How to get teen son - 15- to join activities/clubs?

[Centrino]

My 15 year old is a lovely kid but has zero confidence. He is autistic but gets along OK in mainstream school. I have always had to work v hard to get him to join any clubs or sporting or other activities. He would be a fantastic runner but won't join local athletics club or even go out for a run himself. He won't try anything new even if it's something I know he would enjoy if he just took the first step.
His friends are not much help as they don't seem to do a whole lot either.
I know he is probably terrified of starting something new in a group and the social interaction that would bring. I have told him I will book private lessons for him in a few different activities but he refuses to go. Any ideas please?

What does he actually do in his spare time? If he is doing something (anything) and not just staring into space and is happy with his life then he doesn't "need" to join any clubs if he doesn't want to really.

He has friends- they don't do much either - so maybe they are all happy with their lives. Kids don't " have" to join clubs to enjoy life ! Just leave him be, don't stress.

All kids tend to reduce clubs at this age. I have a NT teen and an autistic teen. Autistic teen is very hard to get him to start new clubs or activities but he does have interests one is music but he won’t play in bands or orchestras despite being at a high level he just just can’t handle the group playing and dynamics. Although he has just started a technology club as some of his friends doing it and that has been a success.

The clubs need to be aligned with his special interests, nearly all autistic kids home some so that’s where you are likely to have most luck.

I get what you are saying. I just think that his confidence would get such a much -needed boost from doing activities I know he is good at. Also because of his autism the more things I can get him to try now will hopefully help him later on in life in terms of social life and general people skills.

Have you tried Parkrun. No need to interact as such, just challenging yourself.

I'd back off, letting him know that he wants to take up any new hobbies, you will support him. At that age, kids tend to move away from formal group activities to just hanging out with their friends, and that's actually a really important part of their social development. If your son has friends and would rather spend time with them than join a parent-approved club, he's actually probably fitting in well with his peers and developing the trickier social skills of interacting without a common goal.

What are his interests?