Sports practice on weekends

[Anonymous]

I get there are numerous logistics reasons for it, but I agree it’s very unhealthy for them. Like 10am even wouldn’t kill anyone - seems like shorter but well rested would be more productive. Especially as many meets and practices also run late during the week.

My daughter had summer cheer camp that was 730am-9pm for 4 days. It was a 45m drive, and literally even if she came home and went right to bed she wasn’t getting enough sleep. Fine for a short term thing when not in school but I see sports like this all the time with no way to get enough sleep while also expected to go to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get there are numerous logistics reasons for it, but I agree it’s very unhealthy for them. Like 10am even wouldn’t kill anyone - seems like shorter but well rested would be more productive. Especially as many meets and practices also run late during the week.

My daughter had summer cheer camp that was 730am-9pm for 4 days. It was a 45m drive, and literally even if she came home and went right to bed she wasn’t getting enough sleep. Fine for a short term thing when not in school but I see sports like this all the time with no way to get enough sleep while also expected to go to school.

It's cross country. Any runner would rather run long distances at 7 am, instead of 10 am, in the summer.

[Anonymous]

XC is hard with the early morning workouts. Sorry OP but it's been this way for decades.

[Anonymous]

Ours had high school softball practice most Saturdays but they never started before 9 so our DD didn’t mind. The season wasn’t that long in the grand scheme so it wasn’t that many Saturdays.

[Anonymous]

I don't like this either, but I think for some sports it's a matter of field availability (not cross country, obviously). Overall, though, my son has not had weekend commitments for high school sports and I appreciate that. They do, however, practice over holiday breaks (baseball during spring break!), which is "optional" but not optional if you want to do anything but sit on the bench the rest of the season. That drives me nuts.

His travel sport is all weekends, but that we signed up for and is our own decision. I think high school sports should bound to the school schedule and largely leave weekends and holidays alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do your kids have it? My dd has hours of practice after school every day, and she's also expected to run tomorrow at 7. She is exhausted and want to sleep in. Why do they do this to kids?! I don't get why they can't let the kids train on their own using strava or at least have some evening practice instead of am.

Do an individual sport if you want to dance to your own beat

[Anonymous]

I think the bigger issue is that Saturday practices shouldn't be the norm. At my DCs high school, no team used to practice on Saturdays. Then the football team decided they would. Soon it was field hockey and volleyball following suit. Sure, if you want to play, you have to suck it up and go to Saturday practices, but it would be better if kids weren't put in that position to start with.

[Anonymous]

This is just the way it is, sometimes.

My DS had practice last night until 9pm, then due back at the field at 6:45am this morning for a scrimmage with warmups prior (early hour to beat the heat). Has the rest of the weekend off. Took a nap in the afternoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't like this either, but I think for some sports it's a matter of field availability (not cross country, obviously). Overall, though, my son has not had weekend commitments for high school sports and I appreciate that. They do, however, practice over holiday breaks (baseball during spring break!), which is "optional" but not optional if you want to do anything but sit on the bench the rest of the season. That drives me nuts.

His travel sport is all weekends, but that we signed up for and is our own decision. I think high school sports should bound to the school schedule and largely leave weekends and holidays alone.

I don’t mind the weekends quite as much (especially if it is Sat AM( but the “optional” (ha!) practices over school break drive me crazy. It is one of the only times families with older kids can actually vacation (especially since fall sports often start practicing with weeks or even a month still left of summer!).

[Anonymous]

Lololol

- swim mom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lololol

- swim mom

Exactly. I was doing 2 hour Saturday morning practices for swimming in the 80s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do your kids have it? My dd has hours of practice after school every day, and she's also expected to run tomorrow at 7. She is exhausted and want to sleep in. Why do they do this to kids?! I don't get why they can't let the kids train on their own using strava or at least have some evening practice instead of am.

Oh sweetie this is embarrassing for you.

I suggest going up at 7am in your pajamas and ask to speak the coach about how unhealthy it is. That should help.

[Anonymous]

Your child is not cut out for team sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. I know many of the XC invitationals mean super early Sat mornings. It was tough on the whole family to get my kid up and dropped off at the bus sometimes as early as 6am. He did it but didn’t love it. Hats off to the kids who seem to embrace the early mornings.

Crew and swimming are usually around 5 am so anything after that is luxury sport