DP and I agree with the PP you are responding to - you are the access to screens. If you want your kid playing in the yard, send them out into the yard. Is it roaming the neighborhood in packs 1970s style? No, but it's also not screens. |
We will agree to disagree that travel sports are the only option for "filling the year" and making kids competitive. My attitude is about other parents suggesting that a 6-year-old cant do winter basketball because they should work on their skills during winter in a skills camp. It is counter to every single thing that elite athletes, elite coaches, and scientific research has shown is appropriate for their age and future. |
The kids who are really good do often start early. Not all the kids who start early will be good. You don’t need to put your kid in some intense training at age 6-7. If you start training more than once per week in middle school, that is probably too late. You will know if your kid is talented.
I have a friend who really wanted her kids to be elite athletes. She started them so early, always taking them to tryouts. The kids are athletic but didn’t have the heart. No amount of pushing by an aggressive parent will make the kid a great athlete. And just because your kid has the heart and effort doesn’t necessarily mean the kid will be an elite athlete either. It is a mix of genetics, passion, grit and parent support. |
I have an 8-year-old who loves soccer and is pretty good. But OP - we are sticking with rec. With fulltime work and other children - I just can’t facilitate travel and stay sane. Their school also lets out very late, so even one evening practice a week is challenging.
My kid is on a team fall and spring, plus seems to play daily at recess. To me, that’s a lot of soccer. In speaking with other parents, it’s possible to transition to travel in middle school. I would consider that if they are interested. |
While partly true, I do think one big reason for the change is the internet. Before, only UMC, wealthy, and connected people had access to the info of what made their kids so much better than the middle and working class. There’s no going back to the bad old days of when only the privileged knew how to help their kids. |
Time and money. Lots of it. I have a friend whose son plays football. I swear he’s playing it right now and it’s not even in-season. She’s considering sending him to a “host family” all school year next year, because it’s close to a a former NFL player who coaches kids. They are always out of town, always spending money, always playing football.
I have only a few years left until we see if this lands him on a big college team. |
People in this area and in general are just insane about sports. It's like a religion.
I am convinced a lot of travel league is just one big cash grab scam. |
This post comes off as very judgmental. Times have changed. As your kids get older, you will understand. |
It is not just this area. |
Agree. But if you click down on parent support there have been studies on elite and pre-elite athletes that show they are far more likely to have parents were elite or pre-elite athletes. These studies posit it is not just genes it also the fact that parents who were pre-elite or elite athletes can better understand how to support their children emotionally and navigate the rec-travel etc landscape. That said, as PP wrote: kids can only get so far based on parental support. |
I don’t disagree with you. I have never heard the term pre elite before. DH was a tennis and soccer player. My boys played tennis and soccer from a very young age. My kids both dropped soccer but both play tennis. My oldest is borderline tennis recruit level. My younger son is a better tennis player but seems to like basketball more. I already feel my high school kid has so much on his plate with his rigorous courseload and varsity sports schedule. I don’t know how much more tennis he can play but then we see his peers who go to school half time to train 5 hours per day. They are not that much better than DS and we know he could be just as good if he also played that much. I just want my kids to go to a good college and have a happy life. I am not trying to necessarily have elite athletes. DH is the one who pushes for sports since our kids are so good at it. |
Pp again. It is natural for parents to want their kids to be and do better than themselves. When the parents themselves were at a high level and the bar has risen so much over the years, parents start kids earlier and train harder.
All three of my kids can run circles around me and Dh when we were their same age. They are stronger than us in every way. Yet I’m not sure my kids will even be able to attend the same colleges and grad schools Dh and I attended. |
What do you mean by borderline recruit? It is nearly impossible to play at a good D1 team for boys |
My kid only started high school. I have been talking to other parents of high school juniors and seniors and just starting to learn the process. I do not expect my child to be a D1 recruit. He could be a D3 recruit. I was listening to a podcast recently about the world of sports recruiting and it is intense. My kid has done some summer camps over the years. One sports academy is a boarding school and invited my son to become a boarding student. There are students who are elite athletes and then there are kids like my son who are strong students and strong athletes. The school could place both kinds of athletes at top colleges. We didn’t go that route. |
I watch my nieces parents hustle her around nonstop to camps, private trainers etc and eventually got a full ride to a D1 school. She had multiple knee surgeries from HS through early college until she had to stop. She can't even walk right anymore. |