Exposure to multiple sports or specialize in the elementary aged kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s hard and I don’t know what the right answer is. DS is a rising third grader and he has friends specializing already, mostly in either baseball or soccer. He likes sports in general and has alternated up until now (e.g. baseball in spring and soccer in fall) but I don’t know how much longer that makes sense if he wants to move beyond rec leagues. He also really took to summer swim and it seems like if a kid has any interest in club swimming you need to get them in early or risk not being able to get a spot later.

Specializing at such a young age really can be dangerous.

Not just from a physical perspective (baseball players repeating the same motion 11 months out of the year), but also from a social/self-esteem one.

We've known multiple kids that have wrapped their identity up in baseball: only play baseball, only play The Show on xbox, only wear MLB hats, etc, etc......

And then, they don't make the JV team as freshman (our team had over 60 kids trying out the team. at least 40 came from travel clubs for tryouts). And they don't know what to do. And because they haven't tried anything new in literally years, they don't have the fortitude or courage to say "okay, let me go out for XC next year" or "I'll try the wrestling team; they were no-cut"

They still play for their club team, but they carry that stigma with them when they see some of their peers having made the team.

It's less about success in the sport and more about mindset as an athlete willing to try anything.

[Anonymous]

My DS has always alternated between baseball and basketball. In the middle of baseball season he swears he doesn’t care about basketball and only wants to play baseball, while in the middle of basketball season the opposite is true. So we continue to make him do both.