When could you tell that your child was a good athlete?

[Anonymous]

DD is in kindergarten. She plays soccer, basketball and tennis and seems to play them well. In soccer, she typically scored 4 or 5 goals per game. (No goalies!) She's small, but could score 5 or 6 times in a basketball game. No problem stripping someone of the ball and dribbling it away. She just seems to understand the games better than other kids do at this age. In both sports, she just steals the ball, dribbles it down the court and shoots. She doesn't understand why nobody chases her and tries to get the ball back! (When one basketball player did, DD was surprised once and anticipated it the next time.)

Is this just a case of having an aggressive, driven kid or is this what your athletic child looked like at this age? DH is very excited that she's got some athletic abilities. While I'm happy to have her running around enjoying team sports, I'm expecting everyone else to catch up pretty quickly once they realize how the games are played. I'm also trying to manage DD's expectations -- she counted her goals from the fall soccer season and is fully expecting to score another 17 goals this spring; I don't want her to get discouraged if she doesn't manage to do that.

FWIW, I'm relatively athletic and DH has two left feet. Our older son can hold his own in a few sports -- and watching his sister's focus playing soccer actually helped him improve game a good bit last fall.

[Anonymous]

My kid is average in sports. In soccer I could see who was the best of the group, but it didn't blow everyone else out of the water. In basketball, there were 2 obviously really good players. One was big and tall (many didn't believe he was the right age), the other one fit in size wise but was just faster, more agile, and knew the game better. My guess is people will catch up with the first unless he stays bigger than everyone else. I think the second was very obviously athletically inclined. So...I think you can tell extreme outliers very early on but probably not the kids who will just get very good due to practice and dedication.

[Anonymous]

My son is in K - he was a "ball" kid from the get go, and loves all sports. He's one of the better players on his soccer team, though there are kids who are better. These kids play soccer (or another sport, but mostly soccer) at every recess and just love it. It's clear who the better players are, and the coach does a good job of mixing things up (intentionally at this age) so the team is balanced and everyone gets equal playing time.

So I guess after typing all that I don't know the answer. Our gut tells us our DS is naturally gifted at athletics, and if he worked at it and puts in the time, could be a decent player. What that means in terms of the level he could reach is another question, I think.

Based on limited knowledge of how sports "machines" work (like other countries and their clinics), I think you can identify kids who have natural athletic ability. But the drive and determination and work ethic to truly be a top player has to come from the kid.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't worry about it, OP. She seems to be enjoying herself. If she has a goal in mind, that's okay. If she doesn't make as many that will either further encourage her to do better or simply be disappointed. I don't think it will put her off sports completely.

[Anonymous]

In kindergarten it was obvious who the amazing baseball players were. By third grade those amazing baseball players were still good but no longer amazing. They blended in with probably the top 35% of the players on the team.

[Anonymous]

I think in kindergarten. I threw something at her and she caught it.

[Anonymous]

DD was in K or 1st grade when I realized she could run faster than all the older boys (3rd grade and up). She could also jump further and higher than anyone. In HS now, track "star" in Sprints and Long Jump. Has decided not to pursue it in college though and instead has turned towards other activities.

[Anonymous]

....your dd is in kindergarten. chill out and let her enjoy the games and don't worry about her "gifted athletic abilities"

[Anonymous]

I have several views on this. I do think you can tell somewhat by the age and ability of younger kids hitting milestones but so much of it later on builds on practice and repetition - the whole 10,000 hours theory.

Some of our kids were "naturally" gifted with physical abilities as very young kids and have continued that into their teens, mainly because they have stayed active. If they had settled in to video gaming, I doubt they would have achieved what they have.

One child wasn't into or able to consistently do youth sports until he was 10 or so but did spend all free time outside, climbing, running, riding, scooting, skateboarding etc and challenging himself physically at a high level every day. That DC is now a great all-round athlete as a young teen and is just now settling very successfully into a favorite sport or two.

Other DC spends hours daily on physical activity DC has loved since walking at 10 months. DC has above average talent there too but also has the 10K hours thing going. DC has a friend who is now an elite athlete (Olympic level) who was much slower to walk etc, mellow as a toddler, who is a bubbly energetic teen now.

I guess the bottom line is the majority of kids develop at different rates and eventually practice is what separates those who are truly exceptional, except for the very rare few who are "naturals".

[Anonymous]

A big part success in youth sports is when kids are 6-11 months older than their peers. But I agree with the PPs who say OP and her husband need to chill out and read the D1 scholarship thread.

[Anonymous]

OP, you better control your DH. If he has two left feet he will try to push your kids to be athletes so he can live through them. I have seen it happen before and it's not good. Just let them have fun.

[Anonymous]

The kids who were the best athletes in elementary school did not stay the best athletes into college age. But all the physical activity they did was still good for them.

I do think one has to be careful around here, where people get all competitive. It'd definitely not healthy for your child to put ALL their energy into one sport year round. If they play one sport heavily, make sure they have at least several months every year in which they don't play that sport at all so they don't get injuries, and so that they can grow and develop in a more balanced way.

Old fashioned play and games were good in the sense that they develop all sorts of muscles. Running, climbing, jumping, throwing, kicking, tumbling all combined are great for a body's development. Now they've made our playgrounds so safe that children aren't as able to explore physically as much as they could before. But that's another topic.

[Anonymous]

3-4 years old.

They could do things that other kids couldn't do yet---eye-hand- coordination---agility, etc.

It runs in the family. We have a few Professional athletes and many college athletes. All of my nephews are top in their sports in HS/college.

I ran, lifted and exercised my entire pregnancies with both my boys. They came out strong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In kindergarten it was obvious who the amazing baseball players were. By third grade those amazing baseball players were still good but no longer amazing. They blended in with probably the top 35% of the players on the team.

Same with soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In kindergarten it was obvious who the amazing baseball players were. By third grade those amazing baseball players were still good but no longer amazing. They blended in with probably the top 35% of the players on the team.

Coached 10 years of Pop Warner and the studs changed from year to year. Growth spurts and other advancements not the same from boy to boy.

Nevertheless, I heard parents saying (that boy is going to play on Sunday [referring the the NFL]) more times than I care to count.

None of the boys that I coached are playing college ball (that I know of)