Why club sports?
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Anonymous
I’m sure your kids won’t even make the high school teams |
Anonymous
Soccer is this exactly. Parents worry kids who don’t start early won’t be able to catch up, plus there just aren’t the same number of slots available when kids are older. It sucks and I wish there was no such thing as travel soccer until they were 10- that way all the kids would be playing rec. But so be it. Other sports, kids seem to be able to start travel later- softball, volleyball, field hockey. |
Anonymous
| So you follow the masses? SAD! |
Anonymous
Lol, I would love to hear more of your “never” and “always” parenting wisdom. I bet there’s a lengthy list! |
Anonymous
| OP. They really do it just to annoying you. Get over yourself. Other people have different priorities than you about a lot of things. As you reach high school with drugs and violence travel sports are going to be the least of your issues. |
Anonymous
Agree with this 100%. And for soccer, a lot of kids have been playing since they were three. By second grade they are ready to kick it up a notch if they really love it. Having said that, I still know many kids who are really happy in rec soccer at that age. |
Anonymous
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Must we have one of these anti sports threads every few weeks? It’s always an attack on sports but never any other extracurriculars that other kids spend tons of time doing.
Some kids just enjoy sports. It’s not about college, or professional opportunities or any other ridiculous social currency for parents. The kids enjoy their sport and want to play with other kids who share the interest. |
Anonymous
We started travel in 4th because my dd hated playing on a team where some kids didn't want to be there at all, others didn't care about the game and some were not athletic at all. That left the few kids who cared running themselves into the ground trying to win then being upset with their team if they lost |
Anonymous
| My DS started club soccer in grade 3 or maybe 4 because he absolutely loved playing. He started with tiny tot clinics at age 3 and was always dribbling after that. He wanted to play year-round, do extra skills sessions, wear only soccer clothes, etc. By 2nd grade he wanted to play with other kids like him - fanatics that loved the sport, played hard, and talked about their favorite players/teams. Club provided that - and I was happy to support. |
Anonymous
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OP you are not going to get an answer that satisfies you here. You'll get the "all travel/club families are crazy!" crowd and people like 08:21 whose kid seems to be driving the switch. You'll get the standard argument that families that play rec are truly terrible and their children don't deserve to play sports from the club/travel crowd (I'd argue that leagues should do better by athletes who care...).
The only right answer is to pick what fits your family and ignore what everyone else is doing or thinking. |
Anonymous
I was going to answer from the perspective of classical ballet, which isn't a club sport but takes up as much time and money as one. Even as a 2nd grader, kid wanted to be great and be around kids who wanted to be as serious about it as they were. They got annoyed when kids were messing around and could not fathom how someone could just skip class all the time since their performance depended on everyone being present. Kid could have gone to the local dance studio down the street and taken a ballet/jazz/tap combo class once a week but they wanted as much ballet as possible, watched ballet videos in their free time, wrote down every correction after class in a little notebook, constantly practiced at home on their own initiative, dreamed of getting the big roles that older dancers get, asked to do more and more and more. We were happy to pay for the best training we could within our budget and commuting distance. For this kid, ballet was (is still) their passion but I have absolutely no doubt that if they'd been as into soccer or lacrosse with the same intensity, we would have put them in travel as soon as possible and never looked back because that's where the training is. |
Anonymous
Actually, parents should spend time in their dreamworld. Life will let you know your kid’s limitations soon enough. If you think you are driving a future Super Bowl MVP to practice enjoy it. It won’t last forever. |
Anonymous
My kids are in high school now and they've done travel from 4th grade in multiple sports. The only parents that I've met who really think their kids will even play in college have been right. Most parents know their kids and what they are capable of and the vast majority realize sports will end in high school. |
Anonymous
All three of my kids did travel sports and I found it to be the most fun part of parenting. My favorite parts include: 1. One -on -one trips with your kid. If you have multiple kids, you don’t get a lot of individual time. Traveling to tournaments and sharing ahotel room is a great opportunity to build your relationship. 2. Greater insight into you kid’s world. Because tournaments require parents and kids to spend so much time together (Particularly so much downtime) You get to observe their world and a way that you never would ordinarily. 3. Joint project provides opportunities for complex lessons. Your kid’s travel sports career Is sort of a joint project. This provides lots of opportunities for more complex questions like how to be a team mate to someone you’re competing with. 4. Little moments. Over The course of your kids travel career they’ll be tons of moments. And those little moments will be a touchstone Between you and your child forever. Years after my kids stopped playing - We still have our inside jokes about their teams. There’s lots of other reasons to do travel sports. But be aware that if the goal is athletic excellence travel sports is a very small part of that. |
Anonymous
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Our league forced my son to move out of rec because he was scoring a goal every time he touched the ball because the rest of the kids were picking daisys.
Never say … I’d never play club before middle school like I did. |