sports and aspergers

[Guest guest]

Do any of your children enjoy sports but have a hard time playing/watching? My

son is a great athlete but his knowledge of the rules and wanting them to be

followed to his specifications make it very hard for him to actually play. We

tried basketball in the past through our church and he was unable to handle it.

This year he wanted to play with the boys from school. He's homeschooled and I

was leary but I went in to talk to the coach, a dad of 5 boys and now a baby

girl. He was willing to read up on Aspergers and has been WONDERFUL with

Jayden. J has still had episodes of yelling at refs and getting angry with

other kids on the court but his coach just keeps encouraging him. After an

explosion during the last tournament, while I was calming J because some

well-meaning people were yelling at him to calm down, my boyfriend overheard one

of the parents from our team talking to one of the parents from the other team

saying he had a poor attitude because of bad parenting and no discipline. That

just makes me SO angry! She was saying that she was going to find a way to have

him removed from the team. The coach, bless his heart, actually called ME to

see if J wanted to join another league that he's coaching. He is willing to

take on all the problems AGAIN...wow! How did I get so lucky? I talked to

him today and he was telling me that J is one of his best players but also one

of his worst because of the attitude but he is willing to help him get past

that. I am just hoping someone might have suggestions on how to help him. He

has a hard time watching sports on tv because he can't handle if his team gets

behind or even if the other team MIGHT score/catch up, etc. He was on prozac

for about 5 weeks but got violent (love that when I told the Dr. he said that's

common in aspie kids but that the insurance makes them try it first....grrrrrr)

so he just started Zoloft Saturday for his obsessions. The doc got to see the

obsession in rare form after a tournament a few weeks ago...every subject ended

up coming back to how the refs sucked...and I do mean EVERYTHING. I am hoping

the meds might calm him a bit and help with awareness but does anyone else have

any suggestions?? Sorry this turned into a book...also, any suggestions for how

to deal with RUDE parents who have NO EXCUSE for their behavior??