At what age do you think you can tell whether a kid has potential to be an athlete?

[Anonymous]

What’s your opinion on this?

I have several kids in elementary school and my personal opinion is it’s too early to tell who has any chance of being an excellent athlete in high school. I think a lot will shift and change. I have friends ready to write off sports for their kids claiming they aren’t athletic. I have other friends who are already talking about college teams. What’s your opinion? When can you really tell?

[Anonymous]

I have an 8th grader and I'd say HS. I've seen lots of great athletes in elem school, but then they are late bloomers and they don't want to work hard because they were always the best and they get frustrated and quit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s your opinion on this?

I have several kids in elementary school and my personal opinion is it’s too early to tell who has any chance of being an excellent athlete in high school. I think a lot will shift and change. I have friends ready to write off sports for their kids claiming they aren’t athletic. I have other friends who are already talking about college teams. What’s your opinion? When can you really tell?

If their kids aren't athletic, they won't become athletic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s your opinion on this?

I have several kids in elementary school and my personal opinion is it’s too early to tell who has any chance of being an excellent athlete in high school. I think a lot will shift and change. I have friends ready to write off sports for their kids claiming they aren’t athletic. I have other friends who are already talking about college teams. What’s your opinion? When can you really tell?

If their kids aren't athletic, they won't become athletic.

They might not be world class athletes but I wouldn’t give up on sports entirely. My kids have friends who were pretty uncoordinated and fairly slow in preschool and early elementary who are now contributors on high school football, basketball, lacrosse teams.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the sport. Gymnastics and ice skating for girls you have to start early, be correlated and have persevere for to go when it's hard. That shows up by 2nd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an 8th grader and I'd say HS. I've seen lots of great athletes in elem school, but then they are late bloomers and they don't want to work hard because they were always the best and they get frustrated and quit.

I think you mean the early bloomers flame out. Even amongst the most athletic kids it takes a lot of hard work at the high school age to stay on top. Not every athletic kids has what it takes mentally to want to do it even if they have raw talent.

[Anonymous]

I agree with you. Elementary is too early to tell. My child was not athletic or interested in sports at all in elementary school. But once they were in high school, they excelled. They also have to find the right sport.

[Anonymous]

At first it's more about who obviously has NO chance.

That's clear by age 6 for many kids.

[Anonymous]

13-14

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At first it's more about who obviously has NO chance.

That's clear by age 6 for many kids.

I agree with this. I have an 11 year old, and watching his rec basketball game this weekend was painful with some kids who are just so bad. It's why many kids go to travel, they have to in order to not play with kids who are absolutely horrible and cause the team to lose.

[Anonymous]

I think maybe the potential for being an athlete you can tell early. My 5 year old has always developed gross and fine motor skills ahead of "schedule" and picks up new physical challenges quickly. The potential is there for sure, but being an athlete is so much more than physical ability. Whether the drive, resilience, discipline, etc develop will come later.

[Anonymous]

I think by age 8 you can tell if a kid is just uncoordinated and not athletically minded. If they cant pick up new skills, are too slow or just dont get it, that shows up early and i dont think changes. So those kids are not going to play high school soccer, basketball, baseball, lacrosse.

I think it takes much longer to tell who will excel in high school though.

I have a nephew who fell in to the top category in elementary school. His parents put him in martial arts but he couldn't do any team sports at all, he was spacy and weak and uninterested. He is a high school senior and is a top contributor on the cross country team and the rowing team. He's still not super coordinated and doesnt excel in team settings but he got big when he hit puberty and likes the sports that count on aerobic intensity and didnt rely on too much technical skill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At first it's more about who obviously has NO chance.

That's clear by age 6 for many kids.

I agree with this. I have an 11 year old, and watching his rec basketball game this weekend was painful with some kids who are just so bad. It's why many kids go to travel, they have to in order to not play with kids who are absolutely horrible and cause the team to lose.

I’ve seen some of the “bad” kids who end up 6’5 play on the high school team. The glory days for many of the boys who end up short were middle school. Enjoy it while it lasts!

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on the kid and sport. I know a boy where it was VERY clear when he around 8 that he had special talent athletically. Fast forward about 10 years and he's world ranked in his sport. But I realize this is an outlier and often puberty is where the real difference shows up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At first it's more about who obviously has NO chance.

That's clear by age 6 for many kids.

I agree with this. I have an 11 year old, and watching his rec basketball game this weekend was painful with some kids who are just so bad. It's why many kids go to travel, they have to in order to not play with kids who are absolutely horrible and cause the team to lose.

I’ve seen some of the “bad” kids who end up 6’5 play on the high school team. The glory days for many of the boys who end up short were middle school. Enjoy it while it lasts!

It has nothing to do with being short. It has everything to do with coordination.