Reply to What Is a Sport I Could Get My Unathletic DD Into?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Depending on the school, XC can be great for not athletic kids even if slow if they enjoy it.

Golf could work. Maybe dance/gymnastics. Rowing could also work well. As could equestrian but it is expensive around here. [/quote]

All of those are sports that are hard even if most people think they seem easy. [/quote]

I have done all of these sports, several at relatively high levels. I am happy to explain in greater detail for OP why they could work for her child (and also what to watch out for). [/quote]

This is OP.  Would you mind explaining?[/quote]

Of course!

The first thing that I will point out is that all of these sports with the exception of rowing are mostly executed as an individual. For the most part, your child will still have the benefit of practicing with peers to some extent. I agree with you instinct to avoid more team dependent sports such as volleyball, basketball, or soccer because you mentioned that she is self-conscious about her lack of athleticism. My opinion is that these sports could exacerbate those issues because any they are very dependent on coordination across team members. The other thing that is worth discussion is specifically what is meant by unathletic. Clearly it is not a strength issue as you describe her is strong. My interpretation of unathletic is generally: lack of hand-eye coordination, agility, and/or response times. Although it could also mean lack of stamina. And specifically how she is unathletic will be a factor in what sports she could excel at.

Rowing:
I rowed at the collegiate level and probably have the most experience here. You received some mixed feedback on rowing and I understand why. First, to address the coxswain suggestion, I would not promote this for your DD. Being a cox requires enough confidence and assertiveness to motivate, as well as shout orders, to boat full of athletes. I am sure that she could get there with practice, but maybe not the best idea for someone who is self-conscious and looking for physical activity. I coxed in college a few times and you are absolutely a coach and leader in this role. Next, moving on to rowing specifically. As others have mentioned, it requires a tremendous amount of strength, endurance, and technical precision. However, the technical precision that is required is more teachable and learnable than what is required in sports like volleyball, basketball, or softball (yes, I have played all of those as well). Because what you are really focused on is form (how your body specifically is moving with your oar(s) and synchronization with the others in the boat. This contrasts with ball sports like volleyball and baseball because hand-eye coordination and reaction time is more critical for those. if she is extremely uncoordinated it could be an issue because you do need to stay in unison while executing the stroke.

XC:
I have known quite a few unathletic people who were like your daughter, but wanted to do a sport for various reasons, who ended up in XC or track. Several of them told me it was because running was simpler or less complicated them something like tennis which required running while swinging a racquet and hitting a ball. And for whatever reason, XC teams in general tend to have a collegial vibe. I only ran XC for in HS, not college, and loved my experience. I also continued distance running into adulthood with marathons and so on.

Golf: 
Here I am less experienced with the high school experience since I started golfing seriously in adulthood. Golf is a difficult game and requires a lot of practice and technical precision to excel. Someone who is not athletic can definitely pick this up, but it requires a lot of practice and technique. I also found it to be like tennis in that it is a very mental and strategic game. Athleticism may help some to get good faster, but is definitely not enough to excel. Muscle memory and technique is very important, and the short game is crucial but does not require much natural athletic ability, practice is more important. One drawback is that since golf is a ball sport, hand-eye coordination is going to be more important here than the other sports I mentioned. It may also take years to get good at, which may be frustrating.

Gymnastics/Dance:
Gymnastics is a recommendation as a sport at which I really enjoyed but was not good at. Obviously, a lot of athleticism is required, but since it is an individual sport, she can go at her own pace. Like dance, gymnastics develops body awareness, and this could help her self-consciousness as she becomes more comfortable with understanding how her body can move in space. Personally, I also liked how gymnastics requires both strength and flexibility. It stays interesting because of the multiple events, and there is real sense of achievement with mastering each new skill. I remember being over the moon when I finally executed a back handspring like I saw on TV.

Equestrian:
This is a bit of an outlier and more depending on your DD’s interests. Without stating the obvious, riding is so much more than just riding. So much is interacting with the horse. Not just while riding, but things like grooming, warming up, tacking up the horse, etc. And then of course the entire challenge of balancing, steering, reining the horse, speed transitions, etc. From an athletics perspective, core and leg strength are probably the most critical, but having coordination and balance is important too. But this one is really all about your desire to be with horses. The horse girl stereotype exists for a reason. Ultimately I am not particularly passionate about horses and stopped riding in HS. But if she loves animals and the idea of working closely with animals appeals to her, it could be a good fit. I had a roommate in college who dragged her horses to our college town even though there was no college riding team because she loved it so much. I think it is worth considering.

I have seen a few people suggest climbing which I think is another good suggestion and would be in natural alignment to her upper body strength. 
[/quote]

Thank you this is very helpful!  If I could identify her issue, it would probably be her lack of coordination - she's kind of a "trip over your feet" type of kid.  X country would be an option, although she is not at all fast.  She is typically comes in last when racing, clocks the slowest mile run in PE.  We will do a little exploring this summer.  I ran the idea of a rowing camp past her and she seemed open to it.[/quote]

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