Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS played "only" rec soccer through U18. No travel. No club. No high school team. He played with a group of boys he started with in U9 and played for the enjoyment of it and to hang with his friends.

We also "only" do summer swim team. No club swim.

Not everything needs to be intense!

OP here. Thank you for all the replies and giving us some great ideas as to how to proceed. And playing sports for enjoyment and friendship are exactly the life lessons we are looking to encourage!

NP. Seems like you are setting him up for a lifetime of mediocrity and disappointment.

You have to be joking. Not everything in life is a competition. You can do things because they (gasp!) fun. Most kids will never play in college or professionally. Sports teach other life lessons. The amount of parents who push their kids to do travel in the US is mind boggling. You sound like you are living vicariously through your kids.

Anonymous wrote:If u want your child to learn sports for social purposes Id do this…

Basketball (kids just play for fun in HS/college)
Golf (vacations/just getting together
Skiing (spring break/winter clubs )
Maybe tennis
Rock climbing
Kayaking
Hiking

This is the strangest list of recommendations...

Get your child into hiking for the social aspect of it!?!? huh?

We're in that group of parents too that have AAP kids and are currently occupied with a sporting activity every evening while we both work full-time. I often wonder how long this lifestyle can be sustained without external help (nanny to drive kids around to various activities, tutors to help fill in gaps.. ) What makes us tick (at least for the time being) is that we LOVE sports and thankfully our kids are into the same sports we grew up playing. As they get older though, I imagine some of these activities will take a backseat as school work becomes more challenging.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rec soccer will be your friend...and I'd do it asap. 7/8 is when the "better" kids start siphoning off to "higher" leagues (ridiculous, but true) and you still have lots of kids starting the sport. I like soccer because it's a big team and there's far less pressure than teams with fewer kids (flag football may be the same way). Plus it's a great way to make friends with a large group of kids, hopefully in the same school or neighborhood.

But soccer is hella boring

You're thinking of youth baseball. Soccer is fun.

I came here to post something similar. DS is 12, and it seems all of his friends are super-charged with travel leagues and some sort of sporting event every night of the week. The same kids are also in his AAP class and have Ivy League educated parents. I will say he performing slightly higher academically than them with no tutoring (I know the others have tutors; their parents have discussed it), so there's that, but often feel like we're left out on the sports front. He's decent in sports but not great, and COVID did put a dent in his interest on a lot of fronts. We often have to encourage him to get outside and participate in some activity; even one that he routinely enjoys. He, like other posters have mention, just wants to do it with his friends in a social environment.

Sure, and my DD is the same way. We have signed her up for one rec center sport each season since last spring and she's really started to open up!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS played "only" rec soccer through U18. No travel. No club. No high school team. He played with a group of boys he started with in U9 and played for the enjoyment of it and to hang with his friends.

We also "only" do summer swim team. No club swim.

Not everything needs to be intense!

But what kind of life-lesson is that?

- a really crappy one for the DC area.

If u want your child to learn sports for social purposes Id do this…

Basketball (kids just play for fun in HS/college)
Golf (vacations/just getting together
Skiing (spring break/winter clubs )
Maybe tennis
Rock climbing
Kayaking
Hiking

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS played "only" rec soccer through U18. No travel. No club. No high school team. He played with a group of boys he started with in U9 and played for the enjoyment of it and to hang with his friends.

We also "only" do summer swim team. No club swim.

Not everything needs to be intense!

OP here. Thank you for all the replies and giving us some great ideas as to how to proceed. And playing sports for enjoyment and friendship are exactly the life lessons we are looking to encourage!

NP. Seems like you are setting him up for a lifetime of mediocrity and disappointment.

and you are setting your child up for a lifetime of anxiety.

Anonymous wrote:Rec soccer will be your friend...and I'd do it asap. 7/8 is when the "better" kids start siphoning off to "higher" leagues (ridiculous, but true) and you still have lots of kids starting the sport. I like soccer because it's a big team and there's far less pressure than teams with fewer kids (flag football may be the same way). Plus it's a great way to make friends with a large group of kids, hopefully in the same school or neighborhood.

This. In your child's case it's probably good that the "serious" kids start transitioning to more competitive teams at this age because he can be with other kids like him. Don't worry-many kids come back to rec as they get older and they start to be busy with other activities but still want to continue some kind of soccer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS played "only" rec soccer through U18. No travel. No club. No high school team. He played with a group of boys he started with in U9 and played for the enjoyment of it and to hang with his friends.

We also "only" do summer swim team. No club swim.

Not everything needs to be intense!

OP here. Thank you for all the replies and giving us some great ideas as to how to proceed. And playing sports for enjoyment and friendship are exactly the life lessons we are looking to encourage!

NP. Seems like you are setting him up for a lifetime of mediocrity and disappointment.

And just a friendly reminder, it's ok if he doesn't end up liking sports- maybe he likes art, or lego building or chess or dance or whatever - agree that a sport can be great and good to instill good exercise habits but my DS that isn't into sports has a lot of interesting activities and friends and also regularly exercises.