Team Sports for Petite Girls

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She’s 7 . Let her try what she wants. If sge likes soccer keep doing soccer. Kids sizes are all over the place.

This x1000. Please let this not be a real post.

+100

Plus, some of the petite kids are quicker and more agile on the soccer field.

And your kid is 7 - why does your pediatrician think there won't be a growth spurt ??

[Anonymous]

At 7, let her play/try what she wants. There may be positions that she can’t perform (I.e. keepers/goalies tend to be taller).

Specifically in soccer, height is something that doesn’t typically matter. She may need to work on her running. The 4 best players (or at least 4 of the top 5) range in height from 5’7” (Lionel Messi) to 6’2” (Cristiano Ronaldo). The other 2 are also below 6 feet.

You are going to create an image problem if you let her appearance shape what she can/can’t do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She’s 7 . Let her try what she wants. If sge likes soccer keep doing soccer. Kids sizes are all over the place.

This x1000. Please let this not be a real post.

I don't think it's a stupid question. My kids often ask me what they should play and I try to sign them up for things I think they'd like/be good at. I'm a petite person with very tall children, so I'm also learning about what sports would be good for my kids.

OP as a short person I was good at gymnastics (they're very short) and also liked tennis a lot. I thought I was a good runner, but I couldn't outpace tall people in sports like track/soccer/swimming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She’s 7 . Let her try what she wants. If sge likes soccer keep doing soccer. Kids sizes are all over the place.

This x1000. Please let this not be a real post.

I don't think it's a stupid question. My kids often ask me what they should play and I try to sign them up for things I think they'd like/be good at. I'm a petite person with very tall children, so I'm also learning about what sports would be good for my kids.

OP as a short person I was good at gymnastics (they're very short) and also liked tennis a lot. I thought I was a good runner, but I couldn't outpace tall people in sports like track/soccer/swimming.

The kid is 7. Focus should be on exposure and fun, not future success based on body composition.

[Anonymous]

I have a tiny softball player. She's an incredibly hard worker and coachable kid. She's fast. While she's sadly run into occasional size discrimination, most coaches love her for all her other attributes.

[Anonymous]

Synchronized swimming.

[Anonymous]

All forms of dance. Start with ballet. It creates body awareness that would benefit her in any sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She’s 7 . Let her try what she wants. If sge likes soccer keep doing soccer. Kids sizes are all over the place.

This x1000. Please let this not be a real post.

I don't think it's a stupid question. My kids often ask me what they should play and I try to sign them up for things I think they'd like/be good at. I'm a petite person with very tall children, so I'm also learning about what sports would be good for my kids.

OP as a short person I was good at gymnastics (they're very short) and also liked tennis a lot. I thought I was a good runner, but I couldn't outpace tall people in sports like track/soccer/swimming.

The kid is 7. Focus should be on exposure and fun, not future success based on body composition.

Lots of girls drop out of sports for good in middle school. Exposure is great, but I think it's also worth thinking about long term options where the kid is likely to be able to be successful.

My small girl absolutely loved basketball in early elementary and I absolutely encouraged her to play, but it became less and less fun for her as the height difference increased into middle school. She's on track to be 5'1" or 5'2" per her pediatrician. Basketball isn't likely to be a great fit for her long term, so she's trying other sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She’s 7 . Let her try what she wants. If sge likes soccer keep doing soccer. Kids sizes are all over the place.

This x1000. Please let this not be a real post.

I don't think it's a stupid question. My kids often ask me what they should play and I try to sign them up for things I think they'd like/be good at. I'm a petite person with very tall children, so I'm also learning about what sports would be good for my kids.

OP as a short person I was good at gymnastics (they're very short) and also liked tennis a lot. I thought I was a good runner, but I couldn't outpace tall people in sports like track/soccer/swimming.

The kid is 7. Focus should be on exposure and fun, not future success based on body composition.

Lots of girls drop out of sports for good in middle school. Exposure is great, but I think it's also worth thinking about long term options where the kid is likely to be able to be successful.

My small girl absolutely loved basketball in early elementary and I absolutely encouraged her to play, but it became less and less fun for her as the height difference increased into middle school. She's on track to be 5'1" or 5'2" per her pediatrician. Basketball isn't likely to be a great fit for her long term, so she's trying other sports.

Success doesn't predict whether girls will drop out or not. I have a middle schooler. She was on a successful team with wonderful coaches, a great team culture, and a good sport-life balance where about half the girls (all individually successful athletes at the sport) just stopped playing for various reasons. I wouldn't assume the successful athletes will be the ones who stick. In many ways it's going to be the other way around - the ones with the drive to stick will eventually be the successful ones.

[Anonymous]

I'm 5'2" and played tennis in high school and college -- usually doubles. To me, it felt like a team sport and I still love to play. My DH is tall and the kids all got the height genes from his side, including our DD, who is 5'10" and plays college lacrosse. On every lacrosse team she's ever played on there's been at least one, and often more, high-scoring petite players who are super-fast and agile. I love watching them zip down the field, find a hole in the defense and fire that ball into the net.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best player on my daughter's basketball team is the shortest one because she's fast and squirrely (for lack of a better word - she gets in and out of situations quickly, she's really good at stealing the ball).

yeah that's great, but wont' work as they get older

So what, OP's child is 7, and she can play rec sports for as long as she wants. Not every child needs to be super competitive. Some kids just play sports for fun. Thank goodness for rec leagues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She’s 7 . Let her try what she wants. If sge likes soccer keep doing soccer. Kids sizes are all over the place.

This x1000. Please let this not be a real post.

I don't think it's a stupid question. My kids often ask me what they should play and I try to sign them up for things I think they'd like/be good at. I'm a petite person with very tall children, so I'm also learning about what sports would be good for my kids.

OP as a short person I was good at gymnastics (they're very short) and also liked tennis a lot. I thought I was a good runner, but I couldn't outpace tall people in sports like track/soccer/swimming.

The kid is 7. Focus should be on exposure and fun, not future success based on body composition.

Lots of girls drop out of sports for good in middle school. Exposure is great, but I think it's also worth thinking about long term options where the kid is likely to be able to be successful.

My small girl absolutely loved basketball in early elementary and I absolutely encouraged her to play, but it became less and less fun for her as the height difference increased into middle school. She's on track to be 5'1" or 5'2" per her pediatrician. Basketball isn't likely to be a great fit for her long term, so she's trying other sports.

+100

In elementary school, of course they should try everything! But at some point, it makes some sense to consider the long term, especially if it is likely your kid will be very short or very tall. In some sports height matters (basketball, volleyball). Just common sense. Most people with older kids will have seen this.

OP I would recommend trying softball if she would be interested.

FWIW: my DD was always short (25% percentile all the way through childhood) and seemed on track to remain that way…but she is 5’7”. Late bloomer & made up for it during puberty. So things can change. But DH is tallish and I am average- nobody in our families is truly short.

[Anonymous]

anything she wants. Anything? Anything

[Anonymous]

I agree anything/soccer at that age!

But if she were older, I would also say volleyball! Volleyball teams have people of all sizes.

If she’s really little she could also maybe be a coxswain.

[Anonymous]

OP back. I'll try to answer some of the big questions that stuck out to me. Thanks to everyone for your input.

First, obviously, if my daughter wanted to continue with soccer, I would be thrilled and supportive. She's always loved soccer. But this past season, it really started to bother her that she couldn't keep up. She's very competitive and it was discouraging for her. Maybe when she's a little older and there's more strategy involved than just being the fastest runner, she'll come back to it and her size won't matter as much, but at this age, it really is about who can run fastest and she's fast, but just can't keep up with kids heads and shoulders taller than her.

Since she expressed some frustration with soccer, and because she's only 7, this seems like a good time to try out other sports that might interest her. And since her size was the main difficulty for her in soccer, we want to set her up for success in another sport, so it's not just more of the same issue.