Anonymous wrote:How does better coaching matter here?

At the elementary/middle-school level, the purpose of youth sports is basically to show children how to exhibit good sportsmanship and play on a team, while giving them exposure to sports that they might want to pursue more seriously in the future (or maybe a chance to learn that they aren't natural athletes and that they would be better served by pursuing other interests). As long as they get that much out of a given program, isn't that sufficient?

I guess it might be different for us if we were intentionally trying to raise Olympic-level athletes, but we aren't.

You sound clueless. In most cases you can’t decide in middle school that you want to pursue a sport more seriously than rec. It’s very hard to make a lot of the boys’ high school teams around here even if you have played high level travel for years. Middle school is simply too late. I wish it wasn’t like this but the high schools are so big here. There are over 120 boys coming to try out for some teams, with 20 or 30 spots or even less for something like basketball. Plus some of the coaches also coach in the travel leagues so they might know you/how you play if you are already plugged in to that scene.

People need to stop thinking that parents who put their kids on travel sports are all delusional thinking they have a future Olympian or pro. The random parent coach who changes every season is not going to teach kids the skills they need to even be close to making the JV team at some schools. There is nothing wrong with trying to help your child have a better chance at playing a sport in HS if the child has expressed that is a goal of theirs.

Only if they want to. Also Learned sports it is more important. Golf, Tennis, Ice Hockey, Baseball you really need years of training.

Other sports not so much. I transferred schools to a D3/Club type school when I was 19 and to my shock I got offered a sports scholarship to a sport I never played.

I thought it was a scam until coach asked to meet with me. I go what the heck nicely. Well he goes we are short on practice squad on defense on Lacrosse team. You will never play in game unless emergency or out of playoffs garabage time.

But I asked players to look around for any new students or transfer students and since you are six foot two inch around 195 pounds in shape on them talked to you and said you ran track and cross country in HS and can run.
He said I just need a guy your size who can run a lot in practice like 20 hours a week and be big enough to take hits playing defense. Bascially a tackling dummy.

So I was suprised. They were coding it some BS merit thing so free tuition. I was a commuter. My Mom was like so they are going to hit you with a stick 20 hours a week, if you got hurt you wave all rights to sue or get paid medical, and it says you have to quit your part time job during the season? I said yes. She was like forget about it you are almost on full financial aid anyhow.

But my friend did it and guess what he got really hurt sophmore year and they canceled the scholorship.

there is a dark side to sports. I dont now why parents push in particular contact sports on people no really that talented. They are just the tackling dummies.

By middle school, the travel intensity--be it actual travel or just expectations around performance and training--ramps up. It's a wild time because this is also when there's a big gap between boys who have grown/gone through puberty and boys who have not. By the end of MS/early HS, boys' size plays a huge role in pretty much every sport. So, unless your kid is huge, you absolutely have to have been working on the skills so they can buy themselves some time on the HS team until they grow. Coaches will take big kids who are less skilled.

We are currently watching our DS who has worked his butt off for a sport he loves starting to realize his dream of playing in HS may be dead because he's not big/strong enough. The men in our family are all late bloomers so I am confident he'll grow, but whether he'll quit before he hits his growth spurt remains to be seen. It sucks.

To answer the OP directly--you need to do whatever works for your family. Our DS loves the sport he plays, and travel made sense for our family. I don't regret putting in the time and money to make that happen, even though it might not lead to him playing in HS or beyond. That said, it's a hard pass on travel if your kid is not really invested in the sport.

Anonymous wrote:Where are you that you’re seeing this in k and 1st?? I am in Arlington and am jussst starting to see trickles of a couple kids starting to do this going into second it is definitely not the majority. Are you sure your perceptions are accurate?

OP did everyone a disservice with the confusing post. I read it as - starting around 1st grade I saw kids starting travel over the next few years. Either way, as others have pointed out - "travel" means nothing in and of itself and yes you can catch up. However, certain sports will be astronomically more difficult depending on how skilled/motivated your child is. That's also fine!

How does better coaching matter here?

At the elementary/middle-school level, the purpose of youth sports is basically to show children how to exhibit good sportsmanship and play on a team, while giving them exposure to sports that they might want to pursue more seriously in the future (or maybe a chance to learn that they aren't natural athletes and that they would be better served by pursuing other interests). As long as they get that much out of a given program, isn't that sufficient?

I guess it might be different for us if we were intentionally trying to raise Olympic-level athletes, but we aren't.

Where are you that you’re seeing this in k and 1st?? I am in Arlington and am jussst starting to see trickles of a couple kids starting to do this going into second it is definitely not the majority. Are you sure your perceptions are accurate?

Anonymous wrote:What sports have travel at those ages?

“Travel” is probably a misnomer. “Academy” is a better term for programs that focus on the development of skills over a multi year arc, and have a mission of preparing kids for higher levels of competition, as opposed to a 1-3 month recreational program that is more about fun and community, and less about skill development.

I once saw a scatter plot of when kids typically start sports. Gymnasts and figure skaters start young (4-6/7), soccer players are a bit later (6-9), rowers and squash players are much older (12-15).

Almost always, kids will learn more skills in an academy setting due to better coaching, lower coach:kid ratios, peers are more focused and more skilled, higher attendance, longer program, etc.

But that doesn’t mean that other kids can’t catch up. It’s like trying to teach a 4 year old to read vs a 6 year old. Usually the 6 year old will learn more quickly and can catch up easily. You have to take the specific sport into consideration - starting an 11 year old in lax is a different thing than starting an 11 year old in gymnastics.

Anonymous wrote:Unless your kid is a potential Olympic- or pro-level athlete, why would any of this matter?

Because lots of kids want to make high school teams.

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.

Not even first. They have been doing it for 4 years so they started travel at 1.

Unless your kid is a potential Olympic- or pro-level athlete, why would any of this matter?

No, but you want to start by 9 or 10 around here. Kid tried to make baseball at 11 and every tryout had 40-50 kids trying out for 2 or 3 spots. It’s wild.

Anonymous wrote:

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 was assuming travel beginning in kindergarten. So 2-3 years for a 2nd or third grader.