Year round sports for kids??

[tikkipoo]

Let me ask this, then...at what age does the sports get serious? I don't mean in the way that the parents get serious (we all know that starts way too soon), but in the way that the kids really start to "get" it. For example, I just signed DD8 up today for her first year of softball. There are plenty of the kids that have been playing since they were 3/4 years old. Now do you think she's going to be at a great disadvantage for not playing for those first 3 years? Do kids (or maybe should kids) get the game(s)?

I personally don't think it's going to make a big difference in the long run. Some kids are athletic, some aren't. So, until they "get" the game(s) they are playing, all the extra practice, I don't think it does much. (I could be way off the mark here...kinda new at this sports thing.)

BTW: I'm not talking about the unusually gifted kids, just regular kids.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Let me ask this, then...at what age does the sports get serious? I don't mean in the way that the parents get serious (we all know that starts way too soon), but in the way that the kids really start to "get" it. For example, I just signed DD8 up today for her first year of softball. There are plenty of the kids that have been playing since they were 3/4 years old. Now do you think she's going to be at a great disadvantage for not playing for those first 3 years? Do kids (or maybe should kids) get the game(s)?

I personally don't think it's going to make a big difference in the long run. Some kids are athletic, some aren't. So, until they "get" the game(s) they are playing, all the extra practice, I don't think it does much. (I could be way off the mark here...kinda new at this sports thing.)

BTW: I'm not talking about the unusually gifted kids, just regular kids.

I really think it has a lot to do with how athletic a particular child is. My 12yo son has been playing baseball since he was barely 5yo. There were kids who started a few years later who picked up on the sprt quite easily and others who'd been playing since they were very young who just didn't get it. They played because they liked it, but they weren't as good as you would imagine for a child who'd been playing several years. At the very least it's a combination of years playing and natural ability.

CAl Ripken, Jr talks a lot about youth sports. His son is about the age of my baseball playing son and he also plays select ball in the same age catagory as my son. Even though his son likely has a lot of natural abilty in the sport, his dad has always been a firm believer that he should play a variety of sports and that a well rounded player is the best thing.

 

[ktpool]

DD8 - Gymnastics team and TaeKwonDo (wants to be a blackbelt as soon as age permits). She has doen gymnastics since the age of 3, but the TaeKwonDo has really helped her with discipline and strength.

DS6 - TaeKwonDo

Both do additional sports during league time (basketball, soccer, wrestling, tball).

I say as long as she is is getting A's in school and is comfortable, I am happy to help her explore the things she wants to try.

Kristen

 

[MELSMICE]

I really think it has a lot to do with how athletic a particular child is. My 12yo son has been playing baseball since he was barely 5yo. There were kids who started a few years later who picked up on the sport quite easily and others who'd been playing since they were very young who just didn't get it. They played because they liked it, but they weren't as good as you would imagine for a child who'd been playing several years. At the very least it's a combination of years playing and natural ability.

CAl Ripken, Jr talks a lot about youth sports. His son is about the age of my baseball playing son and he also plays select ball in the same age catagory as my son. Even though his son likely has a lot of natural abilty in the sport, his dad has always been a firm believer that he should play a variety of sports and that a well rounded player is the best thing.

I agree with everything you have said. I don't think if my DD would have had a love or ability for basketball she would have applied what she learned & worked so hard. I have many students at my dance studio - some are just natural dancers, some work hard & improve & for some it's just not the right thing for them. In a lot of cases, children are multi-talented. I have many that excel in everything they participate in.

My girls had all tried soccer, basketball, swimming, dancing & as they got older they decided what they each liked. I think once they show an interest/ability in a certain sport that it's good to put a main focus there but keep them well rounded.

 

[DWDreams]

Oh boy, this is hard to answer. I guess the best way to answer is to say it really depends on the child. If you have a child that is athletic and truly loves the sport and wants to compete, then the only way he or she will have a chance is to play year-round and go all out. Unfortunately, it's just how it is now everywhere I think.

I have an 11 y.o. daughter that plays soccer and basketball, with both being pretty much three seasons each. She also rides horses and her instructor has recently mentioned placing her in competitions. I think that one might be the straw-breaker and she'll have some decisions to make -- grades and school come first and Mom needs a life too!

In my area, town sports usually have a rec league that is one season in each sport. Then each town sport has a travel team (or teams if large town), sort of like all-star, that may compete in several seasons or year-round even. Then you have the club teams or leagues that are privately run where it's very competitive and much more specialized. IMO, it's very difficult to roster/train with club teams in more than one sport unless school comes second, which sometimes I think is the attitude of some parents I come across!

My daughter plays both rec bball and soccer and also plays on our town travel team for each. Although she is talented in both, her only real goals are to continue playing with her friends, compete because she loves that aspect, and maybe someday play for her high school. If she played only rec one season each, it'd be unlikely she'd reach even those goals without playing the travel multi-season teams. It's just how it is. And if her goals included playing at an even higher level such as college level, then even the town travel teams probably aren't enough because she'd have to compete against the kids that went the club route. There are always exceptions though, of course.

I guess my only advice is to do what feels right and only to the extent where it's still funfor your child. Their goals and aspirations will determine where that line of fun is for themselves, so just try to be aware of it and don't get caught up in the trap many other parents do -- meaning it's not about the parents' dreams, it's about the kids'.

 

[shortbun]

We're doing seasonal sports and indoor winter soccer is added to basketball for extra excersize due to less time outside. Our son is a natural athlete and does everything well but the private trainer/special team thing leads to early burn out from what I have seen.( I'm talkin' 8 yo'ds here folks, not 12!) It can also put you in the poor house, lol!!!
We've had a couple select tryout invitations but it looks like a very hectic life. Am I wrong?

 

[golfgal]

As a long time coach I have to say that year round sports, without doing anything else, is a REALLY BAD IDEA. It is too hard on their developing bodies to do the same physical activity all the time. They need variety to develop well balanced muscles. Taking a month off every 3,4,5 months and doing something else is a good idea. We are seeing so many more overuse injuries, stress fractures, tendonitis, etc. in really young kids that they will have to battle these injuries for the rest of their life. Young kids shouldn't get tendonitis or have stress fractures, ever. If they have had them, they are doing too much of the same thing.

Also, if you take an equally talented child and start one in a sport at age 5 and one in a sport at age 13, buy the time they are in high school, they will be at the same level of play, given the same amount of practice time from age 13 to age 16. Starting kids out at a young age makes them better players in the younger grades, but not necessarily in high school. The exception would be things like gymnastics and dance (ballet) where they need to maintain flexibility, although that can be worked on for an older student as well through stretching exercises.

One thing that I see happen over and over and over again is these kids that are SOOOO excited about playing what ever sport at age 6, 7, 8 and that is all they do for the next how ever many years that by the time they are in high school they are so tired of playing that they quit.

I would recommend at least two DIFFERENT sports through out the year for every child that is involved in something. If they love soccer, have them also do a season of swimming or basketball for example.

 

[American Scrapper]

My DD6 does dance all year, but not competitive yet. If and when the time comes, it will be her decision if she wants to join the Competition troupe or Dance Troupe (which goes to Disney every year ). My DS9 plays baseball year round. He plays from March - June for the regular inhouse league, July for Part-time travel & Aug - October for fall ball. Then from October - Feb we signed him up for a conditioning (learning) program which was highly recommended by some local high school players that have done it. Finally, from Jan - March he is in the batting cages (which are right across from our house) 3 or 4 times a week in the evenings after homework. He is very competitive as are most kids on the travel team. He has also played one other sport for the past couple of years. This past year was flag football and the previous year was roller hockey. He would love to do roller hockey still but it is no longer offered by us. He also wants to move to Tackle football this fall. We have never pushed him to do any of this, he is his own biggest competition.

As far as when does it get competitive, it really depends on the child (as others have also mentioned). While my son is competitive & really understands it, there are others on our inhouse league that are there for the fun of it.

 

[stm61]

mbw12,

I'm not looking to start a debate either. I'm calling them priviledged because of the costs of the programs they're involved in. The private lessons are well over $300 for a wk or two at a time. The invitational or traveling teams are well over $400 to join plus the parents are required to chaperone their kids on wkend trips plus pay for the hotel, meals, etc. They also do alot of fund raisers that require parent participation with costs passed to the parents if the sales goals aren't met. There's only a small group that can afford the money and time commitment for these programs. The other kids are left out because their parents simply can't afford the costs.

Just an example of part of the problem: last spring ds played as an 11 yr old. All the coaches kids and their friends on the team were involved in the programs. They were rarely at practice and missed 2 of every 3 games because they were either practicing or playing for the other teams. But these were the kids that never sat the bench and played the infield every inning of every game that they showed up for. At one of the last games one of the less favored players asked the head coach's son why him and his friends never even tried when they were on the field. The answer, which came from the head coach & asst. coach's kids & and their 2 best friends, was that they were all-stars, they were always going to be all-stars, they really didn't even want to play rec ball but their dad's wanted them to look good, they didn't care if they won, and they didn't have to try because they knew their dad's would make sure they played all-stars. The resulting fight was broken up by the parents of the less favored kids. The coach's first response was to deny what was said, then when confronted by 4 parents who'd heard the entire exchange, was to say it was his team and he could do whatever he wanted with it.

I'm in no way saying this is the attitude of every kid who is involved in all-stars, private lessons, or any other program. Hopefully this problem only exists in the program my kids are involved in.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My DS8 loves baseball and plays it year-round in an indoor baseball league. It is the same cost as anything else, affordable. He also does indoor and outdoor basketball and outdoor soccer. If more than one thing is happening at a time we let him make a choice of which he prefers so he's only doing one at a time (since often the games all fall in the same time slot).

DD8 does gymnatics/cheerleading year round.

 

[dismom9761]

My DS10 plays with a travel baseball team year round.The whole team also plays football and basketball because the coach believes that they should be well rounded.They just work the baseball around it.And they do take December off.

My DS8 plays one sport at a time with a little overlapping.February through July baseball-this includes All-Stars which he has made since he was four years old.Then flag football in August and September.Fall baseball in September throgh end of October.He then plays basketball in the winter.His first love is baseball but we don't think he is ready for the pressure of a year round travel team yet.

My DD7 has just started Art lessons and gymnastics.They are both year round so we will see what she wants to do.Also she does cheer for her brother's Flag Football team.She has tried numerous sports and has not liked any of them.

DD2(next month) just follows everyone else around.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

It can also put you in the poor house, lol!!!
We've had a couple select tryout invitations but it looks like a very hectic life. Am I wrong?

Select sports can be very expensive. Baseball isn't as expensive as some, especially the sprts where rink time has to be paid for, but I know we pay plenty. There are winter workouts, the regular season team costs, uniforms, tournaments, etc, etc. Last summer the team went to Cooperstown, which cost a lot if you add up the fees for the players to attend, housing and food for the family, travel costs, for us kennel costs for our dogs, etc. I try not to add these expenses up.

And yes, it can be hectic. In his case his team will be playing 3 games a week this spring--2 Sunday afternoons and a Wednesday evening game. Then add in probably 2 practices, plus a trip to the batting cages and it ends up being a lot of hours spent. That's a lot of time and money for one child.

 

[Pixiedust34]

Ds does TKD. It is 2 evenings/week, year round. The longest break they get is Christmas week.

Last summer we traveled a lot, and asked the director if ds could take off July & August. We did that, and ds returned in September.

We might do the same again this year. That break did us some good. During the summer, we do travel plus hang out at the pool nearly every day. Two months off is a good time for ds to get a break. That means that he might take longer to earn his next belt, but we'd rather have him enjoy TKD more with taking that break than going non-stop and burn out.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

As a long time coach I have to say that year round sports, without doing anything else, is a REALLY BAD IDEA. It is too hard on their developing bodies to do the same physical activity all the time. They need variety to develop well balanced muscles. Taking a month off every 3,4,5 months and doing something else is a good idea. We are seeing so many more overuse injuries, stress fractures, tendonitis, etc. in really young kids that they will have to battle these injuries for the rest of their life. Young kids shouldn't get tendonitis or have stress fractures, ever. If they have had them, they are doing too much of the same thing.

Also, if you take an equally talented child and start one in a sport at age 5 and one in a sport at age 13, buy the time they are in high school, they will be at the same level of play, given the same amount of practice time from age 13 to age 16. Starting kids out at a young age makes them better players in the younger grades, but not necessarily in high school. The exception would be things like gymnastics and dance (ballet) where they need to maintain flexibility, although that can be worked on for an older student as well through stretching exercises.

One thing that I see happen over and over and over again is these kids that are SOOOO excited about playing what ever sport at age 6, 7, 8 and that is all they do for the next how ever many years that by the time they are in high school they are so tired of playing that they quit.

I would recommend at least two DIFFERENT sports through out the year for every child that is involved in something. If they love soccer, have them also do a season of swimming or basketball for example.

From what I've posted I obviously agree strongly with you. Many parents have college scholarships in mind when it comes to youth sports (not saying the parents here, but I've met plenty...). Even thought that can happen, it's not likely and athletic scholarships are few and far between. Much more likely to get an academic scholarship. My 12yo is a good baseball player and I sure dream of that college $, but I'm realistic enough to know that encouraging him in his studies stands a lot better chance of us getting college $ in the future.

 

[horseshowmom]

From what I've posted I obviously agree strongly with you. Many parents have college scholarships in mind when it comes to youth sports (not saying the parents here, but I've met plenty...). Even thought that can happen, it's not likely and athletic scholarships are few and far between. Much more likely to get an academic scholarship. My 12yo is a good baseball player and I sure dream of that college $, but I'm realistic enough to know that encouraging him in his studies stands a lot better chance of us getting college $ in the future.

The two can combine to help get scholarships. DD (college freshman) got over $40,000 in scholarships (will be distributed over a 4 year period). Certainly, her academics were a major factor, but the extracurricular/leadership activities factored in too. There were some things she probably wouldn't have gotten without the two combined.

She tried some different activities when she was younger (including playing All-Star softball), but when she got involved with horses (about age 12), she didn't care about anything else. She started out showing just in the summer (local shows and club shows) and progressed to showing year round in breed shows. She got a lot from it (responsibility, commitment, achievement through hard work, etc.).

 

[golfgal]

The two can combine to help get scholarships. DD (college freshman) got over $40,000 in scholarships (will be distributed over a 4 year period). Certainly, her academics were a major factor, but the extracurricular/leadership activities factored in too. There were some things she probably wouldn't have gotten without the two combined.

She tried some different activities when she was younger (including playing All-Star softball), but when she got involved with horses (about age 12), she didn't care about anything else. She started out showing just in the summer (local shows and club shows) and progressed to showing year round in breed shows. She got a lot from it (responsibility, commitment, achievement through hard work, etc.).

That is true but I think she was referring more to full ride athletic, division I type scholarships. Yes, being involved in extracurricular activities is extremely important for college admissions but the point of this thread is more that people start their 4 year olds in year round basketball to make them the next Michael Jordan and you have a better chance of winning the lottery then getting a full ride athletic scholarship. Full ride ACADEMIC scholarships are MUCH more common.

 

[manchurianbrownbear]

I hate that a kid will fall behind his or her peers if they aren’t playing a sport year-round.

My DS10 plays basketball and baseball. He’s playing basketball right now, but he’s falling behind the kids that are in baseball camps/clinics during the winter.

He’ll start baseball late March/early April, but if he doesn’t catch on with the AAU basketball team that most of his peers are playing on, he’ll fall behind them.

Our kids attend a smaller private school, so I’m hoping that he’ll still have a shot at making a varsity team when he reaches high school. If he attended a larger school, I’m sure he wouldn’t have a chance at making a varsity team unless he played the sport year-round.

 

[pozey]

My 9 year old is on a year-round competitive swim team. He practices 2 times a week, and has a meet once a week. They usually have a break for a couple of months in between each round of meets. He played one season of baseball, and he had some natural talent, but didn’t like to play. He has shown some interest in soccer, so we will see if he decides he wants to play. But his love is swimming.

My 7 year old son is more into the seasonal sports. He LOVES baseball. That will be starting up in March. He played football this past fall and will again next fall. He would play soccer if he had the time, but baseball takes up too much time. He is also a very good swimmer, but has declined being on the competitive team.

 

[horseshowmom]

That is true but I think she was referring more to full ride athletic, division I type scholarships. Yes, being involved in extracurricular activities is extremely important for college admissions but the point of this thread is more that people start their 4 year olds in year round basketball to make them the next Michael Jordan and you have a better chance of winning the lottery then getting a full ride athletic scholarship. Full ride ACADEMIC scholarships are MUCH more common.

I agree, and I've seen parents who seemed to be trying to aim for those full athletic type scholarships that you're talking about. It can be sad to see parents pushing small children to try and meet the parents goals (not the child's).

I also agree that most kids aren't likely to get those types of scholarships. On the flip side, most kids aren't likely to get full academic scholarships either.

My DD is not competing in equestrian sports now that she's in college (although she could have if she had gone to a different university). But what she had done previously did help her get some of what she got (based on her achievements).

All I meant was that if a child has a real interest in competing, combining the two (athletics and academics) can increase the likelihood of scholarships. I know that it did in our case. Competing year round (in whatever sport the child enjoys) does increase the skill level and the achievements that go with it.

JMHO

 

[Tigger&Belle]

The two can combine to help get scholarships. DD (college freshman) got over $40,000 in scholarships (will be distributed over a 4 year period). Certainly, her academics were a major factor, but the extracurricular/leadership activities factored in too. There were some things she probably wouldn't have gotten without the two combined.

That's good to know! I wouldn't complain if my son got college scholarship $ partly for athletics. For this to be the main motivating factor for some people, though, doesn't make sense. They'd be better off putting the money into a college savings plan. Hopefully most of us have our children in youth sports for different reasons, though.