At what age do you think you can tell whether a kid has potential to be an athlete?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My kids play soccer. Most of the 'superstars' id'd by coaches in elementary school fizzled out. Some that had early growth spurts rode on that to mid-HS.

My kids come from athletic stock--family D1 players, etc. They had skill. They did not have parents that were brownnosers or sucked up their entire youth sports career. WE saw UNBELIEVABLE politics and a lot of ignorant coaches in the sport. Two gems in the 10+ years my kids have played.

IT was Senior year of HS before my oldest got recognition. Cuts, demotions, looked over, etc. He's a D1 starter now in college. The only other kid we know from his grade that made it there was on the lowest team with him when they started out even when they both clearly did not belong there. The coach at the time kept telling the club that but, politics and all.

Cream will rise to the crop---but most kids get so discouraged by the adults in this mess that they quit before they reach potential.

Oh and no varsity HS

Wow he didn’t even make the V team and he’s playing D1? what position

Center mid

That’s what my son plays too. Is he a big kid? My son is a tall/athletic kid. Not as good foot skills but good defensive player and has the size.

6 feet now (was 5'4" fresh. yr HS and 5'11" sr year) with excellent foot skill/first touch--ambidextrous--plays equally as well on each foot. Alternates attacking mid/holding and sometimes center back.

It becomes about speed at the college level. Speed of play/decision making and you need to be technically sound in order to play that fast.

HS didn't even use the midfield so it was a lesson in frustration which is why he quit after sophomore year--plus the level of skill and speed was too slow.

oh I'm sorry my child plays center back! he's ES still. good for your son! great job, nice to hear about kids who do well despite some setbacks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids play soccer. Most of the 'superstars' id'd by coaches in elementary school fizzled out. Some that had early growth spurts rode on that to mid-HS.

My kids come from athletic stock--family D1 players, etc. They had skill. They did not have parents that were brownnosers or sucked up their entire youth sports career. WE saw UNBELIEVABLE politics and a lot of ignorant coaches in the sport. Two gems in the 10+ years my kids have played.

IT was Senior year of HS before my oldest got recognition. Cuts, demotions, looked over, etc. He's a D1 starter now in college. The only other kid we know from his grade that made it there was on the lowest team with him when they started out even when they both clearly did not belong there. The coach at the time kept telling the club that but, politics and all.

Cream will rise to the crop---but most kids get so discouraged by the adults in this mess that they quit before they reach potential.

Oh and no varsity HS

Wow he didn’t even make the V team and he’s playing D1? what position

Center mid

That’s what my son plays too. Is he a big kid? My son is a tall/athletic kid. Not as good foot skills but good defensive player and has the size.

6 feet now (was 5'4" fresh. yr HS and 5'11" sr year) with excellent foot skill/first touch--ambidextrous--plays equally as well on each foot. Alternates attacking mid/holding and sometimes center back.

It becomes about speed at the college level. Speed of play/decision making and you need to be technically sound in order to play that fast.

HS didn't even use the midfield so it was a lesson in frustration which is why he quit after sophomore year--plus the level of skill and speed was too slow.

oh I'm sorry my child plays center back! he's ES still. good for your son! great job, nice to hear about kids who do well despite some setbacks.

Don't let your kid listen to the hoopla and crap. My kid always believed in himself even when getting screwed over. With each door closed, he always went out and found a better opportunity/situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids play soccer. Most of the 'superstars' id'd by coaches in elementary school fizzled out. Some that had early growth spurts rode on that to mid-HS.

My kids come from athletic stock--family D1 players, etc. They had skill. They did not have parents that were brownnosers or sucked up their entire youth sports career. WE saw UNBELIEVABLE politics and a lot of ignorant coaches in the sport. Two gems in the 10+ years my kids have played.

IT was Senior year of HS before my oldest got recognition. Cuts, demotions, looked over, etc. He's a D1 starter now in college. The only other kid we know from his grade that made it there was on the lowest team with him when they started out even when they both clearly did not belong there. The coach at the time kept telling the club that but, politics and all.

Cream will rise to the crop---but most kids get so discouraged by the adults in this mess that they quit before they reach potential.

Oh and no varsity HS

Wow he didn’t even make the V team and he’s playing D1? what position

Center mid

That’s what my son plays too. Is he a big kid? My son is a tall/athletic kid. Not as good foot skills but good defensive player and has the size.

6 feet now (was 5'4" fresh. yr HS and 5'11" sr year) with excellent foot skill/first touch--ambidextrous--plays equally as well on each foot. Alternates attacking mid/holding and sometimes center back.

It becomes about speed at the college level. Speed of play/decision making and you need to be technically sound in order to play that fast.

HS didn't even use the midfield so it was a lesson in frustration which is why he quit after sophomore year--plus the level of skill and speed was too slow.

oh I'm sorry my child plays center back! he's ES still. good for your son! great job, nice to hear about kids who do well despite some setbacks.

Thanks! He sent text after first day of spring training just now :

"I have to get use to attack a bit because the ball is in the air a lot and the speed of play isn't super quick, but I'll pick up on that really fast. The guys on the team are really nice and it's a good level."

He plays semi-pro when he's not at school and said the ball moves faster there - for now.

[Anonymous]

Drive and determination have so much to do with it, and you don't always see that at the early ages.

You need a willingness to work on the tiny, boring details over and over again.

[Anonymous]

Some of it is about finding the right sports. My kids early soccer teams had 3 kids who consistently struggled. One was tiny and seemed afraid of the ball, one was coordinated but often out in space (that one was mine), and one was super aggressive about going for the ball but was as likely to steal from their teammates as the other side.

Tiny kid stayed tiny, grew up discovered wrestling and had 4 varsity letters and undefeated season, mine discovered a love of cross country which he can do without as precise attention, and ADHD meds and maturity made a big difference for the third kid who switched to basketball where the aggressiveness was a huge asset.

On the other hand, my kid has a cousin who’ll showed a lot of promise early, and just wasn’t willing to put in the work to stay at that top level and developed non-athletic interests instead which is of course an equally good outcome.

[Anonymous]

A neighborhood kid ended up being one of the most recruited lacrosse kids in the country and then an All American in college. In elementary school he played sucessfully on club teams composed of kids two years/grades above him. His talent was obvious from early elementary school on.

[Anonymous]

Good Athletes - Like D1 or even pro level athleticism? I'd say around age 7 I can tell. It is hard to describe but you know when you see it.

High School athletes? Middle school or beyond. Most schools you can work hard and make a team and even be a starter. But the high level athletes that play on TV every weekend all have something the rest of us don't have.

[Anonymous]

I think it can be super sport specific. I am not coordinated at all and am big and bulky. Terrible runner, horrible at ball sports. I swam in middle school, slowly.

In high school I started to row and immediately was very good at it. I have grit, pain tolerance, ability to build muscle, and aerobic capacity. None of that mattered for soccer or basketball at age 10, but it was all that mattered as a high school and college rower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Post puberty is the only time you can really tell. You can be the best gymnast in the world, but if you grow to 5’10”, there’s nothing you can do.

Or, I hate to say it, but they can also fill out too much. That's what I've seen across generations in figure skating - many who showed a lot of talent lost their triples at puberty and never got them back because they carried too much weight. Figure skating is like a pyramid - you have maybe 50 kids nationwide who show promise at 10-12, then you're down to maybe 10 at 13-15, and of those 10, it's the ones who have the complete package (body type, strength, speed, musicality, artistry) that have a good and lasting career. I'm learning now as a boy mom that their chosen sports follow a very different path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good Athletes - Like D1 or even pro level athleticism? I'd say around age 7 I can tell. It is hard to describe but you know when you see it.

High School athletes? Middle school or beyond. Most schools you can work hard and make a team and even be a starter. But the high level athletes that play on TV every weekend all have something the rest of us don't have.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:At first it's more about who obviously has NO chance.

That's clear by age 6 for many kids.

I agree with this. I have an 11 year old, and watching his rec basketball game this weekend was painful with some kids who are just so bad. It's why many kids go to travel, they have to in order to not play with kids who are absolutely horrible and cause the team to lose.

I’ve seen some of the “bad” kids who end up 6’5 play on the high school team. The glory days for many of the boys who end up short were middle school. Enjoy it while it lasts!

LOL. Middle school is not the time to judge a kid's height or sports trajectory. DH grew over a foot in his junior year of high school and another six inches senior year.

So he was about 5’ and grew to 6’6 in 2 years? that’s a huge amount to grow, 18 inches in 2 years. Is that even possible? My brother was about 5’3 and grew to 6’ by 22. Late bloomer.

He ended up tall enough to walk onto a D1 basketball team as an unrecruited athlete at a smaller school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good Athletes - Like D1 or even pro level athleticism? I'd say around age 7 I can tell. It is hard to describe but you know when you see it.

High School athletes? Middle school or beyond. Most schools you can work hard and make a team and even be a starter. But the high level athletes that play on TV every weekend all have something the rest of us don't have.

If you've ever seen or played with someone that made it to the show (NFL, MLB, NBA) then you know how obvious it was when you look back on it.

I'm not saying their the best on every team at age 7, but you can tell by the way they move that their body control is light years better than everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good Athletes - Like D1 or even pro level athleticism? I'd say around age 7 I can tell. It is hard to describe but you know when you see it.

High School athletes? Middle school or beyond. Most schools you can work hard and make a team and even be a starter. But the high level athletes that play on TV every weekend all have something the rest of us don't have.

If you've ever seen or played with someone that made it to the show (NFL, MLB, NBA) then you know how obvious it was when you look back on it.

I'm not saying their the best on every team at age 7, but you can tell by the way they move that their body control is light years better than everyone else.

Not sure I agree. Husband was recruited for multiple D1 sports including football, ending up picking football, and he said he wasn't a great athlete until middle/9th. He was decent but not a standout.

[Anonymous]

also recruited for wrestling and track d1

[Anonymous]

But he also agrees people who play pro are a whole other ballpark than college, total freaks of nature and comes down to genetics.