The character portrayals in ‘The Big Bang Theory’ seem like a ‘tall poppy syndrome’ based attempt by the creators to reassure the rest of the population that those with intellectual gifts have matching deficits in other areas, whereas in my personal experience, many individuals with superior cerebral functions also have better than average overall neuromuscular development. In a society where sports & dance prowess are highly valued, I encouraged my kids to develop their sports & dance skills and engage in these activities, which have brought a lot of social currency. It is, of course, also important to always be a considerate team player. My kids have received early entry and radical subject acceleration and are all happy, well adjusted and enjoy great social popularity.
It was certainly Miraca Gross's finding that exceptionally gifted children fared better when accelerated if they had socially acceptable interests, and especially if those interests and other strengths included success in sports.
I would postulate that it is, sadly, very common for 2E kids NOT to "have better than average overall neuromuscular development", and in fact to often have worse than average neuromusclar function, or at least to have very uneven neuromusclar function... My own children each have issues that significantly impact their competitive sport capacity, but (actually quite unexpectedly) do no limit their music or visual art ability. Sadly neither art nor music are as good a foil for their difference as being athletic would have been.
Each of them have the potential to enjoy, or even do quite well at physical activities which are not the sort of sports which are favoured by schools here. But that potential for "other" physical activities will make little difference to being mocked for their lack of ball sport skill while at school.
