Specific to my kids / rec sports

[Anonymous]

You didn't need a fitness plan for your kids until high school. You need a plan for the next season or two. Reasonable parents can say something like

I want you to have an active activity and a team activity. They can be the same thing, like a team sport or athletic activity, or you can join the robotics/chess/math/history/cooking/community service/whateveryouwant team to experience teamwork and then do 30 minutes active play on your own.

They can switch it up each season if they want.

[Anonymous]

Kids who are on small side do well in wrestling as the weight classes eliminate the size differential- additionally wrestling is one of the few youth sports that consentrates on conditioning and fitness.

Lacrosse is significantly less competitive than soccer. In my experince a good soccer player become top performer at lacrosse.

Climbing is a great sport if you’re kids are naturally strong- the major drawback is that there is not a lot of community support so you are pretty much on your own.

My general principle is to what the kid is interested in but if they don’t have strong opinions to prefer the sports that most promote fitness (ie swimmin, wrestling and soccer)


Good luck

[Anonymous]

There is a lot of ... not great advice on this thread.

They sound happy in their sports. Soccer is fantastic with the running and the fairly low bar -- everyone can play and get better.

A lot of soccer players pick up lacrosse fairly easily.

A LOT of them transition easily to XC and/or track in high school.

Swimming is never a bad idea ... burns a lot of energy and gives you a great skill for life.

Aside from that, just make sure they're outside playing as much as possible. Shoot hoops at the park. Ride bikes.

[Anonymous]

Just keep signing them up for rec soccer and basketball with their current team. They will eventually want to keep going because their friends are on those teams.

With soccer, kids peel off to go to travel soccer about age 8 and with basketball, its age 10 or so... so kids that stay in rec start to become better as the more skilled players leave.

I'd also put them in track clubs in the spring or winter if possible.

Once the get into video games, iPads, computers and cell phones, it will be hard to get them back outside to play and climb those trees, sadly. So, don't get them that stuff for as long as possible. We've lost all our neighborhood kids to video games by age 11 in my neighborhood. No more outside playing. Consider enrolling in Scouting too if possible.