Reply to Which sports should I focus on for my kids in early elementary if I want them to get into a "Big 3"

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "Which sports should I focus on for my kids in early elementary if I want them to get into a "Big 3" "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Assuming the post is authentic (which I think it probably is) I would have to say that unless you have some indication that your child will be extremely gifted athletically (you and your spouse were high level athletes, or they show great promise recognized by others), just don't worry about this.  And even if they are gifted, I'd agree with others to let them play what they love -- a child pushed into a sport is much more likely to burn out and have the sport be a burden, not a healthy release.

Schools don't generally start paying too much attention to sports as part of admissions until upper school, so if you're thinking of admissions at lower grades this is basically irrelevant.

Now, to answer your question on the merits.  For a boy, probably the most helpful sport would be football, in all honesty -- fewer and fewer kids play football but schools still have programs and they need athletes.  Other sports for boys that would help would be basketball (but you have to be really good -- they all get very skilled basketball specialists coming in at 9th grade); lacrosse; and perhaps baseball as #4.  Weirdly, soccer is becoming less of a help because if a kid is really good at soccer, he will not be able to play for the high school because he'll be playing club for an "Academy" team and they bar hs participation.  Plus, plenty of kids play soccer so the schools will get many soccer players without seeking them out.

For girls, it won't surprise that there is less recruiting than for boys.  The three most prominent sports, that might give a little edge, would be basketball, soccer, and lacrosse.  But again, the athlete would have to be really, really good for it to matter in the sense of giving any kind of edge.

[/quote]

This is very useful perspective.

Thank you.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics