ADHD and high level sports

[leonora55]

Does anyone here have experience of high level sport and adhd? Whether that be supporting your child, or competing yourself?

My son is 9 and has ADHD. Can be severe at times. He is exceptionally good at his sport, but struggles in group coaching sessions and really struggles to understand aspects other children understand. I am finding his want to compete but his sometimes lack of understanding really hard. It means he is talented at his skills but doesn't understand certain aspects and ends up coming last despite his ability to do a lot better on competition day.

He is 9. I don't care if he comes first or last. What i struggle with is how desperate he is to compete, and the emotional dysregulaton that comes after he knows he didn't do as well as he wanted. It is exhausting.

Is it possible to push past this barrier until he gets to an age that his adhd is less of a hindrance re his sport? I hate the idea of adhd being a reason kids don't continue to compete due to a lack of coaches who understand SEN.

Does anyone have any success stories and tips on how you got there? Not looking for Olympic dreams, just want him to actually enjoy race day and have some hope that things get easier.

I don't think my DD is as severe as your DS (using OPs words not mine) but we found team sports have really helped. She is a good long distance runner but really struggled to control the urge to go off too fast "because she can" rather than take it slow and steady so she was burning out half way through and then angry/upset that she couldn't finish or was placing much lower than her teammates when in training she is consistently faster/better. It's the pressure of the competition and the urge to do well for her that drives her.

We talk all the time about it and it drives me mad having to keep repeating the same conversations but it's the only way. Oddly, one thing that does seem to have helped is her starting a team based sport this year, where she's actually one of a group all working together, training together in drills and competing as one rather than running alone for an individual place. It was challenging at first but now she understands the game and the rules and how it all fits together like a jigsaw it seems to be improving the running and helping her pace etc. My DD has AuDHD and is 9 too.

My son (19) i'll call him R has AuHD. What we had to do with him is explain it to him in a way he would understand.
For example if I said to his brothers "turn the photo around" they would but R would turn it over so i'd have to say "turn the photo so all the peoples heads are at the top" it was just learning to rephrase things so he grasped it. He loved football and struggled at you DS age too but anything he couldn't grasp, me or DH would ask him and explain in a way he'd understand. He is still the same now.

If its running/athletics then can you find a local athletics club? ..they are often smaller groups of kids and have experienced coaches who can do in different languages/style to suit... even if not SEN experts... Also good to get involved with as a parent...

School PE is rarely organised focused much on performance type stuff ..... Ime team sports haven't been that great as frustratiin with others not listening or social pressure quite a lot to deal with ..but athletics, swimming much better as individual.
Although 1 audhd is vg netball player
Medication really transformed some and didn't work for others....

He will mature, it could also be that a different sport is a better fit for him.

My DD competes and she used to be vile to me on competition day. Was bloody hideous, however the benefits she gained from it almost compensated for those days.

My ds is autistic as well as a physical disability and competes at a semi elite level in his sport. (Para sport due to physical disability).

I would start with a meeting with coaches to explain how to explain stuff to you ds so he comprehends it well.

Also explain how to manage him when he needs time and space to process. When my ds goes away his his NGB they complete this as standard to make sure they are fully supported.

Also use timetables and visuals for the competition days. Plan how he will recognise he needs space. Fine places you can go (so if it’s a leisure centre is their a field he can run round if he’s overwhelmed).
have a look at zones of regulation. Have a look at the idea of process goals rather than outcomes.

A lot of people with ADHD have rejection sensitivity which means they struggle to cope if they think a coach/ team mate will be disappointed in them which adds another level.

Bit mostly I would focus on working with him to get him to figure out what he needs and how those around him can support him. It’ll help
him manage his adhd in general then with transferable skills.

Sport really helped my ADHD DS. It burned up his energy and enabled him to be calmer after exerting a lot of physical energy. He swam competitively. He swam 100 lengths most days after school from aged 8-16. When he was 4 the consultant told us to buy a large trampoline and let him bounce for 20 minutes each day before going to school. It really helped.