Reply to At what age do you think you can tell whether a kid has potential to be an athlete?

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[quote=Anonymous]The majority of this thread is about boy athletes. I’m curious about girls.

My sense is- and I include the previously mentioned gymnastics and ice skating- that opportunities beyond rec for girls are still rather limited compared to all boys’ sports, and the initial general ability level of girls is a bit lower which frustrates slightly talented girls and pushes them into more selective leagues and sports. That waters down opportunity for girls who aren’t massively talented at age 8-9 and a lot of them disappear from sports altogether.

As a coach of two very different sports and a mom who has been through almost every sport but football, I think a lot of girls actually show their true talent and ability closer to 11-12 and closer to 16-17 as their body composition and hormones change, but don’t have the opportunity because it’s “too late.” I had one child in gymnastics and although they were hand-picking talent at ages 4-7, the amount of girls who came in out of seemingly nowhere at age 9-10 and went straight to the team and testing out of competitive levels suggests that team slots and the metrics being used to spot talent are the limit, not age.[/quote]

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