Carmen Chavez spent much of her life avoiding sports. Her
aversion, she said, stemmed from the embarrassment of middle school gym class.
As more athletic girls slammed volleyballs across the net, she worried about
tripping or being hit by a ball. In order to avoid playing, she often sat on
the side-lines and acted as the announcer.
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For years after, she told herself she was simply too clumsy
for ballgames. But a year ago, Chavez, now 26, began playing basketball with a
friend and discovered she is pretty good at shooting and dribbling. Perhaps
more important, she enjoys it.
“Being afraid, being avoidant, did me more harm than good,”
said Chavez, who said she still is so clumsy that she has the occasional
accident. “I am trying to stop letting my clumsiness intimidate me from being
active.”
About 6 percent of school-age kids have a developmental
coordination disorder, also known as “clumsy child syndrome,” which can persist
into adulthood. Jill Zwicker, a researcher and occupational therapist at the
University of British Columbia, said the disorder may be why many people
develop a long-standing dislike of sports and exercise.
This is important because even just feeling a little
uncoordinated can have tangible effects on people’s lives. Kids who avoid
physical activities are at a higher risk of anxiety and depression, Zwicker
said. A study of thousands of British children also found that kids whose
teachers described them as uncoordinated were more likely to become obese as
adults.
But feeling uncoordinated, either as a kid or an adult, does
not mean you can’t still be an athlete.
Clumsiness starts in the brain
There is no question that some of us — professional athletes
and dancers — are inherently more coordinated than others, said Gary Wilkerson,
a sports injury researcher and professor at the University of Tennessee
Chattanooga.
The ability to spin a basketball on your finger or return a
fast tennis serve comes from how efficiently the brain can communicate across
nodes and networks controlling things like vision, motor control and
decision-making, as well as between the brain’s right and left hemispheres, Wilkerson
said.
“If those don’t sync well, you are clumsy,” he said.
The good news is that nervous tissue in the brain and spinal
cord is very good at adapting and changing. In the same way that some stroke
patients can relearn to walk, uncoordinated people can learn new sports and
activities with focus and practice. In other words, clumsiness, Wilkerson said,
is “very correctable.”
Question beliefs about yourself
The first step to moving past clumsiness is to question the
story you’ve been telling yourself, said Justin Ross, a clinical psychologist
who specializes in human performance.
As with Chavez, most people’s beliefs about athletic
abilities crystallize in the teenage years, and that dictates how they engage
with athletics in their lives, he said. People lock in this identity early on
that they’re not capable, “usually because gym class in middle school or high
school was so embarrassing.”
Believing you are incapable or clumsy can create a
self-fulfilling prophecy that leads people to disengage. To reframe these
beliefs, think of your abilities as an experience rather than an identity: “I
can be athletic,” for example, instead of “I am not an athlete.”
Then summon the will to try something new that holds your
interest. Remind yourself that you are not who you once were.
“If you can’t challenge your beliefs, you’re not going to
have the courage to begin, and then you’re not giving your brain the
opportunity for change,” Ross said.
Prioritize sleep and calm the mind
It might seem simple, but a good night’s sleep, or even a
nap before a workout can improve performance, regardless of how klutzy you are.
In fact, one small study suggests that lack of sleep is as bad as drinking just
beforehand when it comes to coordination. Another found that the less sleep
university students got, the less control they had while walking on a
treadmill.
Stress, too, is a factor. It makes us distracted, which
slows the brain’s information processing speed, said Charles Swanik, an
athletic trainer and professor of kinesiology and applied psychology at the
University of Delaware.
Under stress, the brain can become too excitable, he said,
causing tension in the muscles. When muscles get tense, normally smooth
movements are replaced with exaggerated ones. To reduce this, Swanik said,
before physical activity, focus on calming your mind and body, through music,
deep breathing or mindfulness.
Seek out clear instructions
Say you want to take up pickleball or a martial art. Every
time you serve or throw a punch, the connections in your brain are getting
strengthened. But if you are less coordinated, it’s especially important that
you are practicing the correct, precise movements.
People with coordination problems often also benefit from
explicit instructions in steps, because motor learning does not come as
naturally, Zwicker said. For example, first balance on the bike, then put the
left foot on the pedal. A rote script to repeat to yourself can be helpful, she
said. If you are learning to swim: “Stroke, stroke, breathe. Stroke, stroke,
breathe,” she said.
People who struggle with coordination also tend to do better
with less competitive, non-team-based sports like martial arts, Zwicker said.
“You’re still with other people, but you are your own yardstick. You are
working on your own set of skills and progressions.”
Lastly, when it comes to new sports, choose one with fewer
distractions, where you can focus. Instead of soccer or football, which can
feel chaotic, try tennis or running, Swanik said.
Transforming clumsiness into smoothness is not easy, and
there are limits. But while the klutzes of the world might not become Olympic
athletes, they can get all the fun and benefits of a good workout.
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