How much is too much for kids sports?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter has made the team for a sport that she has been doing for many years. She currently does 4 hours of practice a week right now. Practice will be 3 days a week for 3 hours at a time (Mon, Tues, Thursday from 5-8.) She is only 9, currently in 3rd grade. This would be for next school year. Skipping practice is highly discouraged plus travel competitions. This is going to put a strain on our family, miss family dinners, etc. She really wants to do it, and I am actually discouraging it - this isn't a parent living through their kid.

Would you let your kid do it for something they have worked very hard for?

What sport makes a 9 year old practice 3 hours a day 3 times a week besides gymnastics swimming

Dance. My DD dances 5 days a week, some days are 4+ hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid has the potential to go pro and really truly could make a good living as an athlete, I don't see the problem in making your life revolve around kidsports.

But very few are naturally gifted enough for the investment to pay off. Best case scenario your kid gets a sports scholarship to a no-name university and they graduate with a comm degree and work at a car dealership. Worst case scenario they become a kidsports coach and keep the scam going. You'd have been better off focusing more on academics and keeping the sports as a rec level hobby.

The grapes are sour with this one

Nah. Sugar, the grapes are gonna be sour with you when you see the college prospects for slightly above average athletes with below average academic achievements. Shoulda spent all that time and money on Kumon classes and an English tutor instead of chasing a ball around. Elite athletics is genetics. You either got it or you don't. 10 hours a week of practice can't make up for the genetic lottery.

DP but FYI not every parent views their role in life to be simply raising future college students…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter has made the team for a sport that she has been doing for many years. She currently does 4 hours of practice a week right now. Practice will be 3 days a week for 3 hours at a time (Mon, Tues, Thursday from 5-8.) She is only 9, currently in 3rd grade. This would be for next school year. Skipping practice is highly discouraged plus travel competitions. This is going to put a strain on our family, miss family dinners, etc. She really wants to do it, and I am actually discouraging it - this isn't a parent living through their kid.

Would you let your kid do it for something they have worked very hard for?

What sport makes a 9 year old practice 3 hours a day 3 times a week besides gymnastics swimming

OP here. It is one of those two.

NP here. I was a competitive gymnast as a child and I loved it. It was truly such a formative part of growing up and I’m so glad my parents made it happen even though I know it was a huge time and financial commitment. I eventually burnt out after about 3 or 4 years because of injuries and being bummed about missing so much social time with peers. But I’m still really glad I did it for the time I did and I have friends who managed to stick with it through college.

There are a lot of upsides to it. First, I learned to push myself physically and mentally. Something that has helped me maintain fitness into my adult life. It also was a good lesson in commitment and follow through. And it also taught me a lot about camaraderie and being part of a team. I just can’t imagine my childhood without gymnastics being a part of it and if my parents had discouraged me instead of following my lead on how much I wanted to pursue it, I probably would have always hung on to that disappointment.

If you can swing it, I would try to make it happen. Especially if you can drop off for the 3 hour practices and get errands or dinner prep done in the meantime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid has the potential to go pro and really truly could make a good living as an athlete, I don't see the problem in making your life revolve around kidsports.

But very few are naturally gifted enough for the investment to pay off. Best case scenario your kid gets a sports scholarship to a no-name university and they graduate with a comm degree and work at a car dealership. Worst case scenario they become a kidsports coach and keep the scam going. You'd have been better off focusing more on academics and keeping the sports as a rec level hobby.

This is so weird. I was a competitive gymnast as a kid and grew up to be an attorney. I would actually say that a child who shows to the drive and commitment for 9 hours/week of practices and conditioning plus meets is the type of kid who is going to grow up to be successful. All my gymnastics teammates and myself took our studies seriously as well. This is not a group of kids known to slack off at anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. We don't let our kids do team sports for this reason. A third grader doing 12 hours a week and traveling? No.

Our kids have done this since first grade. It works for us. They're still doing the sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter has made the team for a sport that she has been doing for many years. She currently does 4 hours of practice a week right now. Practice will be 3 days a week for 3 hours at a time (Mon, Tues, Thursday from 5-8.) She is only 9, currently in 3rd grade. This would be for next school year. Skipping practice is highly discouraged plus travel competitions. This is going to put a strain on our family, miss family dinners, etc. She really wants to do it, and I am actually discouraging it - this isn't a parent living through their kid.

Would you let your kid do it for something they have worked very hard for?

What sport makes a 9-year-old practice 3 hours a day 3 times a week besides gymnastics swimming

Figure skating. Competitive dance. AAA hockey (inclusive of off-ice).

Horseback riding

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid has the potential to go pro and really truly could make a good living as an athlete, I don't see the problem in making your life revolve around kidsports.

But very few are naturally gifted enough for the investment to pay off. Best case scenario your kid gets a sports scholarship to a no-name university and they graduate with a comm degree and work at a car dealership. Worst case scenario they become a kidsports coach and keep the scam going. You'd have been better off focusing more on academics and keeping the sports as a rec level hobby.

The grapes are sour with this one

NP. The PP is right. Sports are overrated. Sports should be a means for keeping active, heathy, and recreation- not an all encompassing pastime that your child puts more time and energy into than anything else. Vast majority of kids are better served from putting the bulk of their time and effort into academics and keeping sports as a fun past time.

Yes, we know. Kids need to go back to being latch key kids who roam the neighborhood after school and just play with each other. Otherwise they will never know what to do when bored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, nothing that breaks the bank or overschedules them or myself.

Our kids do this and they're not overscheduled. During the week they have practice 3/5 school nights (one of which is Friday). On Mondays and Wednesdays they have nothing after school so they can hang out, do homework, veg, whatever. Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday they do their sport straight from school until around 7:45 pm. They are fine. How many days a week do you think your kids need nothing to do after school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard the upper guideline is an hour of sport per week per age. So for a 9 year old, that would be 9 hours a week.

It depends on the sport. For gymnastics, that makes sense. It is too little for ski racing, but much of the day is spent on a lift.

+1

My kids are only on their horses for one hour but driving there and back plus all the pre- and post-riding care is where the time is.

[Anonymous]

Start with the end in mind. Where can (or do you want) you kid to go with this sport?

Most gymnasts get hurt and are done by middle school. Most female swimmers end up . . .(?) run of the mill college D1 - max olympics (?). I cannot name one female swimmer.

Then go backwards. Does you kid “need” a scholarship? Is that your goal? Remember puberty is a game changer and the kids that are good now, might not be. My kids also picked up different sports in middle school that weren’t even on our radar screen.

If your goals are reasonable - team building, exercise, fun - maybe they can achieve these goals without the burden on the family.

I say this as an olympic level athlete who chose college over the olympics because there was no future in women’s sports in the 90s. So for my kids, who are older now - this was a hard no. Had they wanted to do this in high school, I probably would have been supportive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter has made the team for a sport that she has been doing for many years. She currently does 4 hours of practice a week right now. Practice will be 3 days a week for 3 hours at a time (Mon, Tues, Thursday from 5-8.) She is only 9, currently in 3rd grade. This would be for next school year. Skipping practice is highly discouraged plus travel competitions. This is going to put a strain on our family, miss family dinners, etc. She really wants to do it, and I am actually discouraging it - this isn't a parent living through their kid.

Would you let your kid do it for something they have worked very hard for?

Are most of the kids on the team homeschooled or online schooled? How is this schedule feasible for a child who goes to a traditional school?

School 8-3:30, gymnastics 5-8. What part are you missing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid has the potential to go pro and really truly could make a good living as an athlete, I don't see the problem in making your life revolve around kidsports.

But very few are naturally gifted enough for the investment to pay off. Best case scenario your kid gets a sports scholarship to a no-name university and they graduate with a comm degree and work at a car dealership. Worst case scenario they become a kidsports coach and keep the scam going. You'd have been better off focusing more on academics and keeping the sports as a rec level hobby.

This is so weird. I was a competitive gymnast as a kid and grew up to be an attorney. I would actually say that a child who shows to the drive and commitment for 9 hours/week of practices and conditioning plus meets is the type of kid who is going to grow up to be successful. All my gymnastics teammates and myself took our studies seriously as well. This is not a group of kids known to slack off at anything.

My cohort of competitive figure skaters used to practice for 15-20 hours per week. Some of them had to be homeschooled to accommodate their skating schedule. Among the ones I was closest to, and remain in touch with after more than 20 years, we have a lawyer, a neurologist, another physician, an executive with an MBA, and one coach still involved in skating. Figure skating instilled competitive drive (and perfectionism), which translated into other aspects of life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid has the potential to go pro and really truly could make a good living as an athlete, I don't see the problem in making your life revolve around kidsports.

But very few are naturally gifted enough for the investment to pay off. Best case scenario your kid gets a sports scholarship to a no-name university and they graduate with a comm degree and work at a car dealership. Worst case scenario they become a kidsports coach and keep the scam going. You'd have been better off focusing more on academics and keeping the sports as a rec level hobby.

This is so weird. I was a competitive gymnast as a kid and grew up to be an attorney. I would actually say that a child who shows to the drive and commitment for 9 hours/week of practices and conditioning plus meets is the type of kid who is going to grow up to be successful. All my gymnastics teammates and myself took our studies seriously as well. This is not a group of kids known to slack off at anything.

My cohort of competitive figure skaters used to practice for 15-20 hours per week. Some of them had to be homeschooled to accommodate their skating schedule. Among the ones I was closest to, and remain in touch with after more than 20 years, we have a lawyer, a neurologist, another physician, an executive with an MBA, and one coach still involved in skating. Figure skating instilled competitive drive (and perfectionism), which translated into other aspects of life

....and occasionally a drive to break someone's leg (Tonya Harding)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter has made the team for a sport that she has been doing for many years. She currently does 4 hours of practice a week right now. Practice will be 3 days a week for 3 hours at a time (Mon, Tues, Thursday from 5-8.) She is only 9, currently in 3rd grade. This would be for next school year. Skipping practice is highly discouraged plus travel competitions. This is going to put a strain on our family, miss family dinners, etc. She really wants to do it, and I am actually discouraging it - this isn't a parent living through their kid.

Would you let your kid do it for something they have worked very hard for?

Are most of the kids on the team homeschooled or online schooled? How is this schedule feasible for a child who goes to a traditional school?

School 8-3:30, gymnastics 5-8. What part are you missing?

The part where you give your kid a d*mn break. You should homeschool so that your kid can practice the sport during the day when they are at their best and fit the schooling in the spaces in between. When you homeschool, you dont need to spend as much time covering subjects as a regular school does. 1 on 1 instruction goes faster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I let my kids do it , they had already been on pre team which was 6 hours a week and they already loved their friends and coaches. It was 4 hr practices 3 times per week for gymnastics. 12 hours plus the meets. They were in 1st and 3rd at the time. After 3(2 for my younger girl) competitive seasons they both decided to move on and I was glad. It definitely sucked up a lot of their time and mine because they required volunteer hours as well. They did love it for the time they did it though, and sometimes miss it ,but it was also stressful as well the more they moved up in levels and that’s why they ultimately decided to move on.

Yep, this is typical. Most kids make it a few levels, then either decide they're done, or high school activities seem more fun, or fear kicks in. I'd let a 9 year old give it a shot!