is baseball the best team sport for non-athletic boys?

[Anonymous]

Team activities do not have to be sports -- could try scouts, Olympiad, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else think it's just sad that a child at the young age of 8 years old can't easily take up a new sport and learn it without feeling embarrassed about his mistakes as he's learning? Sports are just way too competitive for our tastes I guess.

I Totally agree. My DD didn't want to do soccer until this year (3rd grade) -- well, at the ripe old age of 9, apparently it's not really acceptable to join a team as a novice! It's great that kids are getting involved at early ages (i.e. 4), but it puts those who don't find their interest until a perfectly normal age of 8, 9, 10 in a difficult position b/c it's too late!

That's the down side to having all these preschool leagues/classes.

If your DD is still interested just sign up for a couple of summer soccer camp sessions. That should help her catch up pretty quickly. My DD didn't start playing lacrosse until 7th grade and started with a summer camp.

[Anonymous]

Why do kids have to be "signed up" to learn a sport?

Has this kid ever gone out into the neighborhood and gotten a group of boys and chosen up sides for a baseball game? Has he ever walked to a playground to see if there is a basketball game going on?

Oh I forgot its 2013 and all children need to have their lives arranged by their parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids have to be "signed up" to learn a sport?

Has this kid ever gone out into the neighborhood and gotten a group of boys and chosen up sides for a baseball game? Has he ever walked to a playground to see if there is a basketball game going on?

Oh I forgot its 2013 and all children need to have their lives arranged by their parents.

Where do you live that there are large groups of boys roaming the neighborhood looking for pick up baseball games? We have a couple of playgrounds near us and that just doesn't happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids have to be "signed up" to learn a sport?

Has this kid ever gone out into the neighborhood and gotten a group of boys and chosen up sides for a baseball game? Has he ever walked to a playground to see if there is a basketball game going on?

Oh I forgot its 2013 and all children need to have their lives arranged by their parents.

This doesn't happen anymore, with the small exception of high school boys and typically in rough neighborhoods.
You must not have ES age kids.

[Anonymous]

This post just made me laugh!
Parent of two baseball players here - to think that they have been "non-athletic" for all these years and we didn't even know...............

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids have to be "signed up" to learn a sport?

Has this kid ever gone out into the neighborhood and gotten a group of boys and chosen up sides for a baseball game? Has he ever walked to a playground to see if there is a basketball game going on?

Oh I forgot its 2013 and all children need to have their lives arranged by their parents.

Where do you live that there are large groups of boys roaming the neighborhood looking for pick up baseball games? We have a couple of playgrounds near us and that just doesn't happen.

Actually I take that back - my DS has gone out to play pick up soccer in the neighborhood. But they organize it through facebook and they are all high level travel soccer players so not quite the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This post just made me laugh!
Parent of two baseball players here - to think that they have been "non-athletic" for all these years and we didn't even know...............

never said and didn't mean to imply as such. please don't take offense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids have to be "signed up" to learn a sport?

Has this kid ever gone out into the neighborhood and gotten a group of boys and chosen up sides for a baseball game? Has he ever walked to a playground to see if there is a basketball game going on?

Oh I forgot its 2013 and all children need to have their lives arranged by their parents.

Where do you live that there are large groups of boys roaming the neighborhood looking for pick up baseball games? We have a couple of playgrounds near us and that just doesn't happen.

I live in Kensington and my two boys never went to any sports camp or had sports tutors. This was in the early 2000's.

They learned how to play baseball, basketball, and football first by playing little backyard games supervised by their father. Later on they played in groups at various school playgrounds or parks. There was no emailing or Facebook organization. It was spread by word of mouth. Both of them went on to play two sports in high school.

I don't get it how or why parents have to be involved in this "signing up" when they can learn skills on their own by playing in their own neighborhood.

Someone mentioned that "it doesn't happen anymore". The reason that it doesn't happen is because they sit on their rear ends playing video games or on the computer and half end up obese. This "doesn't happen" mindset comes from the same parents that brought you "play dates".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids have to be "signed up" to learn a sport?

Has this kid ever gone out into the neighborhood and gotten a group of boys and chosen up sides for a baseball game? Has he ever walked to a playground to see if there is a basketball game going on?

Oh I forgot its 2013 and all children need to have their lives arranged by their parents.

This doesn't happen anymore, with the small exception of high school boys and typically in rough neighborhoods.
You must not have ES age kids.

This happens in our neighborhood all the time -- same group of boys since they are about 8, now they are all MS and HS kids. They play basketball or head up to the park to play basebell, and sometimes touch football. We don't live in a rough neighborhood either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids have to be "signed up" to learn a sport?

Has this kid ever gone out into the neighborhood and gotten a group of boys and chosen up sides for a baseball game? Has he ever walked to a playground to see if there is a basketball game going on?

Oh I forgot its 2013 and all children need to have their lives arranged by their parents.

This doesn't happen anymore, with the small exception of high school boys and typically in rough neighborhoods.
You must not have ES age kids.[/quote




What a ridiculous elitist statement. It doesn't happen anymore unless it in a "rough neighborhood". Translation = the only boys who play sports among themselves are black.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is swimming really that inclusive, though? The team at our local pool seems quite intense. Yes, they all hang out the night beofre meets and have fun but I also hear a lot of talk from parents about who's fast and who isn't. Plus, I know at our pool after every meet they call out every single person's time and hand out place ribons. If your time is always 5th , isn't that almost as rough as striking out?

Don't get me wrong - I do see many benefits of swimming.

What about gettting a short/avg. height kids interested in basketball? Unless they're crazy quick, doesn't it mean they're destined for big-time disappointment when they head to the high school level?

Summer swim team does have an intense feeling -- mostly because the season is so short -- just a few weeks. And parents do talk about times, but, again, they will talk about the slower kids improving their times. That's the nature of swimming. That's also why ribbons are handed out -- everyone is recognized. In any sport, you'll always have kids who are stars and those who aren't, but swimming is a sport where everyone has the possibility for success at his/her own pace.

As for basketball, a point guard who's short can be a real start if s/he is fast and smart. My sister is 5'5" and was point guard on a Nescac D3 team. She's 46 and still plays in a suburban moms league in NJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is swimming really that inclusive, though? The team at our local pool seems quite intense. Yes, they all hang out the night beofre meets and have fun but I also hear a lot of talk from parents about who's fast and who isn't. Plus, I know at our pool after every meet they call out every single person's time and hand out place ribons. If your time is always 5th , isn't that almost as rough as striking out?

Don't get me wrong - I do see many benefits of swimming.

What about gettting a short/avg. height kids interested in basketball? Unless they're crazy quick, doesn't it mean they're destined for big-time disappointment when they head to the high school level?

Summer swim team does have an intense feeling -- mostly because the season is so short -- just a few weeks. And parents do talk about times, but, again, they will talk about the slower kids improving their times. That's the nature of swimming. That's also why ribbons are handed out -- everyone is recognized. In any sport, you'll always have kids who are stars and those who aren't, but swimming is a sport where everyone has the possibility for success at his/her own pace.

As for basketball, a point guard who's short can be a real start if s/he is fast and smart. My sister is 5'5" and was point guard on a Nescac D3 team. She's 46 and still plays in a suburban moms league in NJ.

i really like what you've said about swimming. can you recommend a team in Arl/Alex? tks! --OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cross-country doesn't really get going until middle school. Like swimming, it's a great sport in terms of inclusivity. Even if your kid isn't fast and will never be a scoring runner (top 5-7 on the team), s/he can feel good about incremental improvements in time.

Not true. There are local teams that start as young as 5. You can be as competitve as you want, but you can also just run against your personal best. FPYC has a fantastic cross country program.

[Anonymous]

The only sports I see in our neighborhood is a pickup hockey game or baseball game with kids who already are on a hockey or baseball team other afternoons. It's also just rare to find enough children nearby to be able to play afterschool all the time and actually develop some skills. We do not live in a newly built suburb where every family is a mom and dad with young kids. Add to this that many of us moms work and aren't home right after school when this could take place. The kids on the high school teams I know don't even just do high school sports. They're involved in club sports too all over the country. Maybe this is just our high school, but it's gotten way too competitive for us. Hopefully recreational leagues will stay strong since this is the way we'd prefer sports to be.