Kids' sports practices and games...what time do they start?

[MaryAnnDVC]

Inspired by another thread (I forgot which one! ).

A few years ago, when DD played premier soccer (10th grade), she had an indoor season where their Saturday night games began between 8 PM and 11 PM, except that we somehow ended up with A LOT of the 11 PM time slots. And then it was at least a 1/2 hour drive home.

This year DS (HS Jr) will be playing in an indoor league and we've been told the games will be on a Sunday night, beginning between those same hours. Ugh. DS can probably hold up better than me. I hope they distribute the times better than they did with DD. Practices end at 10 during the week, and it's not too bad for us because we're one of the closest players to the facility. But kids come from all over the state...not that it's a very big state. Still, it takes 45 minutes to an hour for some kids to get home. And they'll be doing that after those 11 PM games.

Not ideal, but I think it's a good lesson in time management. NOTHING (ie, homework) should be left for when they get home.

 

[debster812]

Howdy from another soccer family working the indoor season!

DS is playing on 2 teams right now. He's only 12, and is still allowed to double roster. His town team has games on Sunday nights between 5pm and 8pm. Fortunately the indoor place is only about 20 minutes from our house.

His club team has 2 practices a week. Wednesday nights from 5-6:30 about a half an hour from us, which is not horrible, however we have to rush back to town to get him to CCD at 7:15. And starting up after the 1st of the year after his coach gets back from Scotland, they'll be practicing at 7am at an indoor facility which is a good 45 minutes away from us. That's going to be the killer.

The early morning Saturdays are going to be tough, but I do like that we only have one night during the week that we're running around.

 

[ICF]

I can't believe they have games at 10 or 11pm at night. That would be crazy for adults, but can't believe they would do that for kids on ANY night, but especially not on a school night.

My kids aren't that old, and we've had sports at 8am on weekends before, but I don't know of anything around here that goes that late at night. Even adult mens bball leagues I've played in have generally started by 9pm.

 

[samshane]

My son is in an indoor soccer league and games are between 1 and 5 on Saturdays - it is a 6/7 league. As for practices - they were being held at 5pm on Sunday but the coach decided to call them off until after the first of the year (I loves this coach - LOL!)

 

[SaraJayne]

Inspired by another thread (I forgot which one! ).

A few years ago, when DD played premier soccer (10th grade), she had an indoor season where their Saturday night games began between 8 PM and 11 PM, except that we somehow ended up with A LOT of the 11 PM time slots. And then it was at least a 1/2 hour drive home.

This year DS (HS Jr) will be playing in an indoor league and we've been told the games will be on a Sunday night, beginning between those same hours. Ugh. DS can probably hold up better than me. I hope they distribute the times better than they did with DD. Practices end at 10 during the week, and it's not too bad for us because we're one of the closest players to the facility. But kids come from all over the state...not that it's a very big state. Still, it takes 45 minutes to an hour for some kids to get home. And they'll be doing that after those 11 PM games.

Not ideal, but I think it's a good lesson in time management. NOTHING (ie, homework) should be left for when they get home.

Those times are ridiculous. Luckily my kids have normal practice/game times.

I wouldn't allow my children to play in a league that had those times.

 

[jrmasm]

Luckily my DD has never had games that late. Yet.....that would kill her. But we've done the O'dark thirty drive for early games and practices. Hopefully that's as bad as it gets for her.

 

[jrmasm]

Those times are ridiculous. Luckily my kids have normal practice/game times.

I wouldn't allow my children to play in a league that had those times.

I can't speak for everyone but I've only seen really late games for high school aged kids and older leagues. With most hs aged kids, they've made a commitment to their sport and you/they are along for the ride at that point. The kids are told to show up and they do.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

We had an indoor season a few years ago with 7 AM games. DH did those.

Our practices were called off for this week too. How GOOD of them!

I've learned over the many years of recreational, school, competitive and premier soccer with 3 kids to kind of go with the flow. These late times have not been our worst problems. This year we have an incredible coach...the best we've ever had. This is the 5th year with this team, and we've got a huge commitment to it and the players and I've spent more time with some of these parents than with my own family (sibs) and that's a good thing. In an 8 week season (?), hopefully there won't be many 11 PM games. And if something REALLY big is happening at school on Monday, there are extra kids on the roster, as well as guest players, which would allow DS to miss that game. Fingers crossed...this is looking to be an exciting year, and I'm hoping things fall into place as painlessly as possible.

 

[Katie]

My son played in a Spring Baskteball league. Most of his games started at 900pm. We were done around 1000pm and had an hour drive home. But because of this late time, the boys were also able to particpate in baseball thru the high school and track. So, I think it was planned that way.

Now today however, my DS has bb practice at 600am. and then had a whole day of high school finals. I thought that was a bit silly, since their next game is not until Jan. The team is practicing every day over Xmas break except Christmas. (yes, Christmas eve, nye eve and NY day)

 

[SaraJayne]

I can't speak for everyone but I've only seen really late games for high school aged kids and older leagues. With most hs aged kids, they've made a commitment to their sport and you/they are along for the ride at that point. The kids are told to show up and they do.

Since I'd be driving (if they weren't able to yet), I wouldn't be along for the ride, so I'd get to decide whether that was acceptable for my family or not before they signed up.

Luckily, the only programs we have here that aren't run through the school either only run during the summer (soccer, baseball) or have more practical times for practice. So it isn't an issue for our family.

 

[mtemm]

my kids will never be athletically talented enough that I will have to worry about those times. they are young now, so their games/practices are early, but I cannot even imagine 11pm timeslots unless they were gifted enough for it to be their career or a really good scholarship. eek!

 

[jen0610]

For DS14:

Baseball - weekdays 5:30 to 7:30 and weekends any where from 8:00 am to 1:00pm start lasting from 2 to 3 hours. This was from the time he was 8 until he was 12.

Basketball - 1 night a week for one hour. 10 years old started at 6:00, by the time he was 14, they started at 8:00.

Football - 1 night a week for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Started at 6:00.

DD12:

Dance - when she started at 3, she was early class 4:00 for half hour. She is now up to two nights a week, with one day starting at 4:45 and last class over at 7:45. 2nd night, she goes 7 to 8. Also with production class, that is 1 Saturday a month, with the 1st 2 classes going 3 hours long, then reducing to 1.5 hours after that.

Basketball and softball - they followed the same as DS's schedule.

 

[Anne34]

We had an indoor season a few years ago with 7 AM games. DH did those.

Our practices were called off for this week too. How GOOD of them!

I've learned over the many years of recreational, school, competitive and premier soccer with 3 kids to kind of go with the flow. These late times have not been our worst problems. This year we have an incredible coach...the best we've ever had. This is the 5th year with this team, and we've got a huge commitment to it and the players and I've spent more time with some of these parents than with my own family (sibs) and that's a good thing. In an 8 week season (?), hopefully there won't be many 11 PM games. And if something REALLY big is happening at school on Monday, there are extra kids on the roster, as well as guest players, which would allow DS to miss that game. Fingers crossed...this is looking to be an exciting year, and I'm hoping things fall into place as painlessly as possible.

My son's indoor games last year were between 5:30am - 8am. That was for the U13 Boys group. I had my dh do the really early games - I do not function well at that time of day!!

I have also seen the late games for the older kids, but they are usually done by 11pm.


My DD12 is in a volleyball league and they play at 8:30 or 9 pm during the week. Not bad on a Friday, but on Monday is sucks. She doesn't get home until 9:45pm and still has to shower and get ready for bed. yuck!

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

my kids will never be athletically talented enough that I will have to worry about those times. they are young now, so their games/practices are early, but I cannot even imagine 11pm timeslots unless they were gifted enough for it to be their career or a really good scholarship. eek!

A lot of these kids want to play in college...mine doesn't (he doesn't want it to interfere with getting good grades...bummer! ). (At which point I will be having an identity crises, since I have been doing this for many years and he's my youngest.) Our coach is very honest...none of these kids are Division 1 College quality. Although one of our HS players got onto a local Div 1 soccer team, although I'm not sure why...just sayin'. (He didn't do much for the HS team. )

Soccer scholarships are few and far between except for phenomenal players. I noticed on my DD's college's boys roster that there are quite a few players from other countries.

 

[jrmasm]

my kids will never be athletically talented enough that I will have to worry about those times. they are young now, so their games/practices are early, but I cannot even imagine 11pm timeslots unless they were gifted enough for it to be their career or a really good scholarship. eek!

Don't theater/dance rehersals go that late?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I can't believe they have games at 10 or 11pm at night. That would be crazy for adults, but can't believe they would do that for kids on ANY night, but especially not on a school night.

My kids aren't that old, and we've had sports at 8am on weekends before, but I don't know of anything around here that goes that late at night. Even adult mens bball leagues I've played in have generally started by 9pm.

I was at a Christmas party Sat night and there were some people we knew with JR and a SR boys. The JR's game that evening at 10:30 and I think the SR's game was 11:30!!!

They are big into soccer and they say that is the way it is.

 

[Sleepy]

My son's dance classes can start as early as 2:30pm and end as late as 8pm.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Don't theater/dance rehersals go that late?

The OP stated that games "start" between 8pm and 11pm", meaning they can start as early as 8pm or start as late as 11pm and then playing beyond that. At least that is how I read it and OP can clarify if I am mistaken.

Outside of film production--to answer your question...in the way you didn't ask, I can't think of a single dance or theater company that would "start" at 11pm. That would be insane. They can run that late, but not on a regular basis. That is usually reserved more leading up to a performance towards the end.

In my experience--except for Tech week, rehearsals rarely went past 10pm. During a tech week, they might as the show is getting tightened up for a theater production. And even then I have known directors to dismiss minors by about 9pm or so.

There just is no reason to have a game that late. If a child wanted to work that late in a paid job, they would be limited by law and prohibited in many circumstances.

*****

Our schedule--when we did soccer, it was an outdoor league, so the practice always wrapped by the time the sun set as that was the hours of the county-operated field. For those that I know in comp soccer--games are held at all daytime hours throughout the weekend and practices--I don't know a single family who practices much beyond 8pm if they are practicing after sunset that is.

Dance classes--begin anywhere between 4pm and 7pm. The latter start times are for the much older dancers. Classes are always wrapped by about 9pm.

Dance recital dress rehearsal--is usually about 6pm and wraps NLT 8pm. Recitals held in the evening begin at 7:30pm (I think) and are 1 night a year. They run about 2 hours. The owner tries to schedule the little itty bitties early in the performance if possible.

Dance competitions (different studio)--start times for practice are between 4pm and 7pm. The much older dancers have the later slots and will wrap by 9pm. We haven't done a competition, yet and I do not know how those work. I have been told that the younger age groups are usually in the morning time slots. We will have to wake up early as we have to get them fully dressed (hair, makeup, costume) before leaving for most of our competitions. Dress Rehearsal is scheduled for 8pm the night before. I think that is whack-a-doodle and I Do have hubby flying home (works out of state) to help me with that as it is a 45 minute drive to the rehearsal location, then we come back home and go to Kissimmee the following morning--about 1:15 away. (The rehearsal is not in their regular studio but in a high school in another part of our area.)

Gymnastics--class start times are between 3pm and 7pm. My girls had a 6:30-7:30pm class this semester. I am switching them to a 5:30pm class next semester. The gymnastics team--not sure when they start...but I do know that the gym closes at 8pm sharp. They are always in full swing by the time we arrive for class.

Theater--for community theater, rehearsal times always commenced by 7pm and would wrap by 10pm. If it was a kid-focused show, the younger children would be wrapped by 9pm while the pre-teens teens could make it to 10pm. My children have done a couple of shows with me. Their participation would conclude at 9pm and then they'd relax while the adults finished their rehearsal.

 

[golfgal]

I can't speak for everyone but I've only seen really late games for high school aged kids and older leagues. With most hs aged kids, they've made a commitment to their sport and you/they are along for the ride at that point. The kids are told to show up and they do.

You must not be in a state where hockey is popular. The OP's soccer times are the same around here-games starting after 10:00PM, etc. What gets me is the ice time for hockey--some friends' son had 10:00PM START time for hockey when he was in KINDERGARTEN. If they didn't have a late practice they had early practice starting at 5:00AM--they tried not to have a back to back late/early practice though. It is not uncommon to have little kids on the ice that early or starting that late for hockey.

We haven't had to deal with too many really late practices--10:00 being the latest that they FINISHED practice and even then those were few and far between. Marching band competitions end later than that but again, there are only a handful of those each year and they are all on Saturday nights.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

The OP stated that games "start" between 8pm and 11pm", meaning they can start as early as 8pm or start as late as 11pm and then playing beyond that. At least that is how I read it and OP can clarify if I am mistaken.

Yes, start. Although, I just realized that this is all hearsay...I couldn't attend the Parents' Meeting last month, and the recap that was promised by the team manager the next day never went out as far as I can tell since no one in the family got one, so I'm going on what was told to me by someone who did attend. Trying to confirm it now.

As long as it's not a regular thing, I don't have a HUGE problem with an 11 PM Sunday game. If it were every week, forget it. Or if we got more 11 PM games than other teams (which is what happened with my DD on Saturday nights a few years ago). And like I said, there's a full roster and guest players available, so if something really important came up for school the following day, DS could miss a game. Otherwise, he can stay up late one or two Sunday nights...he's done it before.

I'm guessing it's possible they may not even get a full schedule of teams, and NEVER have an 11 PM game.