History Main / AccidentalAthlete

* ''Bollywood/{{Lagaan}}'': Who knew farming could prepare some people to play cricket?

* ''{{Series/Smallville}}'': In "Hothead", a bullying football team member throws a football at Chloe's head. Clark Kent [[CatchAndReturn catches it and throws it back]] hard enough to floor the bully. The coach lets Clark on the team after this.

* In ''VisualNovel/PhantomOfInferno'' (game only), Drei is discovered to have natural assassin abilities. Right after the hero pretends she does, no less.

* In "The Greatest Pitcher in the World!" in ''Superman'' #77, an amnesiac Franchise/{{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 ''ComicBook/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."

* Played with in ''Film/TheMilkyWay''. After mild-mannered milkman Burleigh Grimes knocks out middleweight champion of the world Speed [=McFarland=] on a public sidewalk, people start getting interested in Burleigh as a boxer. In fact Burleigh has no boxing talent--it was Speed's BumblingSidekick bodyguard who accidentally landed the knockout punch--but Speed's sneaky, unethical manager hits on a ThrowingTheFight scheme in which Burleigh will be built up as a contender so Speed can get an easy knockout.
* In the 2007 ''Film/StTrinians'' movie, Annabelle Fritton is recruited for the hockey team after she smashes a bust with a mobile phone she belted with a hockey stick.
* Film/ForrestGump becomes a star running back while being chased through a high school football practice field by bullies. It helps that he's seen running by Paul "Bear" Bryant (who is there presumably on a scouting trip), universally considered to be one of the greatest American football coaches of all time. Then again with Ping Pong. "Keep your eye on the ball" indeed. Then yet ''again'' starts off the national jogging craze while WalkingTheEarth after tragedy hits his life.
* Also occurs in (at least) two Creator/AdamSandler movies:
** In ''Film/HappyGilmore'', Happy's ice hockey skills unexpectedly transfer to playing golf, and
** In ''Film/TheWaterboy'', the title character is discovered to have unique tackling abilities when his BerserkButton is pushed.

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

* The end of ''Film/JerryMaguire'' doesn't make this into a plot point, just into one last joke, when the kid turns out to have a wicked throwing arm when throwing a baseball back to a team that let it get away from them, and Jerry (a sports agent, if you haven't seen the movie) starts musing about training him up...
* A similar scene happens with a woman in ''Film/ALeagueOfTheirOwn'', a movie about women's baseball during World War 2, only the girl is black and the team is all white, making an implied statement about who could play pro baseball and who couldn't.

* ''Film/ClassAct'': [[BlackAndNerdy Duncan Pinderhughes]] ends up discovering that he has an uncanny ability to kick field goals, and joins the school's football team.
* Subverted in ''Film/SuddenDeath''. 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.
* ''The Garbage Picking, Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon'' is a movie about a garbageman who is spotted punting water jugs at the garbage dump and is quickly signed to the Philadelphia Eagles as a kicker.
* In ''Film/TheGreatGildersleeve'', 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.
* Happens to Sach in a few Bowery Boys movies, usually thanks to some AppliedPhlebotinum.
* In ''Film/{{Goon}}'', working as a bouncer, and being naturally tough, have made Doug the perfect hockey enforcer.
* ''Bollywood/{{Lagaan}}'': Who knew farming could prepare some people to play cricket?
* In ''Film/MrHulotsHoliday'', Hulot manages to beat everyone at tennis by copying the odd swinging motion of the salesperson who sold him his racket. This results in several bruised egos.
* In ''Frankenstein: The College Years'', the recently revived Frank is wandering near the football field when the ball lands near him. The throw he makes while trying to return it is so awesome that the football coach immediately recruits him.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' Harry is picked as seeker for the Quidditch team after making a fifty-foot dive and a one-handed catch of Neville's Remembrall during his first time on a broomstick.

* In ''Literature/ChoosingUpSides'', 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 ''Literature/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.
* Literature/JessicaDarling gets recruited to the track team after it turns out that she can [[ItMakesSenseInContext run surprisingly fast in a fifty-pound seagull costume when there's a lovesick goose chasing her.]] For that matter, her [[{{Mascot}} being in that costume]] was a variation on this trope too - she was ''trying'' to become a [[TheCheerleader cheerleader]], but [[EpicFail only succeeded]] in impressing the coach with her ability to [[SlapstickKnowsNoGender look absolutely hilarious when falling on her face.]]

* "Waikiki Hockey", a ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch parodying Music/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.]]
* ''{{Series/Smallville}}'': In "Hothead", a bullying football team member throws a football at Chloe's head. Clark Kent [[CatchAndReturn catches it and throws it back]] hard enough to floor the bully. The coach lets Clark on the team after this.
* An episode of ''Series/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 ''Series/{{Glee}}'', Kurt's dance skills unexpectedly earn him a spot as kicker on the school football team.
* In ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'', 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.

* Josh from ''Series/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.

* ''Series/ModernFamily'': In "A Fair to Remember'', Cam recruits Manny for his football team after he spots Manny charging his way through a crowd, shouldering people out of the way, in order to get to a cake-baking contest before it closes.

* ''Series/DeadGorgeous'': Twice Sophie discovers that she is naturally gifted at sports, only to the discover that she has been subconsciously using her ghost powers to triumph. It happens with basketball in "Sisters of the Mind", and running in "A Friend Indeed".

* ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' has Taiki, who has joined many clubs in general because he can't bear the thought of turning someone down, and excels at all of them. He's simultaneously TheAce of the soccer, basketball, and volleyball clubs.

* 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.
** Which was some HollywoodHistory on the film makers part, as Oher was a football player since at least Jr. High.

Someone (usually a child or teenager) is discovered to have a natural athletic ability while doing something else. They usually assume they are in trouble when they are spotted and called out for it. Common examples include showing off how quickly they can run away (in a high school setting, expect it to be the class nerd becoming a good sprinter by being forced to outrun the school bullies.) They'll quickly be recruited to [[SaveOurTeam save the local team]] from failure.

* Film/ForrestGump becomes a star running back while being chased through a high school football practice field by bullies. It helps that he's seen running by Paul "Bear" Bryant (who is there presumably on a scouting trip), universally considered to be one of the greatest American football coaches of all time. Then gain with Ping Pong. "Keep your eye on the ball" indeed. Then yet ''again'' starts off the national jogging craze while WalkingTheEarth after tragedy hits his life.

* [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Rincewind]] may be an utter failure as a wizard, but he has become a champion sprinter from all the dangers he's had to run away from.
** Zig-zagged with Trev Likely in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'': his skill at kicking a tin can around when he's supposed to be working in the University candle vats certainly attracts the attention of their nascent football team, but he insists [[IGaveMyWord he promised his mum]] not to play, although he agrees to help train them. Then when he ''does'' join the team, it turns out skill at kicking a can ("You've got the long spin and the short spin") doesn't equate to skill at kicking a round ball. But there turns out to be a way round that as well.
** Also seen to some extent in ''Discworld/MovingPictures''. Victor Tugelbend is so lazy that he's become incredibly athletic, because it's less effort than carrying around lots of fat. He's picked out to become a movie star because of this.

* 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.

* The animated ''Series/PunkyBrewster'' episode "The Quartersize Quarterback" has Glomer giving Allen--normally a klutz--the abilities of a professional player who winds up winning a spot with the Chicago Bears. Punky and the others have to stop Allen when Glomer reveals that magic on him has a time limit.

** Similar to Percival, Kenley Jansen was a Dutch catcher in the Dodgers minor league system who came to attention when he threw out two runners in a row during the world baseball classic. At the moment, he's currently the Dodgers' ace relief pitcher on the main roster, with an ERA around 2. Lucky him!
** Likewise, because it's less strenuous on the arm than most other pitches, position players sometimes fool around with throwing the knuckleball in their spare time. Tim Wakefield was a poor-hitting minor league first baseman when he was discovered to have a talent for throwing the knuckleball and has been a moderately successful pitcher at the major league level for almost two decades.

[[InstantlyProvenWrong Price did a double take a few seconds later when the junior sat down alongisde him.]]

* One ''Franchise/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."

!!Examples

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film - Animated]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/AnExtremelyGoofyMovie'', 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.

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder:Web Original]]

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

-->''"From the elevated platform in Harvey, Illinois, Charles Price could look back up Broadway toward Thornton Township High School, where he taught biology. On that weekday afternoon in the late winter of 1928, he could see several of his students walking in small groups toward the station and one, in particular, racing in his direction. As the Illinois Central commuter train pulled in and he stepped aboard, the man thought it was unfortunate that Betty Robinson had just missed her ride home.\\
"[[InstantlyProvenWrong Price did a double take a few seconds later when the junior sat down alongisde him.]]"''

* ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' has multiple examples:

* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Buckball Season" has Appljeack and Ranbow Dash seletionate a team for an upcoming game of buckball and found that Pinkie Pie (thanks to her agility) and Fluttershy (thanks to her long mane) are better players than them. Even Snails, normally a ButtMonkey, display a natural talent at catching balls in water buckets he's carrying.

* 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]].

* ''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.

* ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'':
** Sena 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]].

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

* 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.

* Happens on a regular basis to Candace on ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' showing a remarkable athletic prowess of the girl. A good example in "Phineas' Birthday Clip-O-Rama" where she perform impressive stunts to preserve the DVD that contains all the proof she will ever need for all of P&F's projects. We even have a kid asking her for an autograph after all of that.

* ''Manga/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.

[[folder:Film]]

* 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.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'': Po, who was previously thought to be hopelessly clumsy, inadvertently demonstrates his agility when he climbs up some shelves in order to steal some cookies.

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