A couple of other rec sports options for you to consider:
Lacrosse: https://www.arlingtonlacrosse.org/

This is a rec league that takes place in the spring. Too late to register now, but something to think about for next spring.

Flag football: https://clubs.bluesombrero.com/Default.aspx?tabid=919399

OP here. Thanks so much! This has been really helpful.

Generally, for elementary kids the sports are run through the county.

My kids are in high school, so I'm not familiar now, but our elementary used to have after school sports programs sometimes. These usually were practices and learning a sport and not playing other teams.

For girls: baseball is mostly a boys sport. But there are some girls that play Arlington Little League for baseball. I'm sure the Babe Ruth league would also be open to girls. But there's often only 2-3 girls among several teams. There's a girls baseball team, based in DC but I think they start older. At the 8 and 9 level for Arlington Little League, you might have 2 practices as week (1.5 hrs?) and 1 game-ish a week.

Travel programs are good for kids who have played rec programs (like the above) and would like to play more. They require 2 practices and 2 games (ish) and costs significantly more.

Hope some of that helps.

Arlington Soccer does the rec league for the county. They run in the fall and spring and they try to place kids on teams roughly based on geography/school. Spring season is already underway, so look for sign ups for fall around June. The time commitment is one practice on a weeknight (1hr) and one game (1ish hour) on the weekend. All games and practices are in the within the county. Ignore any travel options for now, they are much more time and money, see if the kids like soccer first. https://www.arlingtonsoccer.com/

In the winter, Arlington County runs a house basketball league for 3rd-12th grade and a weekly skills class for 1-2 grade. Sign up is in late August. Again, teams are based loosely on geography. The time commitment is generally one practice and one game per week. https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Departments/Parks-Recreation/Programs/Sports/Basketball

There are also options for softball, gymnastics, and any other sport you can think of (archery even!), but these are the leagues I'm familiar with. They are both fine for beginners. If you happen to know a friend is already on a team in one of these leagues you can ask the coach's name to try to get placed together.

Hi all,

I’m an immigrant and admittedly haven’t focused on sports (other than swimming) for my two girls who are 8 and 9 years old. I’m a little confused over the options and whether these are done through the school or through something else. Can someone help me understand the options and where I can find the schedules? I know there is soccer but what is the difference between rec and travel? And which one requires the least time commitment? How often are practices and where do I go to learn more info? What other sports are out there? Is baseball only for boys? Is there a girls alternative? What about other sports? Would appreciate someone breaking down the options for me and explaining what the time commitments are. We live in Arlington. Thank you so much.