Too focused on competitive sports around here

[Anonymous]

We moved here from flyover country and I found the lack of focus on competitive sports nice! Where we used to live kids began with private coaches at 5 and 6 years old. That is the age when they begin to split kids between competitive and rec leagues. Parents are obessed and at least 75% of boys are redshirted because most leagues are grade based rather than age based. We could rarely have a 2nd grade play date after school because every single boy played on the 2nd (!!!) grade football team except ours. They practices everyday after school-- first hour with pads! The minute football ends it is right into basketball then spring soccer. It was really crazy and so glad we live here now!

[Anonymous]

Back to Pittsburgh, I recently watched a video from a friend there with a 1st grade boy playing baseball and a mom in the crowd was yelling to the kids in the outfield whether the kid at bat was a good or poor hitter. At least I don't see that kind of rude, over the top behavior at my kid's games.

[Anonymous]

I'm from the Pittsburgh area and I know what you mean. We all participated in sports growing up, but we played in the neighborhood tons too. Plus in that area football is king and its not quite f ootball season yet!

[Anonymous]

Really OP? Clearly, you have never spent a whole lot of time in the South. Football down there does NOT start in HS - it starts being intense in the peewee leagues. Baseball also. In a lot of those places where there is not a lot of of "other" things to do, sports is king. And it is SERIOUS business. All of my kids played travel level sports here and it did get intense. However, it pales in comparison to the intensity that I grew up with in my small Southern town where MS kids would get stopped on the street and praised or criticized by strangers about a game.

Here, you have a diversity of sports and options with respect to intensity. Don't want to play soccer at a super competitive level? Fine, there are places for you here.

I do agree with PP that academic and educational competitiveness here is over the top in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually think it's worse in other areas. People more focused on sports in smaller cities and towns and less on academics. In other areas though I guess they might not have the academic pressures as well or at least to the same extent. Also this area has a lot of options for sports that might not be available in other areas so more people take advantage of them. Some kids on our street still just play outside every day, but many others are involved in competitive sports all the time. I'm with you OP though. DC's in 1st grade and is decent at sports but can't even keep up anymore with the more competitive players.

+1. OP, if you think it's bad here, try major cities in the south (Atlanta, Dallas, places in Florida) or in states like Ohio, where EVERYTHING, and I mean everything, is focused on football or other sports, even for very young kids. I always chalk it up to the fact that parents don't have the intellectual capacity to push them at anything else.

yep we are in Boston now and it is INSANE

[Anonymous]

Interesting that most of America thinks being over the top in sports is perfectly normal but being over the top in academics is crazy. Why do you think this is?

[Anonymous]

I've also never been around town and heard a person comment "great job Johhny on winning the chess tournament" or "great job Alice on that art award you got" or "great job Jimmy on getting that great service project you completed". But it's normal to hear "great job on beating the Bears in baseball yesterday". Why is it that most Americans think sports is the only thing to be competitive about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've also never been around town and heard a person comment "great job Johhny on winning the chess tournament" or "great job Alice on that art award you got" or "great job Jimmy on getting that great service project you completed". But it's normal to hear "great job on beating the Bears in baseball yesterday". Why is it that most Americans think sports is the only thing to be competitive about?[/quote]

LOL! Have you spent a lot of time in Europe or in any soccer loving country? Trust me, it ain't just Americans. In America, I have never heard of a player in any sport getting killed for a poor performace.

[Anonymous]

I think the issue here is that there are no real options here for recreational sports involvement once you get much beyond second grade.

It's either all or none for older elementary and beyond.

In other places we have lived there are more recreational options for elementary kids. Here, there are virtually none.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue here is that there are no real options here for recreational sports involvement once you get much beyond second grade.

It's either all or none for older elementary and beyond.

In other places we have lived there are more recreational options for elementary kids. Here, there are virtually none.

I am not sure where you live in this area, but I have not found this to be true at all. There are rec leagues pretty much through HS for most sports.

[Anonymous]

My kids all play on travel leagues and parents make more of it than necessary. Fortunately they also play in the alley with other neighborhood kids - kickball, wiffle ball, basketball and some made up games.

My kids are lucky to have so many resources available to them - competitive sports is one place where they learn that hard work pays off, life isn't always fair, and its the team that matters on a weekly basis.

[Anonymous]

I think the real issue, as a few people have noted, is how early the competitive leagues start these days. Our son has a friend who as an 8 year old was on travel baseball and basketball teams, and going as far as Richmond on the weekends (which isn't super far, but at 8...). That to me is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Yes, this is what I was wondering if changed. How long have kids been on travel teams starting at 8 years old? Were 8 year old sports always this competitive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue here is that there are no real options here for recreational sports involvement once you get much beyond second grade.

It's either all or none for older elementary and beyond.

In other places we have lived there are more recreational options for elementary kids. Here, there are virtually none.

Uh, hello? You are very misinformed. Have you not heard of Stoddert soccer? Goes all the way up. Totally non-competitive. Both my kids dropped out by third because they are hard core athletes and could not deal with the low level of play. I would have loved Stoddert as a kid. Also, Bethesda League Lacrosse? They have both rec and travel levels for all age groups. The rec is really, really, not competitive. Anyone can join a team. The list goes on, Jellef Basketball league? One on One Basketball? Really, PP, you are just not AWARE of all the basic, rec level sports leagues out there. There are plenty and they are very accessible.

We were with our kids a lax tournament (Beach lax) recently. Several DC area teams were there as well as teams from all over Maryland, a few from New York/Long Island and other farther places. Now, this is NOT a top lacrosse tournament. It doesn't even go past U13, has no college recruiters and is a really low level tournament, mostly just for fun. For the most part, the DC area teams got killed. The kids from every where else have much, much more intense lax programs that start much, much younger.

There are cities and areas of the country that sleep, eat and breathe ( name sport) just for the littlest kids sports teams. Seriously, OP, Washington is way, way down at the bottom for competitive sports.

Academic achievement is the sport of Washington,my friend.

[Anonymous]

Not sure how this area compares with others, but I feel your pain about how sports-focused life for kids seems to be. My son is 7 and has now perfected the line "I don't care for sports." But he can't avoid it. His reading groups in 1st grade are named for sports teams, and god bless the sorry child who doesn't know who the Terrapins are (that would be my son.) Only required activity at aftercare -- bball. Endless games to watch in the gym, no exceptions. I feel like it is hard to get away from sports.