Sports for a small stature girl

Anonymous
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!!
Anonymous
Lacrosse may be a good fit - especially if she is fast with good hand-eye coordination.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:My daughter absolutely loves aggressive sports and being competitive, but is the youngest in her grade and is small for her age. Right now she's 50" tall and in 4th grade--for those who don't think in inches, she wears a size 7/8 girls. She might not seem quite so small if we'd redshirted, but being the youngest on every team makes her seem even smaller (relatively).

I'd love for her to continue playing sports into high school, but know that sports are only going to get more competitive in middle school. What sports should she consider where her smaller stature won't be a big disadvantage?

(Given family genetics and her growth curve, we expect that she's going to max out at 5'1-5'3", so it's probably not a temporary issue.)


Stop thinking ahead and just have her choose a sport she will like..tennis, basketball, soccer, pickleball whatever brings her joy!
Anonymous
She's in fourth grade and you're picking out her high school sports for her?
Anonymous
Definitely baseball and/or basketball.
Anonymous
Look into synchronized swimming. They need smaller girls for lifts, etc.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Stay away from stupid team sports. Do what Asian people do, and it’s golf.


That’s not a sport
Anonymous
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.
Anonymous
Bring competitive will take her a loooooong way. Just let her play what she wants.
Anonymous
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.
Anonymous
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.
Anonymous
Field hockey would be great. The best girl on my high school team (that went to the state finals) was only 4’10”.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Bring competitive will take her a loooooong way. Just let her play what she wants.


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.
Anonymous
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
Anonymous
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.
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