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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'll preface this by saying I'm not athletic and have no clue about sports. But my 2nd grade boy is really sporty and at this point there aren't enough hours in the week to do all of the sports. All things being equal, how do I figure out which sports are most desired for boys for, say,college admissions? For example, he's been invited to be on a competition gymnastics team, but it is a lot of hours per week. He also likes baseball, soccer, wrestling, running. And he seems to enjoy them all equally. How did you help your kid choose, or did you just let them do 2 + hours of sports per day, every day?[/quote]

As others have mentioned, I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about college sports right now.  At the end of second grade, my son - who loved all kinds of sports and was pretty athletic - tried out for travel soccer, baseball, and hockey teams.  I really expected him to make the soccer team, but he didn't.  Nor did he make the travel baseball team.  But he did make the hockey team, which started in the fall of 3rd grade.  So he made hockey his priority, but he kept playing rec soccer and baseball with his friends, and also did summer diving and tennis, as well as winter rec basketball and flag football in the fall.  Fitting all that in with hockey wasn't easy, but with enough communication (which initially was done by us, of course, though as he got older he was able to handle much of that on his own).

He kept up with all of these things though the end of elementary school.  In middle school, some things started to get dropped, in particular summer diving and tennis as they conflicted with his summer Scouting camps.  Starting in middle school, he progressed to a higher level of hockey, which started to take up 20+ hours per week, including weekend travel.  Fortunately, his rec teams were still able to accommodate him, and he loved continuing to play with his friends.  He swapped out baseball for lacrosse in 8th grade, which he continued with through high school.  His rec soccer team finally folded after 10th grade, and flag football was done by 9th grade.  But he kept on with winter rec basketball though the end of HS, and he played 5 years of HS lacrosse (including a season as an 8th grader).  All the while, he continued to progress in and do well with hockey, eventually becoming a two-time captain for his HS team and a 3-time captain for his club team.  Hockey ended up being a massive time commitment for him, but he loved it.  At the end of his last high school season, he made the decision not to pursue playing in junior hockey and then NCAA hockey, electing instead to go straight to college and play ACHA (club) hockey there.

Based on my experience, let your kid do whatever he loves, if you can make it work logistically/financially for your family.  Its hard to know now what his interests/skills will be 10 years from now, so its good to keep doors open if you can.[/quote]

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