Private coaching age age 7 and 8?
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Anonymous
| We live in a well off community and most peers are already starting private coaching for sports. My instinct it to just ignore and wait a few years. My seven year old plays many different sports throughout the year with 2-3 practices a week and games on weekends as well as some tournaments play (he plays flag football, golf, tennis, basketball, summer swim, lacrosse, soccer and baseball). I do have an idea which sport he will likely continue with (lacrosse) but it still seems early to me. To only thing that’s causing me to pause on my decision is that he is one of the youngest kids in his grade. Any advice what to do in this situation. Most are using college athletes. My husband was a D1 college athlete in football so I don’t see how it’s much different to just have him help him, Ny son is passionate about sports and loves playing games but he’s still not even at the point he’s really practicing as much as other kids. Private coaching is expensive too, about $75 an hour. A neighborhood middle school boy charged $10 an hour to “coach”. WWYD? |
Anonymous
| That is a lot of different sports. I think it is crazy to pay for lessons until he settles on a few main sports. Then reevaluate. |
Anonymous
| Why lacrosse boo? |
Anonymous
He’s said it’s his favorite since he has started. I just don’t really want to put any money more than we are putting in for activities on one specific thing. Most of the kinds are specializing in 1 thing already. |
Anonymous
| Welcome to 2023 when kids specialize at 6 and burn out at 12 |
Anonymous
| I wish we had done this for our kids to help them get a really good grasp of the basics and practice them well. That doesn't happen at team practices. And it really doesn't happen if your child is doing rec level sports. |
Anonymous
| dont do this, save this for middle school when he has a more defined sport picked |
Anonymous
| This whole post is wild. I guess I’m glad my kids suck at sports. |
Anonymous
Wild and absurd |
Anonymous
| I know tons of 8-9 year olds already missing a bunch of school for travel tournaments. The FOMO is real |
Anonymous
I ended up turning my extracurricular into a career (not a sport but similar). I 100% would have burned out at age 8 if I were practicing as much as some of my kids’ friends do with their sports. |
Anonymous
| I hired a (less-expensive) trainer/basketball coach for my son at age 10 only for a limited time to teach him proper shooting form...THAT was a great investment at the time because since then he shoots properly so doesn't have to unlearn bad shooting form. He's 12 now and I still haven't hired him a trainer but at his level, I may consider it now. I do pay for general summer camps and occasional group training sessions (apx $50/hour). |
Anonymous
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The best thing you can do at this point is let him have a blast playing whatever sports he likes. He should be PLAYING, not training. The more sports he plays (assuming he plays them in season and not year round), the more skills he develops without causing an overuse injury from gaining strength in one movement.
There will be a brief moment of time in some skill sports where the kids doing this might advance more quickly. It will be overcome as soon as all the other kids start specializing in MS/HS Plus, if your husband was a D1 player he probably is big, which means your son will be big, which is half the battle in some sports when it comes to recruiting |
Anonymous
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If your kid plays flag football, golf, tennis, basketball, summer swim, lacrosse, soccer and baseball, then he really doesn’t have a sport.
Some sports require sport specific skills and yes, you need to practice in your own. At this age, it doesn’t have to be with a trainer, but you need to practice and practice smart. Not quantity, but regularly. If you don’t know what to do, then sign up for camps for now, and try YouTube. Lacrosse is very skill oriented and you can’t just show up and expect to be any good. Start with camps and clinics, as many as you can sign up for. |
Anonymous
+1 just no need unless he’s truly behind in coordination. |