Boy Vs Wikipedia In Battle Of Minds
- Duration: 20:04
- Updated: 21 Nov 2014
"Well, that took about five minutes,probably less."
Jack sounds pleased with himself He has just reeled off every single FA Cup winning team since 1984 but that was a tad slow compared to what has gone before.
Without hesitation, Jack lists every Formula One champion in the history of the sport in chronological order. In no time at all, he then reels off the champions of darts.
And for good measure, he lists each and every single world snooker winner.
Football World Cup winners? No problem. Champions League winners? Easy.
"Because of my autism, I knew all the statistics whether it be previous winners or former players," he tells CNN.
"If anyone ever got lippy at school about knowing lots about football then I could crush them with my knowledge."
It's not just
Without something that allowed me to make friends,I'd have really struggled.
Now 22, Jack was officially diagnosed with Asperger's, a form of autism, at the age of 19 while at university.
According to the
Categorized as a spectrum condition, which means that while all people with the condition share certain d"It affects the way I walk or talk, my mannerisms," says Jack as he describes the way his lAt school, he would walk around the playground on his own for the first few weeks of term.
It was only once a ball appeared in the playground that he felt able to interact.
"Football helped me because it was one of the few ways I could happily communicate with kids," he says.
"This sounds cliché, but you don't need many words when you have a ball, you just need some goals and somewhere to play.
"Until two years ago, almost all my social interaction involved or at least started with football.
"Almost all of my friendships derived from playing football either on the road I grew up on or at school, where as you can imagine I was cripplingly shy and was fairly hopeless trying to make friends."
While playing football has helped Jack integrate and make friends, something he has struggled to do in the past, it's the love and devotion to his club, English Premier League
Just the mention of the word "Tottenham" or "Spurs", the club's nickname, seems to bring an instant response to Jack's language.
He reels off the names of their 1961 Double winning team without hesitation and then he says, "don't even bother checking that on Wikipedia."
In 2013, Spurs helped Jack get through a particularly bad bout of anxiety.
"I was l"The only exception to feeling like a zombie was when Spurs played, because they provided a release from everything else in my l"I'd feel actual emotion and happiness when Spurs won. I'd forget my anxieties for an hour or two because of the emotion induced by the team's results. "
Raising awareness
Jack is not alone in his pursuit of a sporting outlet there are many others who take similar paths in dealing with their autism.
Dan Marino, the former American Football star, opened a center with his wThe foundation, which is based in Florida, has
Ernie Els, the South African golfer, became involved with raising money for autism after his son Ben was diagnosed at the age of seven.
In 2009, the
In the U.S. major sporting bodies such as Nascar, Major League Baseball, NFL and NBA are all helping to raise money and awareness.
An estimate by the
The CDC says the latest estimate is 30% higher than the total reported in 2012 which recorded one in in 88 children would be on the spectrum.
While the ratio was one to 175 children in Alabama, New Jersey's was one in 45.
According to figures provided by the British
Remortgaging home
Briton
She has set up two schools a college and a respite home and believes sport has made a huge d
"Angelo is severely autistic but he loves trampolining," says Kennedy of her son who also suffers from epilepsy and sensory problems.
"When he gets on that trampoline I've got my heart in my mouth when he goes near the edges, but he's fine.
"You can see the joy in his face when he's jumping so high. He just looks so free when he'
http://wn.com/Boy_Vs_Wikipedia_In_Battle_Of_Minds
"Well, that took about five minutes,probably less."
Jack sounds pleased with himself He has just reeled off every single FA Cup winning team since 1984 but that was a tad slow compared to what has gone before.
Without hesitation, Jack lists every Formula One champion in the history of the sport in chronological order. In no time at all, he then reels off the champions of darts.
And for good measure, he lists each and every single world snooker winner.
Football World Cup winners? No problem. Champions League winners? Easy.
"Because of my autism, I knew all the statistics whether it be previous winners or former players," he tells CNN.
"If anyone ever got lippy at school about knowing lots about football then I could crush them with my knowledge."
It's not just
Without something that allowed me to make friends,I'd have really struggled.
Now 22, Jack was officially diagnosed with Asperger's, a form of autism, at the age of 19 while at university.
According to the
Categorized as a spectrum condition, which means that while all people with the condition share certain d"It affects the way I walk or talk, my mannerisms," says Jack as he describes the way his lAt school, he would walk around the playground on his own for the first few weeks of term.
It was only once a ball appeared in the playground that he felt able to interact.
"Football helped me because it was one of the few ways I could happily communicate with kids," he says.
"This sounds cliché, but you don't need many words when you have a ball, you just need some goals and somewhere to play.
"Until two years ago, almost all my social interaction involved or at least started with football.
"Almost all of my friendships derived from playing football either on the road I grew up on or at school, where as you can imagine I was cripplingly shy and was fairly hopeless trying to make friends."
While playing football has helped Jack integrate and make friends, something he has struggled to do in the past, it's the love and devotion to his club, English Premier League
Just the mention of the word "Tottenham" or "Spurs", the club's nickname, seems to bring an instant response to Jack's language.
He reels off the names of their 1961 Double winning team without hesitation and then he says, "don't even bother checking that on Wikipedia."
In 2013, Spurs helped Jack get through a particularly bad bout of anxiety.
"I was l"The only exception to feeling like a zombie was when Spurs played, because they provided a release from everything else in my l"I'd feel actual emotion and happiness when Spurs won. I'd forget my anxieties for an hour or two because of the emotion induced by the team's results. "
Raising awareness
Jack is not alone in his pursuit of a sporting outlet there are many others who take similar paths in dealing with their autism.
Dan Marino, the former American Football star, opened a center with his wThe foundation, which is based in Florida, has
Ernie Els, the South African golfer, became involved with raising money for autism after his son Ben was diagnosed at the age of seven.
In 2009, the
In the U.S. major sporting bodies such as Nascar, Major League Baseball, NFL and NBA are all helping to raise money and awareness.
An estimate by the
The CDC says the latest estimate is 30% higher than the total reported in 2012 which recorded one in in 88 children would be on the spectrum.
While the ratio was one to 175 children in Alabama, New Jersey's was one in 45.
According to figures provided by the British
Remortgaging home
Briton
She has set up two schools a college and a respite home and believes sport has made a huge d
"Angelo is severely autistic but he loves trampolining," says Kennedy of her son who also suffers from epilepsy and sensory problems.
"When he gets on that trampoline I've got my heart in my mouth when he goes near the edges, but he's fine.
"You can see the joy in his face when he's jumping so high. He just looks so free when he'
- published: 21 Nov 2014
- views: 1