Is age 13 too "old" for DS to try baseball, tennis, or lacrosse?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a college prep boarding high school. Freshmen play all three seasons, sophomores and juniors can drop one season, seniors can drop 2 seasons. It's also no cut.

Most of the PPs don't have experience with no-cut required sport schools. Usually the school is very small. By having every kid play sports they don't have to have a gym program and they can field full teams that they might not otherwise be able to fill.

With all that said, here's my experience (and the experience of kids currently attending the same school this year):


Your experience 20 plus years ago is not particularly relevant
Every year there are new students, sometimes freshmen, sometimes older. Every kid comes in knowing that they have to play a sport, but many have never played anything, or they want to switch sports. The coaches are all used to dealing with kids at various levels. Some sports have varsity and jv levels, some only have varsity level and the kids who are just starting won't play more than 2 minutes per game for at least a month. Two of our sports only had jv, because we couldn't be competitive on the varsity level. For any sport that has varsity and jv both, varsity works solely on honing skills, jv works on basics at the beginning of every season, and they progress through honing strengths and shoring up weaknesses. For the sports that only have one team, whether it's varsity or jv, the team works together to teach the basics as quickly as possible.

Personally, I did field hockey, swimming and soccer. With the exception of one kid (male manager-exchange from Germany) in four years, every single girl on the field hockey team started having never held a stick before. Some had played ice hockey, some had played soccer, 2 had played lacrosse, and many had never played anything. We worked drills every practice, all four years, at least for a few minutes, because every year there was a new batch of girls for whom it was their first season, and we wanted to be competitive. Swimming isn't really a team sport. We had kids come in who set records their first couple weeks, but we also had kids who were learning to do all four strokes. For soccer, we never had enough girls to have a jv team too, so we only had varsity. Because we had enough girls who had previously played, most of the newest players played 2-5 minutes for the first month.

I like small schools, and the schools that do no-cut every kid plays for sports are great. I don't know how it works at your kid's school, OP, but from what I've seen? He should be able to pick anything he wants. Check with the school, talk with him to the coaches. And good luck!

Your experience a decade or two ago isn't particularly relevant in today's world where many kids start in sports league at the age of five. Dd started field hockey in 4 th grade, most of the other girls had been playing since first grade.

Actually her experience is relevant. My college age sisters went to a similar school. Where athletics are required each season. Sisters both played soccer and then picked up lacrossee and rugby during their time at the school. Some sports had more newbies than others but all of the sports had newbies each year.

[Anonymous]

I'd go with tennis. It's a sport he can play his whole life. Despite coming from a family of tennis players, I did not play until my late teens. It never clicked before then. I play enough now to go out and hack around for a bit with family and friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

pp wrote: "Since the school has a no-cut policy, he should be fine. He probably won't be on the same lacrosse team with the kids who have been playing since they were 5. If he is, it'll be the kids who didn't make a club team because even though they've been playing since they were 5 they're just really not that good. "

Well, the first part assumes there is more than one team (an A and a B team, i.e.) and that is not necessarily the case-- your kid could be on the team but never see any playing time
The second part demonstrates lack of knowledge of the local athletic scene: the elite players (the ones who get full scholarships to ivies, of course) still play for their school teams.

My son is in a small private school where they are required to play a sport. There are enough children playing lacrosse to have A and B teams. The elite players are not on the B team. In this area, it is a reasonable assumption that a school that required participation and has a no-cut policy will either have multiple teams or will have single teams composed of a wide range of abilities so that a child new to the sport is not going to feel like the odd man out.

[Anonymous]

It's discouraging and sad to think that "beginner" team sports are almost completely out for a 13 year old kid. Even older teenagers might like to try a new sport.

They have finally gotten their height, strength and speed. They might be loyal fans of a sport - and they are "too old" to even try play it. smh.

There need to be more entry level sports for teenagers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand how a boy gets to be 13 years old without ever playing baseball.

Uhhh.... because baseball sucks and is not really a sport? It's a game that a lot of people like to watch, and it certainly requires a great deal of skill to do well (kind of like cornhole).

Clearly you've never played baseball. It's very much a sport. My daughter is playing basketball now and she says emphatically that she does more running at her fastpitch softball practices.

Agree. My daughter plays fastpitch and it is no joke. 2hr conditioning, strength and agility training as we speak. She just climbed a rope to the ceiling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Didn't Misty Copeland begin ballet at the advanced age of 13yo?

I don't see the problem.

I haven't read to the end of the thread, but this makes me think of Tom Brady, who didn't start playing football til high school.

That can happen for a natural athlete, in certain sports. My stepson picked up basketball over a summer and was varsity the next year (though admittedly not at a bball powerhouse). But baseball is a bit different. Great hand-eye coordination, knowing where to throw the ball on a given play, where to position yourself for a certain type of hitter. I think of Michael Jordan taking a shot at professional baseball at the age of 31.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Track and field (actually cross country) is very good for swimming - they call it dryland exercise.

NP. This is interesting. My kid is a swimmer, and what I'm always told is that if DC doesn't try out for the programs that require many days of practice a week year round, DC will never amount to anything. My kid is multi-sport - swimming and cross country. Yet, if I believed everything I heard, I'd think that swim is all or nothing. Dry land is for the birds unless it's officially part of the swim program. Right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a college prep boarding high school. Freshmen play all three seasons, sophomores and juniors can drop one season, seniors can drop 2 seasons. It's also no cut.

Most of the PPs don't have experience with no-cut required sport schools. Usually the school is very small. By having every kid play sports they don't have to have a gym program and they can field full teams that they might not otherwise be able to fill.

With all that said, here's my experience (and the experience of kids currently attending the same school this year):


Your experience 20 plus years ago is not particularly relevant
Every year there are new students, sometimes freshmen, sometimes older. Every kid comes in knowing that they have to play a sport, but many have never played anything, or they want to switch sports. The coaches are all used to dealing with kids at various levels. Some sports have varsity and jv levels, some only have varsity level and the kids who are just starting won't play more than 2 minutes per game for at least a month. Two of our sports only had jv, because we couldn't be competitive on the varsity level. For any sport that has varsity and jv both, varsity works solely on honing skills, jv works on basics at the beginning of every season, and they progress through honing strengths and shoring up weaknesses. For the sports that only have one team, whether it's varsity or jv, the team works together to teach the basics as quickly as possible.

Personally, I did field hockey, swimming and soccer. With the exception of one kid (male manager-exchange from Germany) in four years, every single girl on the field hockey team started having never held a stick before. Some had played ice hockey, some had played soccer, 2 had played lacrosse, and many had never played anything. We worked drills every practice, all four years, at least for a few minutes, because every year there was a new batch of girls for whom it was their first season, and we wanted to be competitive. Swimming isn't really a team sport. We had kids come in who set records their first couple weeks, but we also had kids who were learning to do all four strokes. For soccer, we never had enough girls to have a jv team too, so we only had varsity. Because we had enough girls who had previously played, most of the newest players played 2-5 minutes for the first month.

I like small schools, and the schools that do no-cut every kid plays for sports are great. I don't know how it works at your kid's school, OP, but from what I've seen? He should be able to pick anything he wants. Check with the school, talk with him to the coaches. And good luck!

Your experience a decade or two ago isn't particularly relevant in today's world where many kids start in sports league at the age of five. Dd started field hockey in 4 th grade, most of the other girls had been playing since first grade.

Actually her experience is relevant. My college age sisters went to a similar school. Where athletics are required each season. Sisters both played soccer and then picked up lacrossee and rugby during their time at the school. Some sports had more newbies than others but all of the sports had newbies each year.

I highlighted the most relevant portion. Yes, I attended from 99-03. However, some of my friends have siblings currently attending, some have nieces and nephews attending, and I've recommended kids to the school (and I'm in touch with them). Our high school has changed in some ways (cell phone policy, computer use and prevalence, etc.), but in other ways, it's exactly the same.

There are alumnae who offer full ride scholarships to kids from inner city schools to board there, kids who have decent to above average grades and decent to above average sports skills. There are kids who have partial to full scholarships based on grades and/or test scores. There are kids who have parents who can afford to pay 20K per year for room and board for high school. There are kids who will be the first kid in their family to graduate college, a few might even be the first to graduate high school. There are kids whose parent, grandparent, great-grandparent all attended this school, then attended the same college. There are kids who have been playing a specific sport since age 3 or 4 (usually soccer). There are kids who have never played a sport outside of a gym class.

Schools like this are equalizers. Every kid stepping into the school knows few (if any) students when they start. Every student has to play sports, and sports events have 75-100% of the students turnout. They all have to have at least one fine art commitment per semester, and attend at least one other fine art event.

When the school prioritizes student involvement, cooperation and involvement over competition and winning, the kids can surprise everyone and perform beyond anyone's expectations (including their own).

[Anonymous]

Well, the kids aren't getting their early experience through school typically. So maybe having beginner/recreational leagues for teens would be an option. That way if a late bloomer has some natural talent he/she would at least be able to develop it enough to try out for HS teams. And if they just want to casually play w/o intensive training/commitment - they could do that too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sport does he play?

Swimming.

Maybe he should try track. There was a girl who was a swimmer in Fairfax County a few years ago who did track in high school just to stay in shape and ended up being a big track star. Went to a top university on a full scholarship.

I doubt OPs kid is coordinated enough for that. Just look at how she described him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Didn't Misty Copeland begin ballet at the advanced age of 13yo?

I don't see the problem.

Misty Copeland was a prodigy. She was en pointe three months after she started lessons, and started dancing professionally about nine months later. OP has said her child isn't a natural athlete, so it's no really an apt comparison.

Exactly.

And ballet does not begin until age eight, and it is normally a slow burn for the first few years.

[Anonymous]

Our son goes to a school with a similar mandatory sports policy. He was granted an exemption based on the fact that he does TKD competitively and needs the time to practice (4 days a week; 2-3h/day at a black belt level). Between transport and practice, never mind homework, my kid would need to drop his main sport in order to participate in a school one that he has zero interest in. School was ok with it.

If your son is already doing winter swim team through the spring and hitting the pool before school every morning, maybe that can qualify as his sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sport does he play?

Swimming.

Maybe he should try track. There was a girl who was a swimmer in Fairfax County a few years ago who did track in high school just to stay in shape and ended up being a big track star. Went to a top university on a full scholarship.

I doubt OPs kid is coordinated enough for that. Just look at how she described him.

Field events would likely not be a good pick for an uncoordinated kid but , besides hurdling, lack of coordination probably wouldn't be a big issue for the track events. I'm incredibly uncoordinated but was first team all-state in the 1600m & 3200m in high school.

Swimming probably requires more coordination than running does. Both require speed & endurance, as well as different kinds of muscle strength.

[Anonymous]

I started playing Basketball at 14. For me, the thing was I grew a lot. I was uncoordinated. But, my 8th grade coach was willing to overlook that because of my height: 6'2". I can happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:no child who's never going swung a bat before is going to do well joining a baseball at 13

So you're saying he'll do well?