I hate it when people say parents should put their kids in basketball or baseball instead of football because of CTE

[Anonymous]

Once you get beyond rec league, your sports through high school are a time and money suck, neither of which you will ever get back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I hate it when parents of good or even great young athletes act like they are on the Olympic or pro path when they are decidedly not.

Unless your kid is the second coming of Peyton Manning, keeping him out of football because if CTE is a perfectly rational decision. If the point is he likes sports, he wants to be involved in sports and you want him to have the benefits of being involved in sports, baseball, basketball or any other sport is perfectly fine.

Huh? How would you know your kid was the second coming in a sport they've never played?

[Anonymous]

Baseball is not full and has no barrier to entry, you can be quite bad and still play. My kid played until 13 and then transitioned to rowing. The intense physical exercise is great for him. There are other sports than football, basketball, soccer, baseball

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I hate it when parents of good or even great young athletes act like they are on the Olympic or pro path when they are decidedly not.

Unless your kid is the second coming of Peyton Manning, keeping him out of football because if CTE is a perfectly rational decision. If the point is he likes sports, he wants to be involved in sports and you want him to have the benefits of being involved in sports, baseball, basketball or any other sport is perfectly fine.

Huh? How would you know your kid was the second coming in a sport they've never played?

Anything leading up to high school will tell you all you need to know about their potential.

[Anonymous]

It’s true, though. CTE is not something to be trifled with. All sports have risks, but football carries serious risks that no child should suffer.

[Anonymous]

I mean we do flag instead of tackle because of CTE. I'm not sure what we'll do when he gets to HS (though we've said no tackle ever). He also plays other sports, but he doesn't love any of them in the same way.

Nothing will replace love of football for him, but that doesn't mean we want him to risk brain damage at age 16. We also wouldn't put him in rugby or hockey for the same reasons.

Having said all that we don't tell other people what to do...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Baseball is not full and has no barrier to entry, you can be quite bad and still play. My kid played until 13 and then transitioned to rowing. The intense physical exercise is great for him. There are other sports than football, basketball, soccer, baseball

Um a glove bat and cleats plus uniform is pretty costly but then again you mentioned rowing so youre SD is skewed.

[Anonymous]

I think the overarching point stands that football creates a high likelihood of CTE and you should avoid putting your kid in. End of day though, I can’t control what you do with your kids — choices and consequences will always play out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once you get beyond rec league, your sports through high school are a time and money suck, neither of which you will ever get back.

Truth. Also, parents push kids into sports for their own ego. It's not really what kids want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is some advice from someone who has college graduate former sports kids. Sports are not worth it. My kids have permanent physical and mental injuries from sports that we paid thousands for. They would have learned more in school without sports, have less pain and we would have more money.

so dumb. your kids were probably in something like gymnastics or ice skating

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baseball is not full and has no barrier to entry, you can be quite bad and still play. My kid played until 13 and then transitioned to rowing. The intense physical exercise is great for him. There are other sports than football, basketball, soccer, baseball

Um a glove bat and cleats plus uniform is pretty costly but then again you mentioned rowing so youre SD is skewed.

They didn’t say anything about cost, they said skill was a barrier to entry. Even so for younger children Dick’s has a pallet of $19.99 cleats, there are team bats and the uniform is included in the registration fee (waived for our LL if needed)
Our crew team (title I school also offers fee assistance, FWIW)

[Anonymous]

Some kids just have natural skill and ability and love playing. You sign them up in the beginning because it is fun. You continue because they like it. My DS9 is one of those that has some natural skill and loves it. He plays baseball and soccer and is pretty good at both. I'm not thinking beyond him playing for as long as he can/wants to. It is all driven by him. I think there is value in being on a team and working together, supporting your teammates, etc.

We are also a skiing family. He is an expert skier. We sort of forced that onewhen he was little because we love to go skiing so much. We lucked out that he took to it and really loves it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some kids just have natural skill and ability and love playing. You sign them up in the beginning because it is fun. You continue because they like it. My DS9 is one of those that has some natural skill and loves it. He plays baseball and soccer and is pretty good at both. I'm not thinking beyond him playing for as long as he can/wants to. It is all driven by him. I think there is value in being on a team and working together, supporting your teammates, etc.

We are also a skiing family. He is an expert skier. We sort of forced that onewhen he was little because we love to go skiing so much. We lucked out that he took to it and really loves it.

That's great! Also... he's 9. You don't really have much perspective yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once you get beyond rec league, your sports through high school are a time and money suck, neither of which you will ever get back.

Rec sports are great if you can get a reasonably stable team together. You can get the physical and social benefits without a crazy time or money commitment. I'm hoping our established teams keep going as long as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once you get beyond rec league, your sports through high school are a time and money suck, neither of which you will ever get back.

Truth. Also, parents push kids into sports for their own ego. It's not really what kids want.

False, how do you know what my kid wants? My kid absolutely LOVES every moment they spend playing their sport and all the associated activities around it.