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.

YANBU, I hated tennis as a child and I hate it now. It seems to require speed, strength and hand eye coordination which is just too much.

I don’t even watch tennis on TV because it overloads my senses.

In my experience, tennis isn’t really the lovely inclusive sport that you seem to think it is. I think that (despite free courts in the park and relatively cheap equipment) the vast majority of people could not play a passable game of tennis. The way you talk about it sounds little bit like social or professional climbing, kind of like when men join the golf club to talk business.

Yes, me. I'm fit from brisk up hill walking, but can't run fast. I'm uncoordinated and a total limp lettuce who will duck in fear if a ball comes towards me. I have very little competitive spirit and genuinely don't care who wins things. The thought of falling over horrifies me, so I'll instinctively back off rather than do anything that risks me not remaining on my feet.
In my lifetime I've attempted several sports and failed at them all. I've accepted it.

I can't play any ball/racket sports but I'm coordinated. I'm very good at learning dance choreography. I'm also learning ice skating in my 40s and but I can manage a turns, crossovers and simple jumps.

Sports is not just hitting a ball with a bat.

I have yet to find a sport that works for me. I'm very dyspraxic, can't tell left from right, have poor coordination, poor spatial awareness, poor hand eye coordination. I'm also hyper mobile so have to be careful with movement (running's a no no, too many accidents, I can't do yoga on physiotherapists advice as I'm already too flexible).

I can swim, in the sense that I don't drown but I swim in a way my PE teacher at secondary school described as 'not a recognisable swimming technique but does get you from A to B in one piece' 😄

I don't think it's true because most physical activity requires good coordination. If you have poor hand/eye coordination, poor coordination of your feet, it's unlikely you'll be good at a sport, unless it's a board game / chess etc

I think people have natural strengths and weaknesses so if you aren't blessed with quick reflexes and good hand-eye or limb coordination then although you can improve, you'll probably never be great.

Sadly, I am one of those people. I can't ride a bike, can't hit or catch a ball, and I am far too easily distracted to keep track of what's going on in a team game. A patient I was playing table tennis with told me (sincerely, he was not being sarcastic) that I should "try hit the ball" 😂 That said, I was technically good at dancing as a child/teen but looked awkward as hell. I also get my left and right confused and accidentally performed everything mirrored on multiple occasions which is a skill, albeit accidental. I did manage to win a medal doing one dance reversed though!

Yes, me. And my 5yo bless her. She tries so hard but is deeply uncoordinated. Like me.

I feel your pain. I was once ‘let go’ from a sailing club (by the head instructor, no less) because ‘we don’t think you’re quite there for doing this’. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the shame of walking out of there.

(Should probably add - we were pootling around a reservoir for a few hours, not circumnavigating the globe!)

OP are we the same person?!?

I'm very fit, gym running and ballet.

But I've been learning tennis for the last two years and I seem to be as bad as I was the day I first started...slight exaggeration but not far off.

In my defense I only have time to play once a week for an hour. I did notice a bit of a difference when I played twice but sadly work and life schedule doesn't allow. Also I love overseas and the lessons are deathly expensive.

I went on holiday last year to a hotel with a tennis court and booked a coach to come every day. I definitely improved a bit PLUS I didn't notice the times I was bad as much. I think having more time made them blend in and I felt better if that makes sense.

Still, I persist as I love using my brain in a different way, I love moving my body in a different way.

My coach knows I don't want to play at Wimbledon and we have fun training sessions.

But I'd love to be amazing!

Also, have a read of Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers book.

The science basically says that anyone can be great at anything if they put the time in...I think it's 10,000 hours.....very unlikely for me when it comes to tennis!

10,000 hour rule applies

Unless you are lucky enough to be naturally talented AND have the luck to even try that particular sport the above rule applies.

Its true. It doesnt matter what sport it is. Karate, boxing, weigh lifting, tiddly winks. A total beginner will master whatever sport to a very good level within 10,000 hours.

Being good at sport is true of some people. For others its about getting up off your arse, finding a sport you enjoy and then accepting it takes time and hard work to master. All those people you see enjoying their sport and doing well.......yes they have put the groundwork in over many years.

Balls @soberfabulous beat me too it :-)

The guy who wrote the study he based that book on disputes his interpretation of it though.

if that 10,000 hours claim were true, than elderly 90+ year old cyclists would be winning the Tour de France each year. Female and male 90 yr old cyclists. Including the one-legged blind ones who are terrified of 60mph descents and who have knee replacements because of the over-use-induced injuries. There are obviously other factors than total time put in.

Yes almost everyone can improve at XYZ, but the idea that we can all become amazeballs is patently nonsense. Many of us are very pleased to get to the dizzy heights of being mediocre after a huge amount of hard work.

Starting point & native ability matter. Lance Armstrong had a god-given high Vo2max before he ever did any sport. Line a bunch of 5yr old boys up for a race. All the ones who are keen truly believe that they can win. They have no doubt. Yet some will already be hugely faster than others. Not because of hours put in previously, but native starting point physical advantage. The ones who persist with practice on top of that starting place advantage, will persist in having advantages over nearly all others.

I could spend 10000 hours trying to ride a bike and I still wouldn't be able to ride a bike.

The psychological block of remembering that I was never good at sports surely isn't helping either.

When did you learn this?

I was told, as a child, that I couldn't wear flipflops because I once got a blister between my toes. Today, almost 60 years later, I finally decided to test that theory and am finding them very comfortable! Moral being; don't allow what you believed to be true as a child hold you back as an adult.