Post: #26

I've never been great at sports mainly because I didn't have much interest growing up and didn't play a whole lot. I still don't really, but I do love tossing a frisbee around and recently got interested in handball.

Like anything else, you can practice and hone your skills in sports. Its a lot of hand-eye coordination, muscle memory, and reaction. All things that can be improved with practice and repetition. If you're interested in getting better at sports then just do it a lot and the results will follow suit.

As for team sports being a solid prerequisite for game - I don't think so specifically. If you did competitive team sports growing up then I believe the environment that tends to go along with it can help shape your social interactions with others, but this can be said about anything else.

Post: #27

This is an interesting thread. I don't think there is an explicit correllation between being an athlete and having natural game, but I think there is a big underlying issue that can affect both...a fear of failure, particularly if this failure is witnessed by others. If you're the type of person that isn't willing to struggle and work through the difficulties of learning a team sport (especially if you don't have natural aptitude), then you probably won't be willing to put yourself out there and risk embarrassment when approaching and gaming strange women. That's exactly how I was.

I actually had the genetic potential to be an athlete. My dad was a 6'2" beast of a football player, and he was a linebacker at a prominent D-1 university, eventually trying out for the New England Patriots. He had a great mind for the game, and to this day, he can break down everything that is happening on the field. My mom was (shit, still is) slim and very coordinated - she absolutely destroys the dancefloor at weddings. Despite these genetics, I was an undersized, skinny, introverted, and timid kid. My parents made a token effort to get me involved in sports, but when I wasn't immediately successful, I didn't want to continue playing. As I was the first-born, my parents were still trying to get the hang of this whole parenting thing, and they didn't push me when I gave up easily. Interestingly enough, they took the opposite approach with my brother and sister, and encouraged them to try every sport and continue working at them. As you can imagine, they both ended up being outstanding athletes. Instead, I spent most of my childhood/early teens alone in my room, illustrating Street Fighter II characters and playing bass guitar. These were activities that I could work on in private, without worrying about others watching me as I fumbled through slap-bass technique, or drew Ryu's head lopsided.

It wasn't until I got to college that I started developing an interest in sports, mainly because my roommates were all huge Boston sports fans, and I'd often be stuck watching Sox and Pats games with them. The interest grew and developed over the years, and in my late 20's I had a bit of an epiphany. If I sucked at something, I said "fuck it - I will learn to get better at this. I don't care if it's a struggle." I developed a self-improvement template: find a reading resource, solicit help from a knowlegable person that can get me actionable advice, and then practice, practice, practice - even if others see me fail, even if I am extremely embarassed while struggling through the learning process.

I wanted to learn how to throw a baseball, so I picked up Nolan Ryan's Pitching Bible, worked with a former pitching coach at his facility*, and then played catch with my dad as often as I could. I had my first catch with my dad when I was 29. Crazy.

*This was a fucking sight to see. Picture me, a lanky dude pushing 30 with a trendy haircut and no mechanics, standing next to a sixth grader and throwing baseballs at a chair...and him just absolutely burying me at this exercise.

I was the same way with game.

I wanted to get better at hitting on girls. I bought several of Roosh's works, solicited advice from friends and forums, then went out and dated half of the girls in my city. I had my first extended period of casual dating when I was 29. Also pretty crazy.

Did I struggle? Did others think I looked like a fool? Of course. But I just stopped giving a shit, continued working to get better, and began to see results. If I had this same mindset as a kid, I would've had my parents put me in every baseball and basketball camp in our state. Hindsight is funny like that.

Post: #28

No, I was terrible. I was the worst at the team soccer that my dad put me in at 9 years old. And I was always picked last for recess football during grade school.

I have bottom-tier genetics for physicality/robustness. Short stature, thin bones, wide hips, slow metabolism. This translates to poor strength, weak running ability, bad body composition. Remember, all the above performance issues were evident before I had even hit puberty. Luckily I was a smart kid, so I derived self-worth from that and didn't care about sports beyond gym class.

I think being good at sports and being good with women are fundamentally linked. Being good at sports = physical prowess & robust bone structure = excellent, high testosterone developmental hormone profile = superior genetics. And this is what chicks are looking for, and this is why the walls of the football locker room are lined with pussy juice, while nary a female is seen in the computer lab, which is replete with bird-boned nerds. Yeah these nerds are what keep the world running, but who cares about that, right?

But more importantly it's not just about athleticism. The cause of physical robustness is an underlying "core" matter that spills over and affects everything. Not only does a genetically high T developmental hormone profile create a masculine skeleton but it also creates a masculine brain, which is as much an aggressive, dominant player with people, as the former is on field. These things come in packages. So it is unsurprising that the OP who is admittedly bad at sports, has had to turn to PUA to help with being bad with women. It has definitely borne out in my case: I had a weak body and surprise, surprise, I had a weak, inhibited, neurotic mind - an incel through and through.

Luckily however there was somehow at least a potential for player behaviour in me and getting into PUA flipped that switch on. And also for visual purposes thank God I have decent clavicles. But overall I wager it's true: if you measure the wrist circumferences of guys who have turned to PUA, the vast majority should be sub 7 inches.

Post: #29

Yes. The only things I can't do is play volleyball (I'm the only person who I grew up with who can't. The sport is huge at the Jersey Shore) or throw a football (I have small hands and can't grip a football the right way).

Post: #30

Relevant:

Terry Burnham in Mean Genes Wrote:In one study, 94% of men ranked themselves in the top half of male athletic ability.

Given this, I'm very impressed that ~26% of people so far who've voted on this poll admit they're not in the top half.

Post: #31

I started out great, not sure what happened during puberty. I missed out on my required dosage of test I guess. As a kid I played baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis. I was naturally good at everything, I got good at bowling, roller hockey, I never played football but I could throw a perfect spiral. I was always one of the fastest runners in my school, maybe top 5 or so.

For whatever reason, my teens were awful. I turned into a weakling, skinnyfat noodleback. I became socially isolated, dropped any and all physical activity, and physically went into a downward spiral that lasted well into my 20s.

If there's one phase of my life I could completely re-do, that's it.

I haven't played any sports since then, unless you consider skiing a sport, which I'm pretty good at.

Post: #32

redacted

Post: #33

Was crap at football (soccer) as a kid due to lack of confidence, I'm aright as an adult. Got into boxing in my teens, I'm decent at it and have a little coaching experience. Love the sport, and have considered coaching youngsters properly.

Always makes me wonder about the amount of people who could have become amazing at something if they had the guts to get over their insecurity, no matter the age.

Post: #34

Yes, very good at basically every sport, except baseball, which I never cared for and still don't care for.

I held multiple single-season soccer records at my high school. I'd estimate my assist record to this day still stands. Wasn't good enough to play d1 though, and never cared for d2/d3 or juco.

Tae Kwon Do, 1st degree black belt.

Did some boxing training at welterweight as well.

Excellent diver, can do all kinds of flips into a dive. Women are very impressed by this.

Decent basketball player for being 5'9. Solid 3 pointer.

Although I never played football, I can throw a perfect Tom Brady-like spiral 9 times out of 10.

Post: #35

I used to be good at basketball (that's my favorite) but haven't played recently, and am overweight. I'm gonna get back to it now that it's spring, maybe even tomorrow now that I'm reminded by this thread.

In school I played team sports but they threw me out after freshman year. I was a defensive tackle in football, played basketball. After freshman year when they threw me out I had to go to this bullshit called "alternative school" with no sports.

Post: #36

Very very good at rugby. Pretty much shit at everything else.

Im athletic but nothing is developed enough (speed, balance) so gym class used to be pretty embarrassing.

People might wanna hang out and play ball or even soccer on a sunny day, but nobody texts 20 people to say "lets go play a game of rugby".

Never get to show off

Post: #37

Yes and no. First of all, I am of only average height and slightly built, so I was never going to hit it big in the popular American sports, where sheer physical size is basically a prerequisite for being on a high level.

But for my size, I'd say I'm pretty good, at least in some respects. In soccer or basketball, I'm terrible on offense but I can basically stay with anyone on defense (height being the limiting factor in bball). I've always been 1st in the mile run in gym class, and I have probably the best balance of anyone I've ever met. I'm also a skinny mofo, but at least it's a lean skinniness. I used to get in fights a lot up until high school as a result of having a foreign accent, and my rule of thumb was basically, if they're within 20lbs, I can probably take them, and I can at least give it a shot if they're within 30. I'm not naturally an exceptional striker, but for some reason I have a talent for taking people to the ground. Even if they trip me up and we're both on our way down with me about to end up on the bottom, I am always able to somehow twist in midair or as I hit the ground and end up on top. Maybe it's because of my superior sense of balance. Similarly, when I tried judo and jiu jitsu recently I was consistently able to get the upper hand over dudes who had a lot of weight/experience on me. The instructor noted that I had "good instincts."

So yeah, it's a mixed bag. I'd say if I were a few inches taller and correspondingly heavier while keeping my current athleticism to size ratio, I'd be a true beast. Oh well . For what it's worth, I'm a pretty hard core introvert.

Post: #38

(05-05-2015 12:21 AM)Hades Wrote:  

(05-04-2015 11:26 PM)ball dont lie Wrote:  Funny thing happened: I played a lot of sports for fun at the end of high school, started exercising all the time in college, learned to juggle, learned to box, spent a whole winter on indoor tennis courts learning to do one-handed hand stands.

I'm pretty interested in this comment. Were you already good at doing regular handstands? How good did you get at (freestanding?) one armed handstands and/or how long did it take you?

It didn't take very long but I was already good at doing handstands. My friends and I often would do handstands for fun, waiting for someone, sitting around, whenever really.

First step is getting good at simple "walking" around on the hands. Then move onto shifting weight back and forth and rocking. Then rock harder until you pause for a while on one arm. Then finally during that pause, lift up your other arm for balance and see how long you can last.

I was 145 of muscle at the time standing 5'10.5" so I was a lean and muscular dude at the time, running mountains, taking speed and exercising with dangerously low body fat, so I had every advantage for the exercise. I think doing a lot of pull-ups and chin-ups would help.

Its mostly an endurance problem because this cant be practiced for very long each day. I would run out of gas in just 10-20 minutes. My arms and back would turn to jello.

Post: #39

I was an athlete but it was expected in my family. Almost everyone in my family is athletic. I come from a long line of athletes. My Grandfather and a few of my mother's cousins played football at Michigan. Other members of my family have been collegiate athletes. My Grandmother won the Adult Women's Upper Peninsula of Michigan Golf Tournament before there was the WPGA.

That transferred to me because I was virtually good at every sport I ever played. I had a natural ability to pick up just about anything sports related. Throughout my sports career I played soccer, baseball, basketball, wrestling, track as organized sports. I was a 3 letter varsity athlete when I was a sophomore in high school. My best sport was soccer and I was offered many scholarships but were mostly D-2 and D-3 schools with one D-1. I chose not to play and regret that decision to this day.

Physical ability always helps with sports as well. When I played competitively I think I was 185 lbs at 6'1 with less than 10% body fat. I also was a varsity sprinter for track and could touch the top of the square on a basketball backboard. The physical aspects were never an issue.

Sports always had felt very natural for me. I always had an intuition and feelings about how to be successful at it.

Excelsior explained earlier that if you build your whole life around sports it can create huge issues though. That's why many men that are professional athletes have such terrible game. When you are a star athlete many things are given to you and you don't have to pursue and be the aggressor like you would with approaching women. The athletes expect their status, fame, riches, etc. to do that for them but it will only to an extent.

Post: #40

(05-05-2015 11:09 PM)ball dont lie Wrote:  

(05-05-2015 12:21 AM)Hades Wrote:  

(05-04-2015 11:26 PM)ball dont lie Wrote:  Funny thing happened: I played a lot of sports for fun at the end of high school, started exercising all the time in college, learned to juggle, learned to box, spent a whole winter on indoor tennis courts learning to do one-handed hand stands.

I'm pretty interested in this comment. Were you already good at doing regular handstands? How good did you get at (freestanding?) one armed handstands and/or how long did it take you?

It didn't take very long but I was already good at doing handstands. My friends and I often would do handstands for fun, waiting for someone, sitting around, whenever really.

First step is getting good at simple "walking" around on the hands. Then move onto shifting weight back and forth and rocking. Then rock harder until you pause for a while on one arm. Then finally during that pause, lift up your other arm for balance and see how long you can last.

I was 145 of muscle at the time standing 5'10.5" so I was a lean and muscular dude at the time, running mountains, taking speed and exercising with dangerously low body fat, so I had every advantage for the exercise. I think doing a lot of pull-ups and chin-ups would help.

Its mostly an endurance problem because this cant be practiced for very long each day. I would run out of gas in just 10-20 minutes. My arms and back would turn to jello.

Yeah I'm like 200# and am just able to do "shoulder taps" against the wall, where you kick up into a handstand and push off onto one arm for a second or two and slap your shoulder with your free hand. Those are pretty hard. I'll save this post for someday when I hopefully get around to the one armed handstand. My two-armed handstand is admittedly weak though.

Post: #41

(05-05-2015 03:21 PM)Kamikaze Wrote:  Relevant:

Terry Burnham in Mean Genes Wrote:In one study, 94% of men ranked themselves in the top half of male athletic ability.

Given this, I'm very impressed that ~26% of people so far who've voted on this poll admit they're not in the top half.

For what it's worth, I read the poll question as an absolute, not a relative one. Basically, I would say that for most of my life I have had sufficient athleticism and dexterity to adequately play a presumed list of common team sports like basketball, soccer (ass. football), baseball, beach volleyball, etc. I'm not prepared to make any kind of guess about where I might rank compared to all men in general.