Do most kids niche down to 1 sport by middle school?
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Anonymous
| My DD is 11 and in 6th grade. Right now she does rec field hockey, a low key cheer team, and year long swim, each are 1x/week. It seems like most, if not all of her friends have already chosen their one sport to focus on and them 2-3 times/week year round. I know her goal is to play FH in high school and stay on summer swim team, but she's also interested in continuing cheer in some capacity. Should I be pushing her to lean into one activity or is this okay? I hate that I am even asking this question! |
Anonymous
| Of course not! It is so much better for your body and development to have a variety. Sounds like a great, balanced kid. |
Anonymous
| Curious why you think you need to change if she’s happy? |
Anonymous
| You are using the word niche incorrectly. |
Anonymous
| A lot of kids do but its not necessary. It becomes harder and harder to try new sports the older kids get but if she's already involved you're good to stay with those teams as long as they continue. I find that rec level sports are harder and harder to find for older middle schools kids because there's the assumption they're on school and travel level teams. |
Anonymous
| My 8th grader is still playing three sports, 1 of which is intense with travel. We've been able to work through conflicts, but it's finally starting to impact school and I don't think the high school coaches are going to put up with the conflicts next year. |
Anonymous
| Niche? |
Anonymous
|
pare down to?
niche (noun) = a small and specialized field of activity or the physical recess in which to place a small item. niche (verb) = placing the item into the recess (rarely used) You do not "niche down". |
Anonymous
|
If she has time for it, enjoys it and can still get her homework done plus some down time, seems totally fine.
My 12 year old does one sport seriously (3x / week) and one sport just for fun (1x / week), plus one school club and an instrument badly lol. It’s a bit much. Probably have to cut something out. |
Anonymous
|
It sounds like OP's main question is:
Can her DD continue to play three sports in MS and still make her high school field hockey team, or will she lose out to kids who focus on FH? I don't know the answer to this question but I think that fear of handicapping kids with the ambition to play at the HS level is what drives a lot of families to focus on one sport. I am curious what the experience of families with HS age kids has been. My kid is split between a sport (swim) and a physical but non-competitive activity (ballet/dance, not on a competition team but at a studio that does progress to pre-professional training for those who want it/qualify for it). |
Anonymous
|
It partly depends on what high school she’ll be attending and what their field hockey team is like.
Does your high school have a good competitive FH team? if so, she may need to up her game in field hockey. If not, she can continue doing all 3 sports as long as she’s happy with them. |
Anonymous
| I think if you’re worried about it you should spend some more time on the goals, and get them more focused on personal outcomes for her and less on specific strategies or milestones like making the HS team in one sport or another. Then they’ll be more useful to you as a gut check. |
Anonymous
|
My DD is in 8th and plays travel soccer 3x a week plus a game on the weekend. She also is going to play winter basketball for her school and rec basketball ( travel soccer is Les’s commitment in the winter because no games just 2 practices)
So no. Let your kid keep doing what they enjoy. |
Anonymous
This is pretty much all the 8th graders on our club team too. Everyone has at least one other sport. Ours is a lower team level club volleyball. |
Anonymous
| It doesn’t seem like any of these are a huge commitment. I know kids who can’t keep up with club swim and club soccer because they are both 4-5 days a week. |