.

HaHaHa athletically declined...love it

Well yes but being sporty equates to being popular.

Nobody cares if you are good at music or maths but they do care if you are good at sports. Although I'd hope that allowing kids to choose other kids for teams is a long-dead phenomenon.

I also think that a lot of kids would be better at sports if they actually received coaching and teaching at school. As it is. teachers just concentrate on the ones with natural talent or who have had teaching outside school and assume the rest are rubbish.

Me, too. I'm very much a "team player" in general, just shite at all and any sport. Something to do with co-ordination, although I can dance and used to do gym/yoga/pilates. I'm terminally bad at activities that require controlling the movement of a ball. There's also something about inflexible rules, I suspect, as I bridle at those in any situation.

Meh. Doesn't matter anyway!

Nobody cares if you are good at music or maths

They do care, musical inability is an opportunity for bullies to bully.

Definately @Barleysugar86 I was Ok at swimming and loved horseriding. So very true, you just need to find a sport that suits you.

Since when?

In my experience both as a pupil and as a teacher dealing with pasotral issues, they usually bully because you are too short, too skinny, too fat, not white, too clever (boff), too posh (snob, stuck up), too poor, not good enough in PE therefore you get the blame when the team loses, or some other reason that makes you a social pariah.

I have never come across not being musically able as a reason for bullying. Only situation I can imagine is if you were part of a choir or orchestra and others bulky you for not meeting the standard!