Picking up the Gap in Sports
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Anonymous
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As is documented in this thread. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1223953.page
Competitive sports, rec sports, school sports are kind of failing students without exception. Ignoring college admissions for the time being. How do you go about getting that key vitamin that kids need to develop? Personally, this year I am forgoing most of the organized sports and have decided to basically just get a gym membership and take my kids as often as I can. I feel the problem with this is keeping kids motivated. |
Anonymous
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We do this by focusing on physical activities that are non-competitive or less competitive. Yoga, dance, hiking, rock climbing. We've also done rec gymnastics which is so non-competitive my kids didn't realize it was even a sport you could compete in until the olympics this summer (they thought you just learned the different skills for fun and playground bragging rights). They are also good swimmers and we go swimming every chance we get.
We also have started to get into kayaking and turns out our HS has a crew team that is no cut and pretty chill.bAgain if you take the competition element out of it and just make it about moving your body and learning skills then your kids get all the benefits of exercise and sports without having to deal with their access being limited by ability. I don't think our kids have the natural aptitude or drive to be competitive athletes but we are still a really active family. This also frees up a ton of time for other interests and family time. Without sports practices and games and try outs and alll the rest of it my kids have had the chance to take art classes and participate in stem and writing programs. It also does not seem to have impacted them socially. Part of me is relieved they didn't take to sports early on (they both did soccer and swim team and after school basketball in early elementary but none of it took and they were not interested in continuing after the first year or two. |
Anonymous
Yeah, I try not to complain too loudly about the swim team cuts. I find it is difficult to get my wife and the kid's grandparents to set aside time, if I don't have a schedule, they seem to think "Oh, that's you playing", not "Oh you're saving so much money and spending time with the kids." Somehow it becomes more difficult to get the kids there when we can pick the time and place. It devolves into we don't want to do it then, which devolves into we just don't want to do it. Which devolves into sitting in front of the TV. Also, there is some benefit to the schedules. I recall the travel soccer pretty much set the schedule for the year. Week before school starts, tournament... They sort of had it figured out when people would go traveling vs were good weekends for competitions. |
Anonymous
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We do rec sports with no expectation that it will turn into something bigger. Both our summer swim team (NVSL division 16/17, ha) and the team sports league we participate in are easy for even high school students to participate in on a fairly casual level - and yes there ARE teams for the high school kids. Gets us most of the benefits of sports without quite as much time spent or pressure on the family.
But I don't judge others who chose to devote more family/kid time to sports at a higher level. And I don't expect people not to look down on my kids or act shocked when they find out they're only in rec or they swim every A meet even though they're super slow because our team is that small. |
Anonymous
I don't buy this premise. Plenty of kids are happy at all levels of sports. |
Anonymous
Yes, that's the sign, that this just might not be the thread you need to post in. Kind of like being cut. |
Anonymous
Agree. One of my kids plays a rec sport and a travel sport and the other kid plays two rec sports. They are both very happy with their experiences. |
Anonymous
My kid is happy playing rec and it works well for our family. How does a rec player get cut? |
Anonymous
Is that supposed to be humorous? I think rec kids get cut all the time. |
Anonymous
How? You register and pay dues. That's how rec work |
Anonymous
Let me explain. Rec basketball is two months, summer league swimming is two months. What do you do the other eight months of the year? Rec basketball is only one day of the week, what do you do the other six? There are some major gaps. There are some other sports, but we decided we didn't like soccer that much, too tall and doesn't want to be goalie. Softball for girls isn't much of a thing. |
Anonymous
Not to derail but my 9yo has been playing softball for a couple years in Alexandria. The coach is chill and inclusive. |
Anonymous
Wut |
Anonymous
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it sounds like your kids dont like working out.
and thats the issue gym is great but they need to want to go |
Anonymous
Rec soccer is fall and spring. Rec volleyball is late fall and early spring. rec basketball is winter. Rec swimming is summer. That works for our family |