Comments on specializing too early

[Anonymous]

I wanted to get any advice on this. We live in a very sporty community. It’s common for people to play multiple sports a season. My first grader is really into lacrosse, wants to practice at home, etc. We are also doing baseball and he plays on a team with all friends so it’s great. He doesn’t really talk about baseball that much and he likes it but he doesn’t love it. I mentioned maybe dropping it next year and a lot of friends pushed it’s too early to decide and I’m making a mistake. My older two sons play lax already and do club teams so it works out well. He also plays flag football, swim team, and rec basketball and tennis, so I don’t feel like we are specializing by any means. My husband is strongly opposed to doing both again because it was already a conflict and gets worse as they get older and it’s 4+ days a week even on rec.Should we give him another full year to decide or would you drop now? Right now lax is 3 days a week, 2 practices and one game. The reason people often do more than one and the same season is due to how competitive our area is, there’s a general feeling that if you leave for a few years you’re too far behind. The only reason I would continue with it is for the social reasons to see all of his good friends for a sport and have fun. But there’s a draft in a year and a half anyways.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like the issue is more scheduling vs specialization. Our DS is very athletic and played multiple sports when he was younger, but by hs the list had narrowed to one primary sport with two lower commitment sports. When he was young, we tried to have one primary sport per season (even though in reality a lot of sports are actually year round). If lacrosse works for your family, have that be the priority spring sport and then add in whatever else makes sense. Flag football was one that was very low time commitment that we added on for fall and spring. DS did rec or house basketball in the winter because that was typically a 1-2 day/week commitment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like the issue is more scheduling vs specialization. Our DS is very athletic and played multiple sports when he was younger, but by hs the list had narrowed to one primary sport with two lower commitment sports. When he was young, we tried to have one primary sport per season (even though in reality a lot of sports are actually year round). If lacrosse works for your family, have that be the priority spring sport and then add in whatever else makes sense. Flag football was one that was very low time commitment that we added on for fall and spring. DS did rec or house basketball in the winter because that was typically a 1-2 day/week commitment.

Oh that’s a good idea, to throw in flag football instead during spring. It’s a lower commitment and he loves flag football. I hate to decide for him and he’s good at baseball. He just is already telling us he loves lax and it makes the most sense for our schedule. A lot of the people doing both have had to miss half the games.

[Anonymous]

First grade? So we’re talking a 6 or 7 year old?

Right now it’s not a even a question of specialization or “dropping” a sport… just stop having him do so much right now!

[Anonymous]

It’s not about “specialization” to me really, it’s that you’re choosing to do sports with very intense schedules for such little kids. I don’t see how you could take on more than one of those.

I would consider more than once a week for a first grade sport to be a pretty high level of commitment during the school year, tbh. For context. No iudgment, we all dive into something. But yeah, I don’t think you could possibly two sports with those schedules. When does he go to school??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not about “specialization” to me really, it’s that you’re choosing to do sports with very intense schedules for such little kids. I don’t see how you could take on more than one of those.

I would consider more than once a week for a first grade sport to be a pretty high level of commitment during the school year, tbh. For context. No iudgment, we all dive into something. But yeah, I don’t think you could possibly two sports with those schedules. When does he go to school??

I think this is dependent on area. As I mentioned, people are judging us for NOT doing both when it’s already 3x a week for lax. Most people are doing two already in first grade. This is the norm. Super sporty area.

Add baseball in next year and it’s 6-7 days a week. This year it’s been 4 with overlap and it was too much that’s why my husband wants to drop down to just lax in the future which is what we did for my older boys and it worked out. They are busy but their schedule is manageable and the same which helps a lot.

These are ALL recreational teams, so cutting back to one day a week isn’t an option. That’s what is offered through our community programs. Our baseball team just follows the guidelines of the leagues but many coaches on other teams even add additional practice days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First grade? So we’re talking a 6 or 7 year old?

Right now it’s not an even a question of specialization or “dropping” a sport… just stop having him do so much right now!

Again, these are all rec programs. Just seems to be a higher commitment than other areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not about “specialization” to me really, it’s that you’re choosing to do sports with very intense schedules for such little kids. I don’t see how you could take on more than one of those.

I would consider more than once a week for a first grade sport to be a pretty high level of commitment during the school year, tbh. For context. No iudgment, we all dive into something. But yeah, I don’t think you could possibly two sports with those schedules. When does he go to school??

I think this is dependent on area. As I mentioned, people are judging us for NOT doing both when it’s already 3x a week for lax. Most people are doing two already in first grade. This is the norm. Super sporty area.

Add baseball in next year and it’s 6-7 days a week. This year it’s been 4 with overlap and it was too much that’s why my husband wants to drop down to just lax in the future which is what we did for my older boys and it worked out. They are busy but their schedule is manageable and the same which helps a lot.

These are ALL recreational teams, so cutting back to one day a week isn’t an option. That’s what is offered through our community programs. Our baseball team just follows the guidelines of the leagues but many coaches on other teams even add additional practice days.

Okay well then what is your question? It’s a ton.

[Anonymous]

Take a look at your high school football, basketball and baseball games. The OVERWHELMING majority of these kids play varsity in multiple sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take a look at your high school football, basketball and baseball games. The OVERWHELMING majority of these kids play varsity in multiple sports.

Not in our HS. Insanely sports competitive large public, ton of pro athletes. Maybe privates you do where you have a better chance to make the team. You do see lax/football but basketball has absolutely 0 overlap and baseball has really none.

[Anonymous]

Even for middle school basketball 110 kids tried out and only 25 made the team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not about “specialization” to me really, it’s that you’re choosing to do sports with very intense schedules for such little kids. I don’t see how you could take on more than one of those.

I would consider more than once a week for a first grade sport to be a pretty high level of commitment during the school year, tbh. For context. No iudgment, we all dive into something. But yeah, I don’t think you could possibly two sports with those schedules. When does he go to school??

I think this is dependent on area. As I mentioned, people are judging us for NOT doing both when it’s already 3x a week for lax. Most people are doing two already in first grade. This is the norm. Super sporty area.

Add baseball in next year and it’s 6-7 days a week. This year it’s been 4 with overlap and it was too much that’s why my husband wants to drop down to just lax in the future which is what we did for my older boys and it worked out. They are busy but their schedule is manageable and the same which helps a lot.

These are ALL recreational teams, so cutting back to one day a week isn’t an option. That’s what is offered through our community programs. Our baseball team just follows the guidelines of the leagues but many coaches on other teams even add additional practice days.

Okay well then what is your question? It’s a ton.

If the kid is already communicating that they like one sport a lot better than the other would you make them choose one a season and drop due to the time suck? Or would you stay in an extra year or two to be with friends?

[Anonymous]

If my kid was communicating a sports preference AND I found the schedule of 2 sports too demanding I would absolutely cut back to just the preferred sport next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not about “specialization” to me really, it’s that you’re choosing to do sports with very intense schedules for such little kids. I don’t see how you could take on more than one of those.

I would consider more than once a week for a first grade sport to be a pretty high level of commitment during the school year, tbh. For context. No iudgment, we all dive into something. But yeah, I don’t think you could possibly two sports with those schedules. When does he go to school??

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not about “specialization” to me really, it’s that you’re choosing to do sports with very intense schedules for such little kids. I don’t see how you could take on more than one of those.

I would consider more than once a week for a first grade sport to be a pretty high level of commitment during the school year, tbh. For context. No iudgment, we all dive into something. But yeah, I don’t think you could possibly two sports with those schedules. When does he go to school??

This.

What’s the alternative if this is rec?