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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have an 8 year old that is on a top soccer team and a top swimmer.  I have zero dreams of her playing in college.  So many of these "top" kids burn out by the time they are 12.  My concern right now is making she is having fun.  Because so many of these top programs suck the fun out of everything - so much pressure on little kids and no fun.

As for which sport to choose, she will need to make a decision in the next year or two.  But I am hoping she can keep up with both of them.  It probably isn't realistic.  I find soccer to be incredibly political, whereas swimming is purely times.  [/quote]

Same. I have an 11 year old boy who has had a lot of success in both sports so far, but chances of it becoming more than a fun and healthy activity is pretty minuscule. We put our kids in sports to stay healthy, stay out of trouble, and learn about themselves and others. To pp above, hopefully you have a few years to keep your daughter in both. My son just turned 11 and we are hoping to have him do one more year of both sports before having to scale back one. It’s a shame that sports aren’t as seasonal as they used to be. Swim is nice in that there are many practices offered and you are not necessarily locked into the same days of the week as in soccer. [/quote]

I really encourage both of you, especially with an 8yo, to let them do both (or try new activities) as long as possible (as long as they want to also). If they have the desire to both and you are getting pressure from coaches/programs, find others. There is no reason for preteens to be exclusive in these sports unless they/family are looking to limit. Like PP, we had flexible swimming schedule which helped a lot, and we got lucky with a soccer practice being scheduled on the day off from swimming, but I had a kid play travel soccer and highest offered swim group through 8th grade. This kid knew around 12 she was likely picking swimming at 9th when it would not be possible to move to the expected/goal swim group and do a second activity.

This kid recently went through recruiting process, and one thing I noted was that she had no regrets. She talks very positively about both sports, but always saw herself as a college swimmer. She still has great friends from soccer and was able to participate in a true team sport. I think this is really great knowing that if kids make the choice to go all-in on swimming, they do give up a lot. Not having regrets about that and still having passion for the sport was great to hear when she would talk to coaches.  [/quote]

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