How to choose a sport for very athletic kid?

[Anonymous]

I'll preface this by saying I'm not athletic and have no clue about sports. But my 2nd grade boy is really sporty and at this point there aren't enough hours in the week to do all of the sports. All things being equal, how do I figure out which sports are most desired for boys for, say,college admissions? For example, he's been invited to be on a competition gymnastics team, but it is a lot of hours per week. He also likes baseball, soccer, wrestling, running. And he seems to enjoy them all equally. How did you help your kid choose, or did you just let them do 2 + hours of sports per day, every day?

[Anonymous]

I’d recommend picking one or two sports a season until he has a better idea.

[Anonymous]

Your kid is in second grade and you’re seriously worried about which sports look better for college admissions? GTFOH. Let your kid choose and stop pressuring him so much. At the rate you’re going he’ll be burnt out by age 9. Do you want him to have a childhood or a 10 year college audition?

[Anonymous]

You should not be considering college admissions when choosing an activity for a 2nd grader.

Choose an activity in the fall that fits your budget, time commitment, and his interests. Repeat for winter (choosing either the same or different activity). Etc. You aren't making a life choice now.

[Anonymous]

Let your kid pick what he likes best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll preface this by saying I'm not athletic and have no clue about sports. But my 2nd grade boy is really sporty and at this point there aren't enough hours in the week to do all of the sports. All things being equal, how do I figure out which sports are most desired for boys for, say,college admissions? For example, he's been invited to be on a competition gymnastics team, but it is a lot of hours per week. He also likes baseball, soccer, wrestling, running. And he seems to enjoy them all equally. How did you help your kid choose, or did you just let them do 2 + hours of sports per day, every day?

The best kids at 8-12 are 99 percent of the time not the best at 17-18 so throw that college admission pipe dream out the window right now

[Anonymous]

I would delay specialization as long as possible. My kids are very athletic. People told me that because they didn't specialize early, they would be at a disadvantage but i just don't see it. There may be a few exceptions, and gymnastics may be one of them but I think my kids have been well served by playing a wide variety of sports until high school at the earliest.

[Anonymous]

The one that will serve him the best for college is the one that he enjoys the most. At this age, it's the time to let him try different things and figure out what he likes and is good at (and hopefully those overlap!)

I go with 1 sport at a time because I can't juggle getting multiple kids to multiple sports practices and games. So older kid does 1 sport year round. Younger kid does soccer in spring and fall (though not sure he'll continue since a lot of his friends are moving on to more advanced teams and he isn't) and just started track in summer and winter.

[Anonymous]

College admissions for a second grader… thank you for that. My son couldn’t do his sport enough in 2nd grade. He loved it so much. Now in high school he plays on two completely different teams and dropped the original.

Let him try whatever he’s interested in, what you are willing to drive to and what can work schedule wise. For now, don’t pick two that both have games on Saturdays because of conflicts. There is no need to start the madness so soon.

I’m letting my youngest super athletic active kid pick two sports this fall, one that has games on Saturdays and the other that has games on Sundays. I will sit back and hope the two weekday practices don’t conflict.

[Anonymous]

It’s good to think about these things early. Expose him to as much as possible and support what he chooses to support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kid is in second grade and you’re seriously worried about which sports look better for college admissions? GTFOH. Let your kid choose and stop pressuring him so much. At the rate you’re going he’ll be burnt out by age 9. Do you want him to have a childhood or a 10 year college audition?

this. My kid does 2 hours of swims week and 2 hours of a Martial set, pretty much year round. Soccer and baseball are seasonal. You can do seasonal stuff the sage time as year round because it’s only 6-8 weeks. Your kid is 7, let them try different stuff.

[Anonymous]

Better goal is not to pursue college sports. If you can manage college without any sports money it is a better experience. College sports force the students to keep doing the same thing they have done for 12 years into college at the exact time they should be exploring new pursuits. Regret getting my kid on that train.

[Anonymous]

OP you need psychological help if you're seriously asking what sport a 2nd grader should be encouraged to take up for college admissions. I just spent the entire afternoon watching my second grade grandson doing incredibly acrobatic jumps and dives into the pool, and the last thing I though of was how it could help him get into college! You've lost your mind.

[Anonymous]

I’d choose one sport per season (a bit of overlap is okay), and take things season by season. Avoid club/travel sports of any type until he is approaching middle school/6th grade or so. They are NOT necessary, in any way, before then (no matter what you may hear from others).

He will mostly likely gravitate to a few favorite sports on his own.

Focus on general athleticism and having fun.

As someone else said: sports skill in elementary has absolutely zero correlation with success later on. For most sports, you won’t have any real indication of skill until the kids are completely through puberty. The idea is to keep them playing as many sports as they enjoy, until that time.

The vast majority of kids have zero potential to play college sports, so I’d never make that a focus. Most kids won’t have the genes/size/natural talent.

[Anonymous]

OP here...I guess what I'm asking is whether you just say no to travel sports/competition sports in early elementary? I don't want him to have to "choose" something now when he wants to do a lot of stuff and he really has no idea what the future holds. Did you just say no to competitive teams in elementary and middle school? If he does 12 hrs of gymnastics a week he won't be able to do anything else.