What sports can do you at a competitive level without it being crazy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sailing and bowling.

Sailing around the harbor sure, sailing in regattas, not at all

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tennis. Less intense and easy travel. No massive bags of gear.

Year round, court fees, tournaments, private coaching, etc, etc. but you’re right that you don’t need to dress like a hockey player. And the team only carries 12 players. Very intense and competitive at DS’s high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tennis. Less intense and easy travel. No massive bags of gear.

Wut

[Anonymous]

Sailing bowling fishing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pickleball I guess crew maybe

Crew??? No. It takes forever - drive/run to boathouse, pre row warm up and boat launching, workout, take care of and put away boat, drive home. A basketball practice is shorter. It also gets very intense - boats tend to get very tight, and competition for seats on a boat are often intense head to head races, either in a boat or on an erg. It’s a lot.

And it’s WONDERFUL.

NP, and former rower - yeah, I LOL'd at that suggestion, too. It's one of the most intense sports out there in terms of physical demands: technique, strength, power, aerobic endurance... and it is the absolute best.

Most cross-country teams are more welcoming than the one PP mentioned. Only the fastest kids' times count towards team scores at regular meets, but everyone runs. I loved cross-country.

The problem in this area is that so many kids start out very young, and so the competition by high school is steep even to participate at some high schools. Cross-country is different in that most kids don't start running that young. It's also not technical in the way swimming or baseball is, which means people with natural speed don't have to play much catch-up.

[Anonymous]

Crew you can make high school team wiyj ko experience whatsoever if you are a decent athlete. Cut the bullshit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sailing bowling fishing

I invite you to join me at one of my kids regattas, it’s so intense. Like many sports it wasn’t this way “back in the day.” But now…wow. I’d venture to say though you see that in anything that is “competitive.” Im sure there are fishing tiger moms out there.

[Anonymous]

Yeah this all depends on your high school. At our school kids make the lacrosse, field hockey, and volleyball teams who’ve never played before.

[Anonymous]

op here - i have 3 young boys, no one is specialized in any yet and the oldest 2 seem happy doing most things.

talking to friends with older kids, it seems like if you want to play at even the local competitive level, it gets very intense by late elementary for most common sports. it also sounds like a lot of the less competitive clubs wind down then or only people that are brand new to the sport stay in them. so you're either playing 4 day a week year round basketball at 12 or you're not playing at all.

i'm looking for the sports that are just a lot less common and therefore you can stick with them, be good at them, compete etc but not 15 hours a week year round at 12. I figure skated and danced and my sister did gymnastic - we both competed and practiced a few times a week through high school. we loved the competition aspects and wouldn't have wanted to just do it for fun practice only - my impression is that that level of commitment in those sports today wouldn't get you anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Crew you can make high school team wiyj ko experience whatsoever if you are a decent athlete. Cut the bullshit

Yes, you can make the high school crew team, without any past rowing but the actual experience of being on the crew team is ridiculously intense and all consuming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sailing bowling fishing

I invite you to join me at one of my kids regattas, it’s so intense. Like many sports it wasn’t this way “back in the day.” But now…wow. I’d venture to say though you see that in anything that is “competitive.” Im sure there are fishing tiger moms out there.

Agreed. - Sailing parent, who also grew up sailing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:op here - i have 3 young boys, no one is specialized in any yet and the oldest 2 seem happy doing most things.

talking to friends with older kids, it seems like if you want to play at even the local competitive level, it gets very intense by late elementary for most common sports. it also sounds like a lot of the less competitive clubs wind down then or only people that are brand new to the sport stay in them. so you're either playing 4 day a week year round basketball at 12 or you're not playing at all.

i'm looking for the sports that are just a lot less common and therefore you can stick with them, be good at them, compete etc but not 15 hours a week year round at 12. I figure skated and danced and my sister did gymnastic - we both competed and practiced a few times a week through high school. we loved the competition aspects and wouldn't have wanted to just do it for fun practice only - my impression is that that level of commitment in those sports today wouldn't get you anywhere.

There are rec level basketball and soccer all the way through high school where it is one practice a week and one game a week. But those kids aren’t making the high school teams.

[Anonymous]

Squash? Fencing?
I feel like any activity can be super intense if you want it to be, but it doesn't need to be!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pickleball I guess crew maybe

Crew??? No. It takes forever - drive/run to boathouse, pre row warm up and boat launching, workout, take care of and put away boat, drive home. A basketball practice is shorter. It also gets very intense - boats tend to get very tight, and competition for seats on a boat are often intense head to head races, either in a boat or on an erg. It’s a lot.

And it’s WONDERFUL.

Bless your heart. The first day after the varsity team was announced at DS’s school (a Saturday) there were 7 hours of practice scheduled (morning and afternoon, pm with a break for lunch). Multiple schools in the DMV are consistently ranked in the top 25 nationally, and they send a few kids to the NBA (e.g. Markelle Fultz). Basketball is 7 days a week all year, at least 2 hours per day (more when there’s practice or a game) every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pickleball I guess crew maybe

Crew??? No. It takes forever - drive/run to boathouse, pre row warm up and boat launching, workout, take care of and put away boat, drive home. A basketball practice is shorter. It also gets very intense - boats tend to get very tight, and competition for seats on a boat are often intense head to head races, either in a boat or on an erg. It’s a lot.

And it’s WONDERFUL.

Bless your heart. The first day after the varsity team was announced at DS’s school (a Saturday) there were 7 hours of practice scheduled (morning and afternoon, pm with a break for lunch). Multiple schools in the DMV are consistently ranked in the top 25 nationally, and they send a few kids to the NBA (e.g. Markelle Fultz). Basketball is 7 days a week all year, at least 2 hours per day (more when there’s practice or a game) every day.

Yeah, I’ve had a kid on the high school basketball team, and a kid on the high school crew team. Multiple schools in the dmv are nationally ranked in both sports. Basketball is 2 hours a day. (My kid never had a 7 hour practice). Crew is 2 hours a day in the winter, but 4 hours a day in summer, fall, and spring, and that doesn’t include a few days a week of morning lifting. My kid who played basketball usually had 5 or 6 days a week of practice, but sometimes had 7. and the crew kid basically always 6 days of crew, but almost always has sundays off. They are both intense sports. But rowing is much more of a cult like experience than basketball.