I like the neck ring metaphor.

I had a version of this when I was a kid, growing up in the country without a lot of kids around who wanted to play basketball with me, so I just played in the driveway by myself. I developed this really weird style. When I played with other kids, years later, I was brilliant at some stuff, terrible at some others. It was like basketball having evolved on another planet.

I will ponder the "mutant solutions" idea more.