[INFP] INFPs & Team Sports

[Adasta]

I was just wondering if any INFPs play team sports?

I play football (soccer) and, although I enjoy the game, find the "team" aspect of it a bit tiresome. The macho nature that seems to surround men's teams really bothers me because it seems as if I am expected to enjoy it. Frankly, I'd be quite happy turning up, chatting to my team mates, getting ready, playing, getting changed and then going home. The "forced fun" of the social aspects is actually quite annoying.

Are there any other anti-social INFPs like me that are stuck in this paradox?

 

[Eckhart]

Well, I have the problem that I am very bad at most sports and don't like participating in sports in general. So I obviously don't really love participating in team sports either. It comes to it too that I know that people at school usually rather didn't want me to have in their team. Although there were also a very small amount of sports activities where I was not that bad, but they were not played very often. Some examples:

-I was very bad at soccer when I was a small child, and people never wanted me to have in their team (got always chosen as last or second-last). I had low self-confidence in that area too, didn't try much. When I grew older and had a harder skin, I tried more things and I think actually I were a half-decent defender in comparison to some other people. Didn't get recognized by other people though
-I was a decent goalkeeper in handball as it came out when I for some reason suddenly was in goal (I usually played on field, poorly, and was last choice always) and was suddenly the favourite choice for that job for some time. I had then one bad day where I then also lost quickly self-confidence and let nearly every ball through. Since then I was always last choice again.
-At elementary school I was great at dodgeball and was a popular choice. In secondary school I was never a popular choice because people associated with me an all-around bad sports player, although I was very good at dodging the ball! I could make that for so long often, maybe because I was very calm and cool while doing so and was relative small
-At ultimate frisbee I was for some time a popular choice because I was great at catching the frisbee. However we nearly never played that. I don't know why I was good at that, I found that thing is very easy to catch although I am not really tall.

Other team sports where I was all-around miserable involve basketball, volleyball, anything which includes running much, table tennis.

I don't like that aspects that you mentioned with the macho nature. I would feel much easier at sports if people could just play it for fun (hell it is freaking school sports, you don't win anything!) without the exaggerated competitive nature. People shouting at each other for no reason, making worse players feel miserable etc.

 

[Elfboy]

I was just wondering if any INFPs play team sports?

I play football (soccer) and, although I enjoy the game, find the "team" aspect of it a bit tiresome. The macho nature that seems to surround men's teams really bothers me because it seems as if I am expected to enjoy it. Frankly, I'd be quite happy turning up, chatting to my team mates, getting ready, playing, getting changed and then going home. The "forced fun" of the social aspects is actually quite annoying.

Are there any other anti-social INFPs like me that are stuck in this paradox?

You're not anti social. you're just sophisticated and are disgusted by overly macho, brutish and unintelligent behavior. this is a common trait among INFPs including myself

 

[Elfboy]

INFPs are intellectuals, we'd rather leave the physical stuff to the Sensors and take care of the conceptual aspect of things. SJs deal with the routine, SPs with the physical, NTs with the systematic and NFs with the problem solving, developing and creating.

 

[Adasta]

INFPs are intellectuals, we'd rather leave the physical stuff to the Sensors and take care of the conceptual aspect of things. SJs deal with the routine, SPs with the physical, NTs with the systematic and NFs with the problem solving, developing and creating.

But I love sport! Although I am drawn more to the beauty of the game than to the physicality of it. For example, I enjoy stylistic football that incorporates several aspects that I like (which I shan't mention, mainly due to the fact this is mainly a North American forum). Sometimes I will stop trying if I feel that people are consistently ignoring me, usually for their own glory. If people aren't as skillful as I am, then I also get frustrated with them.

I am a person who likes to reflect, but I enjoy sport because its "bodiliness". It uses the body, therefore distracting the mind. Sometimes INFPs need to stop thinking.

 

[Elfboy]

But I love sport! Although I am drawn more to the beauty of the game than to the physicality of it. For example, I enjoy stylistic football that incorporates several aspects that I like (which I shan't mention, mainly due to the fact this is mainly a North American forum). Sometimes I will stop trying if I feel that people are consistently ignoring me, usually for their own glory. If people aren't as skillful as I am, then I also get frustrated with them.

I am a person who likes to reflect, but I enjoy sport because its "bodiliness". It uses the body, therefore distracting the mind. Sometimes INFPs need to stop thinking.

fair enough =) I have nothing against soccer myself, but that's not what I was referring to. you like the bodily aspect, but probably no the macho, tough guy aspect

 

[Adasta]

fair enough =) I have nothing against soccer myself, but that's not what I was referring to. you like the bodily aspect, but probably no the macho, tough guy aspect

Agreed

 

[Adasta]

fair enough =) I have nothing against soccer myself, but that's not what I was referring to. you like the bodily aspect, but probably no the macho, tough guy aspect

Agreed

 

[Elfboy]

Agreed

to you too

 

[Cephalonimbus]

Hmmm i haven't played team sports since i was like 16...

I played football when i was about 10, but i didn't really enjoy it and wasn't very good at it either back then because it took me a while to grow into my body. I'm still tall and thin but at that age i was like a wet noodle.

I did always enjoy street football with friends though, especially in my teens when i started to become not so noodly. At least when playing with my friends i could make mistakes without being treated like a war criminal. Well... they still yelled at me and called me an asshole, but that's something i can handle when coming from a friend. In the team... not so much. Actually, it wasn't so much the team members, they were pretty cool dudes. But those sideline dads ruined it for me... bunch of beer-bellied inbreds with grease-stained jumpsuits and big 8 carat gold chains whose sole purpose in life seems to be to relive their youth through their sons. What kind of grown ass man spends his entire saturday yelling at 10 year old children for recreational purposes?

 

[Elfboy]

Hmmm i haven't played team sports since i was like 16...

I played football when i was about 10, but i didn't really enjoy it and wasn't very good at it either back then because it took me a while to grow into my body. I'm still tall and thin but at that age i was like a wet noodle.

I did always enjoy street football with friends though, especially in my teens when i started to become not so noodly. At least when playing with my friends i could make mistakes without being treated like a war criminal. Well... they still yelled at me and called me an asshole, but that's something i can handle when coming from a friend. In the team... not so much. Actually, it wasn't so much the team members, they were pretty cool dudes. But those sideline dads ruined it for me... bunch of beer-bellied inbreds with grease-stained jumpsuits and big 8 carat gold chains whose sole purpose in life seems to be to relive their youth through their sons. What kind of grown ass man spends his entire saturday yelling at 10 year old children for recreational purposes?

ugh...seriously, it's freakin pathetic. people who don't let kids be kids frustrate the hell out of me.

 

[Southern Kross]

INFPs are intellectuals, we'd rather leave the physical stuff to the Sensors and take care of the conceptual aspect of things. SJs deal with the routine, SPs with the physical, NTs with the systematic and NFs with the problem solving, developing and creating.

But I love sport! Although I am drawn more to the beauty of the game than to the physicality of it. For example, I enjoy stylistic football that incorporates several aspects that I like (which I shan't mention, mainly due to the fact this is mainly a North American forum). Sometimes I will stop trying if I feel that people are consistently ignoring me, usually for their own glory. If people aren't as skillful as I am, then I also get frustrated with them.

I am a person who likes to reflect, but I enjoy sport because its "bodiliness". It uses the body, therefore distracting the mind. Sometimes INFPs need to stop thinking.

I love sport too and have played a wide range of them! I haven't played any regular sport significantly since high school because I'm too poor, lazy and disorganized (its so much easier when it in the structured school environment). I'm pretty sure I buck the typical INFP trend because I'm rather competitive too (its genetic I swear )

I enjoyed team sports but often felt I was the only one taking it seriously. Girls in my soccer team would show up to games still half-drunk from the night before :rolli: . To answer the question: I think whether a sport is team based or individual had less affect on my interest in it than whether I'm simply enjoyed it or not. I don't feel that being in a team encroached on my personal space or anything.

 

[Adasta]

Girls in my soccer team would show up to games still half-drunk from the night before :rolli:

That never stopped this little fella'! One of the greatest players of all time. Rumour has it he had sex during half-time as well...

 

[Synapse]

Whats wrong with individual sports like athletics and swimming, gymnastics, diving etc.

 

[Adasta]

Whats wrong with individual sports like athletics and swimming, gymnastics, diving etc.

Absolutely nothing! I play those as well; it was simply that the team aspect intrigued me, since I find it taxing at times. :workout:

 

[Snuggletron]

I'm not good at team sports and it is a mistake to make me play them when I don't want to (as in what happens at public schools).

I end up losing interest that was never really there and any sort of macho competitive nature that comes along with it would make me irritated. When I was a kid I would just try and sabotage the game and/or make my team lose if I didn't like the people on it by messing up on purpose or something like that. That was really enjoyable...to watch them get terribly frustrated at the idea that they were going to lose a game.

I did like playing team sports with real friends though, like small football games in my neighborhood or something. I wasnt too good at them but they were satisfying in their own way

 

[Thessaly]

I have a major hate on for team sports.

 

[neptunesnet]

When I was younger, I played soccer really well and played on a team for a small while, but I never cared much for the "team" aspect of it (which, I'm aware, defeats the whole purpose of being on a sports team to begin with). The main reason was most of the other kids didn't like me. They thought I was weird and told me so. The little twerps even rationalized it in their heads that my assumed "weirdness" was reason enough not to kick me the ball, even at the expense of the game. They let their feelings about me interfere with the game, and I just knew I couldn't keep playing for a team like that. Also, on occasion, I would forget some of the rules and send my coach into a frenzy when I screwed up. I think I only really knew the basic "ball in goal = SCORE!!!" one. It got me pretty far, though.

I ended up never playing long enough to become serious about it, but I play now with friends sometimes. As long as the rules are pretty lax.

 

[Nameless Hero]

The macho stuff is likely to be beneficial to you, as it forces you to work on your weaker aspects. I spent 8 years in the US Marine Corps, and the macho stuff is the main reason I quit. I did not like it, no way. However repulsive it is, an element of this machismo must be experienced. Much of it is simple humor, manifest through coarse sexual braggadocio. Veiled with it are the skilled efforts of the "sensing types" to feel out any weaknesses of their comrades, and then issue forth a challenge. You, I bet, do not want these challenges, because they are dopey and counter-productive to building teamwork. Observe, however, the other men and how they take these challenges. Model your behavior on those jocks who are most successful at redirecting the challenge away from the distructive testing of weakness and move the braggart towards team building. Eventually, you will be able to do the same. You need to insure that you are capable of dealing with challenges politely, as to insure the team is not harmed by the excess of the jerks.

 

[SilentNight]

I have a major hate on for team sports.

+1