Please don't sign up for a rec team with volunteer coaches and then just not send your kid to practice. Incredibly inconsiderate.

You don't need a professional coach, but if all your son does is casual practice on his own, unless he is a superstar talent, I think he will be way behind the other kids. I think rec league is the answer here. You don't even need to play year-round, but I'd try to do at least a couple seasons out of the year. Plus, I think it will be more fun for your son than playing on his own...

Totally depends on your school. I'd ask around if you know people with older kids. Going to games may not necessarily give you a good idea.

For DS (no longer in the DC area), he was fine with doing tennis on his own with only lessons 4x a week in the summer. Tennis isn't a huge sport at his school and he has a natural ability for tennis. Soccer, he never would have made the MS team without doing fall and spring teams and camps in the summer.

Our HS is very mediocre at sports and thankfully it’s reasonably easy to make sports teams. Assuming this is true at your high school (if you don’t know, ask around) I still think it would be helpful to have played the sports you are interested in at the rec level.

Rec league basketball is probably one of the more fun sports. You might as well try that this coming season ... it's not a big investment of time!

Anonymous wrote:I'm thinking of sports like basketball and tennis. How important is it at this age (8-10) to be on teams and be in skills clinics with a pro coach? DS wants to be competitive and be able to join the team in 6th grade and is in 3rd grade but our family schedule is pretty busy this year. Can he just shoot hoops in the backyard and play wall ball tennis at the park, or will be at a big disadvantage? I will just go ahead and sign him up if everyone says it's necessary to make teams, but if not I'd honestly just rather have us relax at home for 2 nights per week instead of filling all the time!

Depends how competitive your schools are. Only 30 percent make the select rec team in 4/5 grade. Only 20 percent make the A or B team in middle and 5 percent make V in HS at our very competitive high school. It’s a mix of genetics obviously but then out of the kids who have the athletic genetics and height, it comes down to who played in club or not. You cannot just show up and expect to make a team area. The anomalies that do were playing multiple other sports at a high level during that time and switched over or transferred and were recruited or redshirting in 8th due to sports.

Sign him up for rec league basketball in the winter. He can do tennis lessons through Parks and Rec. A 3rd grader does not need private pro coaches.

Not at ALL. Lots of kids burn out from that.

Anonymous wrote:Basketball and tennis are two of the more competitive sports to make high school teams. Good luck

Yes, these teams (and volleyball especially for girls) are small because so few people play at a time.

I would think any sport where there's a large team component like basketballs or at least doubles in tennis would require actually practicing as a team. Doesn't necessarily mean you go lean into a top tier club and travel all over the country in late elementary school. It just means you at least do rec.

Basketball and tennis are two of the more competitive sports to make high school teams. Good luck

Anonymous wrote:I'm thinking of sports like basketball and tennis.
-Both of these sports are very specialized with limited players working hard at a young age to be good at both of them.

How important is it at this age (8-10) to be on teams and be in skills clinics with a pro coach?
-Most serious families are doing these things now. Kids are in competitive leagues and are receiving extra coaching.

DS wants to be competitive and be able to join the team in 6th grade and is in 3rd grade but our family schedule is pretty busy this year. Can he just shoot hoops in the backyard and play wall ball tennis at the park, or will be at a big disadvantage?
-Depends on the level of team. He can join a Rec league without issue. -He could join a low level travel basketball team or tennis program, but he will be significantly behind.

I will just go ahead and sign him up if everyone says it's necessary to make teams, but if not I'd honestly just rather have us relax at home for 2 nights per week instead of filling all the time!

-There is always a spot on rec teams and entry level travel basketball teams. Your kid will be behind. I would at least have him do rec basketball over the winter season now to keep up with games. I wouldn't skip those. Your kid might practice on their own occasionally, which is good, but they would be missing a lot of development and consistency when they try to do it without a coach.

-Also, I would post this is the General Sports thread.

Depends on the sport. Depends on your kid. Depends what your goals are. Depends on how much your kid bugs you to play vs how much of this is you driving the train.

There is always a rec league for nearly all sports. He could easily start rec basketball in 6th grade. Rec basketball continues through high school. Many opportunities to play tennis all along.

There are people having kids play two travel sports at one time in elementary school. It's easy to get sucked in thinking you "have" to do it to stay competitive or have any chance of playing sports later in childhood. Really not true.

For me and my family, we stuck with casual rec sports all through elementary school. Both my tried anything they were interested in. Our one kid continued one sport pretty casually through high school. Our other kid wanted to get more competitive, so we allowed one travel sport starting middle school. She still plays in high school.

Anonymous wrote:This depends on so many things ... how good a natural athlete is he? How cutthroat is your school district? How popular are the local sports leagues?

I would love to tell you that playing outside and staying active is enough. But just to flash forward a few years -- if he shows up for basketball tryouts as a decent natural athlete who has only been shooting around with his friends, if 12 kids go out for the team, he might make it. In our experience, it's more like 50 kids try out -- and many have been well coached.

So, it depends a lot on the dynamics where you live.

I… have no idea. I guess we should attend some games to get a feel. Another thing I just learned is that the high school football games require paid tickets. Is that typical?? I do know my kid won’t be playing football anyway lol

This depends on so many things ... how good a natural athlete is he? How cutthroat is your school district? How popular are the local sports leagues?

I would love to tell you that playing outside and staying active is enough. But just to flash forward a few years -- if he shows up for basketball tryouts as a decent natural athlete who has only been shooting around with his friends, if 12 kids go out for the team, he might make it. In our experience, it's more like 50 kids try out -- and many have been well coached.

So, it depends a lot on the dynamics where you live.

I'm thinking of sports like basketball and tennis. How important is it at this age (8-10) to be on teams and be in skills clinics with a pro coach? DS wants to be competitive and be able to join the team in 6th grade and is in 3rd grade but our family schedule is pretty busy this year. Can he just shoot hoops in the backyard and play wall ball tennis at the park, or will be at a big disadvantage? I will just go ahead and sign him up if everyone says it's necessary to make teams, but if not I'd honestly just rather have us relax at home for 2 nights per week instead of filling all the time!