Team sports can be hard for autistic people who struggle reading the room, noticing body language and picking up on social cues. These things are crucial when in a large group of people because intimate conversations take up too much time, and the coach, leader or whoever is in charge has to ensure every second is spent wisely and pushes the team towards the goal. However, an autistic person still needs this 1-on-1 conversation when they don’t get these cues to ensure they understand and know how to adjust their behavior appropriately for the betterment of the team.
Autistic people can, of course,maintain these group dynamics and do everything mentioned above, it just may take a bigger portion of their mental faculties than non-autistic people, and could therefore hinder their performance on the court or on the field. That’s why individual sports, where the athlete can just focus on improving themselves may be better for autistic athletes. Games like singles tennis and golf where the athlete doesn’t have to maintain group dynamics with an entire team don’t take up as many faculties and no one is relying on the autistic athlete to do anything other than play their sport.
