Let her do whatever she likes at this age, but aggressive and competitive and petite is PERFECT for crew. I was a coxswain and LOVED everything about it - control, leadership, competition, responsibility, some skill in steering/docking and a good boat feels like flying over water. So fun!! |
Lacrosse may be a good fit - especially if she is fast with good hand-eye coordination. |
Stop thinking ahead and just have her choose a sport she will like..tennis, basketball, soccer, pickleball whatever brings her joy! |
She's in fourth grade and you're picking out her high school sports for her? |
Definitely baseball and/or basketball.
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Look into synchronized swimming. They need smaller girls for lifts, etc. |
That’s not a sport |
My niece was like your daughter. She played soccer throughout high school, but she was fast. Softball could work or maybe field hockey. Although size is helpful in swimming, there are some good small swimmers (mostly breaststrokers, flyers), so that's a possibility too. But if she likes being aggressive, then swimming may not be for her. |
Bring competitive will take her a loooooong way. Just let her play what she wants. |
I'm that height and was never good at any sports. All the athletes seem so tall now. I could run though. Have her try cross country or other track and field sports. |
My son is short and small (he is almost 14 and only 5'3" and 91 lbs). For him, cross country worked out better than track, because he could make up for a lack of initial speed with stamina.
Also, although there is definitely an advantage to being tall in tennis, he made the high school team as an 8th grader, but he has been taking private lessons since he was 7. |
Field hockey would be great. The best girl on my high school team (that went to the state finals) was only 4’10”. |
It’s true. My daughter’s basketball team had a few tall girls ducking from the ball. An aggressive smaller kid could have snagged a lot of rebounds and steals. |
If she really wants to be aggressive and scrappy, she's perfect for wrestling.
Girls youth wrestling is growing in the DMV, and her size wont be a problem |
Let her play what she wants just know that you and she will constantly need to push for her to play even if she is better than other bigger team mates. She will face bias and it’s awful. I have a very small girl who is aggressive and plays many sports well and coaches are constantly saying she may be too small for this or that role in college. |