History Main / AccidentalAthlete

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Robinson Betty Robinson]]'s sprinting ability was discovered by a schoolteacher when she ran to catch a train.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Bender accidentally takes down the legendary wrestling robot The Masked Unit. He is subsequently recruited into robot wrestling.

* In ''Literature/Choosing Up Sides'', Luke wanders into the outfield of a baseball game, where he picks up a ball and hurls it about three hundred feet to home plate. Having been raised by a fundamentalist preacher who forbids sports, he's uncomfortable with the attention from everyone who wants him to pitch for the local team.

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* Sena in ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' is picked up as a runningback for the Deimon Devil Bats after Hiruma sees his running and dodging skills as Sena runs from [[JapaneseDelinquents the Ha-Ha Brothers]].

** Also Karin, who apparently developed a gentle, yet powerful throwing technique just by practicing piano and drawing manga.

* Averted in ''Anime/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' where Fujiyoshi is asked to join a baseball team after hitting a home run, but says she's only there to do research for a manga.
** The school athletic clubs are also trying to drag her to join, because despite the OpaqueNerdGlasses, Harumi is a very competent athlete. She just has [[{{Doujinshi}} better]] [[YaoiFangirl things]] [[CovertPervert to do]].
* In one {{Filler}} episode of ''Anime/TokyoMewMew'', Ichigo's secondary abilities from being a {{Catgirl}}, such as jumping high and landing on her feet, get her dragged onto the gymnastics team. {{Fanservice}} ensues when the recruiter forces her into a leotard.
* In ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'', Mugen is drafted into playing baseball against the {{Eagleland}} navy team after the Japanese organizer sees how fast he can run from the restaurant he failed to pay at, in addition to the fact that he can throw a baseball hard enough to knock down a wooden tower about a mile away.

* In the ''Manga/MyHeavenlyHockeyClub'' manga (which is a slightly more sadistic and straight-forward version of ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub''), Hana is recruited because she was struck by a car and survived... and is more or less invincible in her sleep.
* This is how Kasuka Heiwajima got his start as a TeenIdol in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' -- Originally, the talent scout was interested in recruiting his ([[HairTriggerTemper ludicrously volatile]] and [[SuperStrength super strong]]) brother, Shizuo. Kasuka saved the poor guy from the resulting beatdown and was scouted in Shizuo's place.
* ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' has Taiki, who has joined many clubs in general, and in each of them he's able to pull them off like a pro.

* Played for laughs in ''Manga/KatteniKaizo''. Chitan is actually a god of soccer, and had he pursued this talent he could have rocked the planet, but he's only interest in trains, and his potential is wasted.
* Eiichiro in ''Manga/BabySteps''. He very suddenly finds himself practicing tennis driven by a pushy mother, his own obsessive nature, and a crush on Natsu. Unique example in that he didn't have any apparent talents that made him fit for the sport, his own unique talents (his capacity for observation and his visual reaction speed) are discovered later on.
* When Bashin runs down a track one episode of ''Anime/BattleSpiritsShonenToppaBashin'' to try and catch a runaway Aibou, beating all his school’s runners, all the sports teams try to recruit him. Of course, he has no interest in joining any team.
* In ''Manga/HarlemBeat'', Sakurai lined in a wrong queue, entered a streetball game and boom, he was hooked.

* Happens a lot in the ''Manga/InazumaEleven'' series. For example, surfer Tsunami shows that he has potential in soccer when the team accidentally kick a ball at him while he's surfing. He manages to defend himself, with powerful kick.
* Hayato Kazami from ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula''. The 14-year old is in a favor for a motorbike, but when he's forced to driving a car in professional-level races, he performs surprisingly, if desperately well despite having no experience at all.

* Happens on a regular basis to Candace on ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' showing a remarkable athletic prowess of the girl.

* In ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', Ron Stoppable cheats his way into the quarterback position on the school football team, only to discover his 'mad running away skills' make him a natural running back after his deception is exposed.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** In the 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.
** In another episode, Bart is assigned a ballet class and then discovers he is a natural dancer while trying to remove his leotard.
** Lisa discovers a natural talent for gymnastics because of her big head.
** In the most implausible example yet, Homer is discovered to have the toughness necessary to succeed as a professional boxer when he blithely takes a beating from three other fathers who are angry that Bart ratted on their boys.
** Homer also makes for a great opera singer while he's horizontal. Also a great painter. Both on the same episode.
** Lisa discovers in one episode she has a natural talent for ballet when she gets angry at the instructor, who notices her never-before-mentioned "lecturing stance".
* ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'' has Sam Dullard becoming a goalie this way as well. He and Reggie are having a casual conversation while Otto and the gang play street hockey. A wayward slapshot speeds in Sam's direction, and Otto, horrified at what will be an inevitably ugly collision, shouts "LOOK OUT, SAM!" Sam lifts his left hand and coolly deflects the puck WITHOUT EVER TAKING HIS EYES OFF REGGIE. Needless to say, the opportunistic Otto recruits Sam to play goalie for their team, which just happened to be a position they needed filled.
* As did Mikey in ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}''.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie An Extremely Goofy Movie]]'', the antagonists place Goofy on their skateboard team after they notice his expert ability to compensate for his own clumsiness, placing him against his own son Max in a skateboarding championship. Naturally, Max isn't concerned as he notes himself that his dad is the most athletically challenged person in the universe before Goofy quickly proceeds to be ''really really'' good (though he had a bit of help) and to the stunned amazement of pretty much everyone there instantly becomes a school hero.
** Max's comment is extra funny when one remembers that most of [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Goofy's solo cartoons]] from back in the day revolved around Goofy's ineptitude at sports.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' while fooling around he accidentally kicks a football over the fieldgoal along with his shoe and is recruited for a position in the school football team. Unfortunately, he ''[[BeginnersLuck can't do the kick a second time]]'', but turned out to be really good at football strategy.
* Happens on a regular basis to Candace on ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle Wossamotta U'' story arc, football scouts saw Bullwinkle's throwing ability and give them both college football scholarships to help winning the games.

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' episode "Sports a Poppin", has Dexter's dad trying to teach Dexter to be more athletic. While Dexter fails at traditional sports he demonstrates great athleticism at the end of the episode when fighting a giant monster outside his Dad's field of view.

* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'''s Shaggy twice: In "The Spirited Spooked Sports Show" (1973 episode) and "Spooky Games" (2012 special), he becomes an athletic runner who runs fastest when he's scared.

* In ''WesternAnimation/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.
** In another episode, Bart discovers he is a natural ballet dancer while trying to remove his leotard.
** Lisa also discovers a natural talent for gymnastics because of her big head.
** And then, in the most implausible example yet, Homer is discovered to have the toughness necessary to succeed as a professional boxer when he blithely takes a beating from three other fathers who are angry that Bart ratted on their boys. Hell, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' seems to fall back on this trope often.

* In 2008 The Greece (NY) Athena HighSchool basketball team realized that Jason [=McElwain=], their autistic long-time team manager, was about to graduate. So they decided to say 'thank you' at the last home game by letting him play after they were safely ahead during the fourth quarter. He promptly scored 20 points, and they were left wishing they'd put him in a lot earlier.
** That means the opposing team would have actually tried to defend him instead of simply letting him shoot uncontested.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Futurama'', Bender accidentally takes down the legendary wrestling robot The Masked Unit. He is subsequently recruited into robot wrestling.

* Clark Kent in one early ''{{Series/Smallville}}'' episode.

* In ''Series/EverybodyHatesChris'', the titular character is recruited by the basketball coach who sees Chris shooting a wad of a paper into a trash can. Alongside the fact that Chris [[NationalStereotype must be able to play basketball]], he has Chris join the team. Subverted when Chris fails horribly at the sport.

* In the {{Classic Disney Short|s}} ''Casey Bats Again'' (a sequel to ''Literature/CaseyAtTheBat''), Casey discovers his daughters form a natural girls' baseball team as they practice their skills while doing the dishes.

* Jim Thorpe, winner of several Olympic Gold medals, got a spot on his school's track team when he [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome beat the high jumpers while wearing street clothes]].
* In 2008 The Greece (NY) Athena HighSchool basketball team realized that Jason [=McElwain=], their autistic long-time team manager, was about to graduate. So they decided to say 'thank you' at the last home game by letting him play after they were safely ahead during the fourth quarter. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome He promptly scored 20 points]], and they were left wishing they'd put him in a lot earlier.

* In the {{ClassicDisneyShort|s}} ''Casey Bats Again'' (a sequel to ''Literature/CaseyAtTheBat''), Casey discovers his daughters form a natural girls' baseball team as they practice their skills while doing the dishes.

* In the ''Manga/MyHeavenlyHockeyClub'' manga (which is a slightly more sadistic and straight-forward version of ''OuranHighSchoolHostClub''), Hana is recruited because she was struck by a car and survived... and is more or less invincible in her sleep.

* In ''Manga/HarlemBeat'', Sakurai lined in a wrong queue, entered a streetball game and boom, he was hooked.

* In "The Greatest Pitcher in the World!" in ''Superman'' #77, an amnesiac {{Superman}}, who is living as a hobo, is recruited as a baseball pitcher after he returns a fly ball and almost breaks the catcher's hand.

* One ''ArchieComics'' story has Archie and Betty walking by the football field while the team is practicing. Archie says that if they were [[DiscussedTrope in an old movie]], a stray ball would fly in his direction and he'd kick it it fifty yards, thus earning him an instant spot on the team. To Archie's chagrin, when a stray football does make it their way, it's ''Betty'' who kicks it straight between the uprights. It seems that "they don't make old movies the way they used to."

* One ''{{Peanuts}}'' strip has Charlie Brown recounting his fantasy of catching a wild foul ball while watching a baseball game, prompting the manager to declare, "Sign that kid up!" Linus responds that many millions of other kids have had the exact same daydream.

* "Waikiki Hockey", a ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch parodying ElvisPresley movies, featured a busboy who became the starting center for the Waikiki Kings after being spotted clearing the table with a hockey stick-shaped piece of driftwood. It helped that the busboy was played by that Saturday's host, hockey great [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Gretzky Wayne Gretzky.]]

* An episode of ''Series/LiveTheSecretWorldOfAlexMack'' has one of these, where Alex is sprinting down the hallway of her school attempting to avoid being late to class and getting in trouble. She is still late for class, but instead of getting chastised she is instead recruited for the track team.

* Josh from ''DrakeAndJosh'' is forced to join the high school football team after his brownies, poisoned by his [[ThePrankster prankster]] sister, gets one of the players sick.

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

* In ''[[AGoofyMovie An Extremely Goofy Movie]]'', the antagonists place Goofy on their skateboard team after they notice his expert ability to compensate for his own clumsiness, placing him against his own son Max in a skateboarding championship. Naturally, Max isn't concerned as he notes himself that his dad is the most athletically challenged person in the universe before Goofy quickly proceeds to be ''really really'' good (though he had a bit of help) and to the stunned amazement of pretty much everyone there instantly becomes a school hero.
** Max's comment is extra funny when one remembers that most of [[ClassicDisneyShorts Goofy's solo cartoons]] from back in the day revolved around Goofy's ineptitude at sports.

* ''HajimeNoIppo'' - 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.

* In the ''MyHeavenlyHockeyClub'' manga (which is a slightly more sadistic and straight-forward version of ''OuranHighSchoolHostClub''), Hana is recruited because she was struck by a car and survived... and is more or less invincible in her sleep.

* 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.

* Happens a lot in the ''InazumaEleven'' series. For example, surfer Tsunami shows that he has potential in soccer when the team accidentally kick a ball at him while he's surfing. He manages to defend himself, with powerful kick.

* In an episode of ''{{Doug}}'' while fooling around he accidentally kicks a football over the fieldgoal along with his shoe and is recruited for a position in the school football team. Unfortunately, he ''[[BeginnersLuck can't do the kick a second time]]'', but turned out to be really good at football strategy.

* Somewhat averted by ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya.'' 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.

* In an episode of ''{{Doug}}'' while fooling around he accidentally kicks a football over the fieldgoal along with his shoe and is recruited for a position in the school football team. Unfortunately, he ''can't do the kick a second time''.
** Although he turned out to be really good at football strategy.

* Hayato Kazami from FutureGPXCyberFormula: The 14-year old is in a favor toward a motorbike, but when he's forced to driving a car in professional-level races, he perform surprisingly, if desperately well despite having no experience at all.

* Also occurs in (at least) two Adam Sandler movies:

** In ''Film/TheWaterboy'', the title character is discovered to have unique tackling abilities.
*** Specifically in the latter, he is a college waterboy who gains incredible adrenaline-based tackling powers when anyone insults his beloved H20 or his beloved momma.

* In 2008 The Greece (NY) Athena HighSchool basketball team realized that Jason [=McElwain=], their autistic long-time team manager, was about to graduate. So they decided to say 'thank you' at the last home game by letting him play after they were safely ahead during the fourth quarter. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome He promptly scored 20 points]], and I bet they were left wishing they'd put him in a lot earlier... like during his freshman year, perhaps.

* Sena in ''{{Eyeshield 21}}'' is picked up as a runningback for the Deimon Devil Bats after Hiruma sees his running and dodging skills as Sena runs from [[JapaneseDelinquents the Ha-Ha Brothers]].

* Averted in ''SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' where Fujiyoshi is asked to join a baseball team after hitting a home run, but says she's only there to do research for a manga.

* In one {{Filler}} episode of ''TokyoMewMew'', Ichigo's secondary abilities from being a {{Catgirl}}, such as jumping high and landing on her feet, get her dragged onto the gymnastics team. {{Fanservice}} ensues when the recruiter forces her into a leotard.

* In ''SwordOfTruth'', Richard gets conscripted into a [[BloodSport Ja'La]] team after he slaughters his way through a considerable number of soldiers in an almost-successful attempt to free himself.

* In ''Choosing Up Sides'', Luke wanders into the outfield of a baseball game, where he picks up a ball and hurls it about three hundred feet to home plate. Having been raised by a fundamentalist preacher who forbids sports, he's uncomfortable with the attention from everyone who wants him to pitch for the local team.
* In ''InfiniteJest'', the older brother in the family starts out playing tennis, and is really good at it, but in college, he tries out for the football team, only to find that he isn't big enough. As he is leaving the try-out, he punts a football, and the coach realizes he is a really good kicker.

* "Waikiki Hockey", a ''SaturdayNightLive'' sketch parodying ElvisPresley movies, featured a busboy who became the starting center for the Waikiki Kings after being spotted clearing the table with a hockey stick-shaped piece of driftwood. It helped that the busboy was played by that Saturday's host, hockey great [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Gretzky Wayne Gretzky.]]
* Clark Kent in one early ''{{Smallville}}'' episode.
* An episode of ''TheSecretWorldOfAlexMack'' has one of these, where Alex is sprinting down the hallway of her school attempting to avoid being late to class and getting in trouble. She is still late for class, but instead of getting chastised she is instead recruited for the track team.

* In ''EverybodyHatesChris'', the titular character is recruited by the basketball coach who sees Chris shooting a wad of a paper into a trash can. Alongside the fact that Chris [[NationalStereotype must be able to play basketball]], he has Chris join the team. Subverted when Chris fails horribly at the sport.

* Frankie in the ''WesternAnimation/MonsterHigh'' webtoon "Fear Squad".

* In ''SamuraiChamploo'', Mugen is drafted into playing baseball against the {{Eagleland}} navy team after the Japanese organizer sees how fast he can run from the restaurant he failed to pay at, in addition to the fact that he can throw a baseball hard enough to knock down a wooden tower about a mile away.

* In ''OneOuts'', Kojima discovers Tokuchi largely by chance.

* In the first two movies of ''Film/TheMightyDucks'' series, a special-shot hockey player is found and recruited:
** In ''The Mighty Ducks'', Fulton Reed (who did not play hockey before at all) 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. He has to be taught how to ice skate, and while his power is good from the get-go, his aim needs work[[note]]His on-net rate at first is only about 20%, with the other 80% being ''very'' scattershot--so in his first game, his use is a BaitAndSwitch where he winds up as if he's going to shoot, then passes it to another player while the goalie is bracing for impact. A bit of advice from Gordon later on helps him get the aim right[[/note]].
** In the 2nd movie, Russ Tyler was not an "accidental athlete". He was already a competent roller hockey player.

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

** In ''The Mighty Ducks'', Fulton Reed (who did not play hockey before at all) 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. He has to be taught how to ice skate.

* In the Disney movie ''Film/TheWorldsGreatestAthlete'', Nanu is a MightyWhitey NatureHero who grew up in the wild's of Africa, which was the perfect setting for training. He doesn't consider athletics until a college coach Sam Archer discovers him.