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[quote=Anonymous]There is a lot of advice here.  I’m no different I suppose.  My would be:

1.  Take a hard look what your family can do.  Set aside what you want to do and focus first and what is possible to do.  What can you afford?  What can you do time wise? Plan for other activities of course and education.  You have to take into account future time demands particularly with other kids.

2.  As in pretty much everything - ability grows slowly over time.  You don’t sit down at the piano for the first time and play Chopin.  Learning and improving take years.  But, at young ages we really are just starting.  So - no - kindergarten is not a cut off.

3.  While not a huge factor at young ages, it is important to think long term and guide kids into activities that they are more likely to be physically suited to undertake.  This is a little less impactful for girls than boys, but obviously still exists.  A couple obvious examples - if your kid is going to be over 6 feet tall then gymnastics is not going to be a very good competitive sport for them long term.  Knowing roughly where your kid will be in terms of size and speed is going to be very helpful in guiding them to sports that they can be comfortable competing in.

4.  Do not expect your kid to drive decisions.  They get input.  But, do not expect a 10 year old to be aware of family finances, time and travel demands of the new job, time demands of siblings etc.   Be a parent.  We do what we can.

5.  Do understand the environment you are in.  Look at the likely high school your kids will attend.  High school seems a long time away, and it is.  But, unless you are considering options to move to an area where the high school has 500 kids  what your kid is doing at younger ages has some affects on what your kid can do in high school.  There are sports in high school that a rank beginner can participate in and even eventually do well.  Some sports don’t even really get started until high school (football and running sports).  There are also a good many sports where you have to have been playing for many years to have a chance of making a high school team.

6.  Be aware and willing to allow kids to try new sports and switch sports.  My daughter played college soccer and played club soccer starting a 9.  Over the years she played with many girls who ultimately decided to switch from soccer to other sports that they played in college at a high level (Big10 and SEC).  Do not get locked in.  As a parent one of your ongoing jobs is to continually assess and advise your kids on available options.  They lack the knowledge and experience to do that.

A quick note on college sports having had a daughter who played college soccer for 4 years - it is not a think that works well for very many.  For the athletes it is “who you are and what you do”.  In a D1 school there is very little time to do anything else.  In a D3 school - that holds true for the semester you are playing.  The head coach is not your buddy, and may well not even be particularly friendly (even if they like you).  They don’t work for you.  You work for them.  They get paid by having teams do well and obey the rules by not getting into trouble and getting decent grades.  Teammates are not unfriendly but if you get cut, get injured and can’t play, or quit - you are no longer competition for playing time.  That is a plus for them.  My daughter got a starting position early in her Junior year when the girl playing the position got hurt and was out 3 weeks.  By then my kid had staked a claim and kept the starting job.  While she felt sorry for the person getting hurt, she was happy to get the playing time and prove she could do the job.  Thus the not uncommon college athlete revision to the saying - “There’s no I in team”. … “but there are two in playing time.”

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