How late is your child at team (sports) practice on weeknights?

[Southernmiss]

I will admit, I am impressed that my kids (and all our - collective - kiddos) are so disciplined. No, my high school days was not anything like this. But one of the things my kids don't have time for is...dating. They have social lives, but no time for anyone in particular. I sort of like that. Drill in particular is as disciplined as sports in that they can't be tardy, miss classes, conduct themselves inappropriately, cannot participate in performances/competition if their grades drop below 75...they must go to mandatory morning tutoring. The discipline required has actually improved my daughters grades tremendously. She used to be a straight B student with occassional C's, but not is all A's with occasional B's.

I agree!

 

[mdsoccermom]

My DS15 is playing indoor futsal right now. Games for his age bracket are Mondays and Tuesdays. The latest start time is 10:10pm, 45 min game plus a 30 min drive home - so home 11:30 or so. Luckily for us the latest we got assigned was 9:40. Makes me tired just thinking about it. He'll do fine...me not so much!

Futsal is awesome. My husband runs our Futsal league and is on the board of US Futsal.

As for the OP, during the winter when the kids are playing Futsal, we are done generally by 8:30pm (benefit of having husband arrange the schedule). In the Fall and spring, their practices are generally until 7:30 or 8pm.

 

[Anne34]

For indoor sports -- my DD14 plays club volleyball. Practice alternates from 6:30-8:30pm or 7:30-10pm. I don't even like being out at 10pm!! She is in bed by 11 -- we live close by, get home, shower & bed. Homework is done after school before going.

My DS16 plays indoor soccer -- his schedule is crazy right now. It can be as early as 6am or as late as 10pm....usually weekends though.

 

[DopeyDame]

Honestly, how would that work though? I mean... I don't know many high schoolers in bed by 10. I dunno how you were - I certainly never was! But wrt sports... if it's not school-based, it'll likely start after work. They all can't start at the same time so lots of games start after dinner. So... even if it's just pre-dinner practice that starts at 6, 2 hours, that's 8.... something competitive or if the kids are at a higher level is more hours of practice.

I'm not ragging on you or anything, I realize it wasn't your experience and you were just surprised, no big deal or anything but... ending in time for family time and then homework and then in bed by ten just seems way unrealistic for anything. Besides, if it's high school, they're not spending their evenings sitting around having family time anyways!

Watch out for hockey - unless you want to be at a rink at 4:30am!

Oh yeah - I've heard horror stories about hockey ;-)
I think maybe the big difference is that almost all of my activities were truly after-school activities. (I was a crappy athlete, so my only sport was softball occasionally) Theater, music, etc. were mostly after school activities so I was at school until 6 or 7, but then i was done for the night. The exception was during 'tech week' for plays, when we'd go till 9ish. My big outside-of-school activity was girl scouts and our meetings were still done by 8:30 if I remember correctly. (theater, speech and debate, girl scouts... clearly i was a big nerd! ;-) My sister was a very serious athlete, but she did crew which practiced in the mornings before school and track which practiced immediately after school (although both had brutal day-long meets every weekend. At least it was brutal for me on the rare occasion that I had to sit through them. )

 

[DopeyDame]

To DopeyDame never say never...
.

Oh I know. Now that I've posted on this thread, we all know that DS will end up being some ice hockey pheonom with practices from 11pm - 1am weeknights.

 

[scrapquitler]

Just curious. especially team sports which practice inside, such as basketball, gymnastics, etc.

DD15 has dance class 3 days a week: one day 4:15 until 6:50, one day 7 until 8:50 and the third day 5 until 9:15PM.

 

[mjkacmom]

Dd9 and dd10 dance 8 1/2 hours a week, but their latest night is 9:15. Dd9 and ds9 have a practice that ends at 9:30. Ds13 is usually done with sports by 8, although one sport has games that end at 10 (weekend though).

 

[Chelley00]

The latest any of the kids have ever had anything is DS16 indoor soccer training that ends at 9:30. Other than that we are usually done by 8:30 or so

 

[princessmom29]

I am absolutely astonished by these times! My DS is only 2, so we don't have any experience yet, but I was a very busy teen, involved in a ton of activities, and yet my parents insisted I was in bed by 10ish every night. Kids - even (especially!) teens need sleep! If you're in an activity till 10, even if you get home and go right to sleep it's still approaching midnight. Presumably school starts at 7:30 ir 8, right? And you have to get up and eat and travel to school, so there is no possible way a kid's getting 8 hours of sleep. Talk about setting them up for physical and emotional exhaustion!

A 4th grader in activities until 9pm? Not in my house...

Please note that I'm expressing shock and suprise - not judgement. I know each kid and family is different and that may very well work for some people. It just never crossed my mind that a youth-centered activity wouldn't have the good sense to end in time for kids to have some family time, do some homework, and get a good night's sleep!

We live in a different world than when we grew up, and there is no going back no matter how much we might want to. I would rather see my kid active and involved than many of the alternatives out there. I like that she is disciplined, has purpose, accountability to a team, and has to learn to prioritize her time. She loves her activities and would rather be at cheer or dance than at home "wasting time" as she puts it. She keeps her grades up (has never made less than an A) and unless her grades suffer, she can do what SHE chooses as far as activities. Rgiht now she has:

Monday:
Dance 3:45- 4:45
Cheer 5-7

Tuesday:
Tumbling class for cheer: 4-5
Private lesson for cheer :5:30-6

Wednesday:
Cheer 5-7

Thursday:
Dnace 6:45-7:45

Friday:
Dance 3:45-5:45

And she loves every minute.

 

[disney4us2002]

There are so many kids and teams that I understand but it is hard, especially for working parents. When my middle ds played 15-18yr parks & rec basketball, his practice was 8:40-9:50. I was so happy he could drive himself. On the other end I remember when the boys were little and tball practice started at 5pm - that's nearly impossible for working parents!

Indoor soccer (futsal) was not much better because they practiced Saturday mornings at 7am. WTH? Who wants to get up and out by 6:30 on a Saturday?

 

[Erin1700]

My swimmer has practice 5:30 to 7:30 Monday thru Friday and 10 to 12 on Saturday. She is 11.

 

[robinb]

My 12 year old 7th grade DD swims from 4:00 - 5:45 every weekday (M-F). We live about 30 minutes from the pool.

ETA: She also dances on M from 7-7:45 and T from 8:00 - 8:45. She started doing "homework club" after school since she is usually too tired to do her homework when she gets home.

 

[PenguinWaiters]

My DD (7) is one of those kids that really has to be in bed early. She and her brother both have lights out at 8pm (which seems to be crazy-early compared to her peers but it doesn't bother her and she gets CRANKY when she is up much later than that). Some of her friends though do just fine staying up later - I think a lot of it really depends on your kid and what works for them.

DD does dance until 5:15, skating until 6:40, piano right after school, swimming until 6:45 and Chinese until 5pm (not all at once). We are lucky that my DH is available after school to bring her to some of these. Our town seems to do a lot before 7pm - great for us but not so great as PP mentioned for others who don't have a parent home after school.

 

[abdmom]

DD13 can access all of her practices via public transit. One practice is 5-6:30 and the other is 6:30-7:30. I usually take her to both though.

DS6 has all of his after school activities (violin, chess, etc) at school 3:30-4:30.

DS16 has just one practice - cello - I drive, mostly for his cello's sake, less for his sake. Practice is 5-6.

 

[PrincessMomto2]

My 14 year old swims for two teams a club team and her high school team.

For the club team she swims M,T,W,TH,Sun 7 to 9 PM
For her High School team she goes 3 days a week (since she is on a club team she only has to go 3 days a week) from 5:45 AM (yep you read that time right) until 7:15 AM.

My 7 year old -

Cheer practice - 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm on Wednesday
She also has dance but that is on a Saturday from 10:30 to 12:30.

 

[Betzee]

DD9 has soccer on Monday from 7:00 - 8:00pm and again on Saturdays, 2:30 - 4:00 with scrimmages on Sunday mornings.

The Monday night was supposed to be 6:00 - 7:00pm for her age group, but her coach said there was too many kids in that group and her team was a bit more advanced, so they moved them to the 7:00pm - 8:00pm group with the older kids. When I mentioned that I thought 8:00pm was a bit late, with another 30 minutes drive home, and a snack and quick shower, she wasn't in bed until after 9:15pm. They looked at me like I had 3 heads...

Mine is also one that needs her sleep. Especially since we have to be at early band at 7:15am twice a week. If she doesn't get the sleep, she turns into major crankypants

The new Agility training they want her to take runs from 8:00 - 9:00pm. Needless to say, we aren't doing that this year... I'm sure they will once again think I'm nuts!

 

[robinb]

My 14 year old swims for two teams a club team and her high school team.

For the club team she swims M,T,W,TH,Sun 7 to 9 PM
For her High School team she goes 3 days a week (since she is on a club team she only has to go 3 days a week) from 5:45 AM (yep you read that time right) until 7:15 AM.

Hmmm ... I think that here in our area kids can't swim club and HS at the same time. They certainly are not allowed to compete in club meets while competing on the HS team. My DD isn't in HS yet so I don't know the exact rules.

 

[caitlinsmom]

Right now is the slow time of year so DD11 just has softball Th 6:30-7:30 and most weeks soccer right after that and then softball either F, Sat or Sun.

Come spring DD11 will likely have softball or soccer 6 days a week but usually it's over by 7:30 or 8.

DS6 doesn't really have any activities yet

 

[Luv'sTink]

What I find amazing about these times is that in Washington state, teenagers (14-17) can not work, at a job, after 10PM, but they can practice sports. They can not work more than 3 or 4 hours on a school night. http://www.lni.wa.gov/ipub/700-022-000.pdf

And a lot of the schedules posted here are for much younger children.

 

[mom23boys]

Oldest DS a senior plays HS basketball so his practice times vary latest though is 8. Games are twice a week at 7 so depending on where the game is we are home by 9:30.

Middle DS plays Middle school basketball and practices till 5:00 and then baseball once a week till 8:30 (also on Sat afternoon).

Youngest DS has basketball practice once a week till 7:30 or 9 depending on early or late practice and baseball twice a week till 8:30.