History Main / AccidentalAthlete

** The school athelitic clubs are also trying to drag her to join, because despite the NerdGlasses, Harumi is a very competent athlete. She just has [[{{Doujinshi}} better]] [[YaoiFangirl things]] [[CovertPervert to do]].

* No [[HajimeNoIppo Ippo]]? Really? After a timely rescue from bullies (well, maybe not ''that'' timely) by passing jogger Takamura, Ippo gets an impromptu BoxingLesson just for fun: punch bag, feel better. Instead, he punches the bag nearly to the ceiling and [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength splits all the skin on his knuckles]]. Turns out spending a childhood or two moving heavy fishing equipment will [[MightyGlacier build muscle]] like nobody's business.

* ForrestGump with football. It helps that he's seen running by Bear frickin' Bryant. For those of you unaware, Paul "Bear" Bryant is universally considered to be one of the greatest American football coaches of all time.
** ForrestGump with Ping Pong. "Keep your eye on the ball" indeed.
** Indeed, ForrestGump with ''running'', considering he spent most of the first ten years of his life in leg braces.

** In ''The Mighty Ducks'', Fulton Reed is recruited after slap-shotting a hockey puck into Gordon Bombay's van that he (well, technically, the driver assigned to him) began using to shuttle all the players around.
** In ''D2: The Mighty Ducks'', Russ Tyler joins the team after mocking them earlier and utilizes his special "Knuckle Puck"
*** Russ was an athlete before he joined the Ducks. He was playing roller hockey when he was taunting the Ducks for their lack of heart.
*** Russ was already a hockey player. Fulton was just a football player that hit slap shots as a hobby. When they recruited him he'd had no idea how to skate at all, and could only barely skate to center ice and shoot in the first film. Between 1 and 2 he'd mastered skating and at that point was more useful as an enforcer than a shooter.

** He devevlops his cannon arm after the healing process from a broken arm.

* HarryPotter is picked as seeker for the Quidditch team after making a one-handed catch of Neville's Remembrall [[strike: [[spoiler: almost]] ]] his first time on a broomstick.

* In the ClassicDisneyShort ''Casey Bats Again'' (a sequel to ''CaseyAtTheBat''), Casey discovers his daughters form a natural girls' baseball team as they practise their skills while doing the dishes.

* In ''The Great Gildersleeve'', Leroy accidentally hooks up a treadmill backwards and Throckmorton ends up running backwards on it. But he runs so fast that he challenges Judge Hooker to a backwards race.

* In ''TheSimpsons'' episode where Bart and Lisa compete in hockey, her talent as goalkeeper is discovered when Apu sees her block all the paper balls that Bart throws at her while taunting her. [[MoralDissonance So he shoots a puck at her.]]

* In GordonKorman's novel ''The Chicken Doesn't Skate'', Adam sees Zach keeping his little brother's toy cars from hitting his computer and declares him the perfect replacement for the hockey team's goalie, even though he's never skated in his life.

** But he is a fast learner. Coach Anzai saw it too, and had Sakuragi trained in the basics.

** In ''The Mighty Ducks'', Fulton Reed is recruited after slap-shotting a hockey puck into Gordon Bombay's limousine.

* ''RocketPower'' has Sam Dullard becoming a goalie this way as well.

* In ''RookieOfTheYear'', the elven-year-old protagonist has his newfound pitching ability discovered when, from about the middle of the stands, he throws back a home run ball hit by the opposition...and hits home plate.

* Hanamichi Sakuragi of SlamDunk, although he wasn't doing something else except blow off his top at hearing the word "Basketball". Haruko only notices his height and his build which is perfect for the sport. Skills-wise, though, he cannot play to save his life.
** But he is a fast learner. Coach Anzai saw it too, and had Sakuragi trained in the basics.

* Subverted in ''Sudden Death''. At one point, Darren McCord actually has to ''pretend to be the Pittsburgh Penguins goalie'' to avoid the terrorists who have invaded the arena. He even makes a save.

* In the {{Disney}} short ''Casey Bats Again'' (a sequel to ''CaseyAtTheBat''), Casey discovers his daughters form a natural girls' baseball team as they practise their skills while doing the dishes.

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* In ''TheSimpsons'' episode where Bart and Lisa compete in hockey, her talent as goalkeeper is discovered when Apu sees her block all the paper balls that Bart throws at her while taunting her. [[ValuesDissonance So he shoots a puck at her.]]

* Jim Thorpe, winner of several Olympic Gold Medals got a spot on his school's track team when he beat the high jumpers while wearing street clothes.

* In ''Little House on the Prairie'', when Pa is getting ready for a baseball game against a team from Sleepy Eye, he and Half-Pint are at Jebediah Mumfort's farm where they both witness Jebediah trying to hit a chicken hawk with a rock. He throws the rock so hard, it puts holes in the side of a barn. After this display, Pa convinces Jebediah to try out for Walnut Grove's baseball team. Of course, he's a natural and helps them win the big game despite all the cheating and poor sportsmanship of those evil people from Sleepy Eye.

** In ''Film/TheBlindSide'', Michael Oher excels as a linesman only when he learns to tap his "protective instinct." After Oher's foster mother Leigh Anne Tuohy discovers his 98th percentile score on the 'protective instincts' category of an aptitude test, she understands how to extend his custodial nature to the gridiron.

* Somewhat averted by ''SuzumiyaHaruhi.'' She joins every club in the school proving herself to have incredible talent in athletics along with just about everything else. However, she refuses to stay in any of those clubs because they don't hold her interest.

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** And Monta, who first caught Sena's attention by catching an errant football.
*** Partialy subeverted in that case, Monta did train a lot to get those catching reflexes.

* ''DigimonXrosWars'' has Taiki who has join many clubs in general, and in each of them he seem able to pull them off like a pro.