Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sports have travel at those ages?

Soccer, baseball, ice hockey, I think flag football ramps up in 2nd or 3rd too.

There is no travel ice hockey that kindergarteners have been playing for 3 years. Please link the travel ice hockey program for 2 year olds if you want to prove me wrong.

I would not do travel unless your kid is asking to do it. Even then it’s up to you whether the cost and time commitment works for your family. Doing it so your child doesn’t fall behind isn’t really a great reason. They should do it because they really like the sport and want to spend more time practicing and competing than what rec can offer. The kids whose parents put them on travel “just because” tend to drop out after a few years of being on a low level team. They realize travel doesn’t necessarily make you good at the sport — you have to be pretty good and naturally athletic to begin with in order for the extra training to help.

I'm not driving anywhere for sports.

Anonymous wrote:How old is the child? I have a 6th grader and they started their travel sport late at 9u. Harder to catch up and will take another year of hard work to overcome the kids who started at 7/8. They have an amazing work either though. A lot of the kids who started travel very young just have parents who like it and coach so they force the kids. I also have a high schooler who plays travel and many of the kids from the top team from when they were younger have quit or are bottom of the team now.

What sport is this that your child was late to join travel at 9u?

Anonymous wrote:What sports have travel at those ages?

Soccer, baseball, ice hockey, I think flag football ramps up in 2nd or 3rd too.

Anonymous wrote:Travel teams in K and 1st?? I've literally never heard of that.

Regardless, sports culture has reached totally irrational levels around here. People need to chill on sports big time.

Yes and one consequence is that the rec teams DS is on are not skilled at all because all those kids are on travel. Not just that we never win games but we never make any goals! Some kids are literally sitting on the ground or intentionally throwing equipment at teammates because these kids who are goofing off can join rec. How important is it for these kids to play with kids who are decent at the sport?

What sports have travel at those ages?

How old is the child? I have a 6th grader and they started their travel sport late at 9u. Harder to catch up and will take another year of hard work to overcome the kids who started at 7/8. They have an amazing work either though. A lot of the kids who started travel very young just have parents who like it and coach so they force the kids. I also have a high schooler who plays travel and many of the kids from the top team from when they were younger have quit or are bottom of the team now.

I wouldn’t do a travel team that young. I’d let them try out other sports recreationally. My athletic kids are girls and they did competitive gymnastics at that age which I guess would be the equivalent of a travel team. I wish they’d got to try more things before they settled on that because that was all they got to do as it took up so much time. They ultimately decided to move on from gymnastics and my middle kid tried soccer. She ended up loving it and played just a couple seasons on a recreation team and then tried out for a club team last year when she was at the end of 4th grade and made it. Playing on rec teams is fine until the end of elementary or even longer if your kid doesn’t want to do a travel team.

OP is trololol

Not at all. You can play a sport for your entire childhood and not be on a travel team or be super competitive.

Travel teams in K and 1st?? I've literally never heard of that.

Regardless, sports culture has reached totally irrational levels around here. People need to chill on sports big time.

Wait a few years. Maybe until 4/5th grade.

Anonymous wrote:Beginning in K and 1st I noticed most of the sporty boys and even many non sporty boys are on at least one travel team and some are on a travel team every single season in addition to other sports. Some kids have been doing travel soccer or travel ice hockey for 3-4 years!

Am I doing my sport loving boy a disservice by not putting him on a travel team? I think realistic he has no idea what sport he will want to play before he hits puberty, but by that time is it too late to “catch up” to be able to play varsity or travel? Or does this differ by sport?

No not to late ignore the troll

My kid play varsity soccer and Lax never played travel starting in 9th grade.

He played for one of the number one lax HS teams in MOCO


Boys grow a lot in MS and HS

Beginning in K and 1st I noticed most of the sporty boys and even many non sporty boys are on at least one travel team and some are on a travel team every single season in addition to other sports. Some kids have been doing travel soccer or travel ice hockey for 3-4 years!

Am I doing my sport loving boy a disservice by not putting him on a travel team? I think realistic he has no idea what sport he will want to play before he hits puberty, but by that time is it too late to “catch up” to be able to play varsity or travel? Or does this differ by sport?