Swimming is a great choice and there are a lot of great summer and year around teams in the area. No impact so that lessons the risk of injury but of course there are shoulder issues, etc.

My kids love swimming and it is working out great because they love swimming.

They have tried almost everything. In the end I believe it will not stick unless they love it. I can understand excluding football and other true contact sports. Other than that I think you need to expose them to a lot of things at a young age so they can figure out what THEY want to do.

Good luck.

Anonymous wrote:....My youngest was in the pool much younger and competing by age 4...

Holy cow!

Running. yes, there are injuries, but not to the head or spine.

I'm a firm believer in any sport for kids from an early age and going as late as possible. As a previous poster said, sports teach discipline, encourage team work, and encourage a healthy active lifestyle that can last a lifetime. In addition, kids who are involved in sports are less likely to get involved in self-destructive activities (like drugs and sex), because the sports tend to help kids develop self-confidence.

My 6 year old DD was given her choice of sports, and she chose ice hockey because she likes the speed, the grace, and the opportunity to throw herself around an ice rink. It's certainly not the safest sport in the world, but just getting out of bed in the morning entails a certain element of risk. You mitigate those risks as best as you can (wear proper equipment, stretch before and after playing, practice appropriate techniques for falling, etc.). And if injuries occur - assuming they're just your typical bumps, bruises, sprains, and even occasional breaks - take it as an opportunity to learn that occasionally getting hurt is an unavoidable part of life. Get back up. Dust yourself off. And get back in the game.

Swimming - My oldest started with lessons at 4 and did meets by age 6. My youngest was in the pool much younger and competing by age 4. However, any age is a good age to start. Great sport and most teams have different practice groups for different level swimmers. You choose what fits for your child based on ability and how many hours your child is willing to commit to practice. You can stop for a while, then go back, or you can swim year round. Probably the sport with the lowest injury rate and it is a great overall body workout.

My Dd had some injuries from crew and also got really weird gross-looking bacterial infections from "splash-back" from rowing on the Potomac at the TBC boathouse in G'town. We had to take her to the doctor a few times for those infections.

I am the PP with the MRSA kid. Same scenario. There is a really nasty parasitic infection you can get caused by bird poop. The snails carry the parasite. Birds eat the infected snails. Birds poop in the water. And the parasite is passed to people. That's what they treated my daughter for initially. When they couldn't get the rash to clear up, the tested for MRSA and she was positive.

We love Crew! But it is not without risks. My daughter had the shoulder injury. We had kids get hit with oars or shells. One time in all of our years of rowing, we had a kid catch a nasty crab and get thrown. He landed hard on an underwater stump. And there were always injuries during winter conditioning.

No where near as many injuries as football. But no sport worth doing is without risk.

Could you explain the crew shoulder injury? Now DS is doing crew, and given his track record with broken bones and concussions, we're probably facing a crew injury next.

She has Infraspinatus Tendinitis in addition to hyperlaxisity in her shoulder. We took her out of crew and did P.T., got the all clear to return, and then she tore her rotator cuff. She is (was) an extremely competitive rower. She had already been offered a couple of scholarships and she didn't tell anyone she was hurting. Unfortunately, she may not ever row again.

Last year she got MRSA. She shaved her legs before practice and dirty water from the river splashed into the tiny little marks left by shaving. That was actually really scary.

My Dd had some injuries from crew and also got really weird gross-looking bacterial infections from "splash-back" from rowing on the Potomac at the TBC boathouse in G'town. We had to take her to the doctor a few times for those infections.

Anonymous wrote:

As a family, we run in local races and we sail! So far no major sailing injuries...just a couple of close calls.

Nothing is safe. DS got a ginormous splinter sailing, from a dock when he wasn't wearing his boat shoes. The emergency room doctor tried to dig it out with a scalpel, then DS had to wear a boot for two weeks. A month later, a 1/2" long splinter bit that the doctor had missed worked its way out of his foot.

Could you explain the crew shoulder injury? Now DS is doing crew, and given his track record with broken bones and concussions, we're probably facing a crew injury next.

The only sport we have on our "No" list is wrestling. Extremely high incidence of eating disorders, as kids try to make weight. We also won't allow tackle football until high school.

Fencing and crew have almost no injuries.

This is mostly true, but it made me chuckle. My daughter is about to have shoulder surgery due to a Crew injury. It does happen.

My oldest (boy) played basketball and football all the way through high school. Broken nose playing basketball. Broke his hand and his arm playing football. Also had a mild concussion with football. Scary hit. Helmet flew off. And he didn't get up right away.

My second (boy) was into soccer and Crew. Never had a sports related injury. Plenty of ER trips from playing outside.

My third (girl) played basketball and soccer for about a year and hated both. She ended up being very involved in Drama and Music. Despite not being involved in sports, she had stitches three times, broke her wrist, and suffered a mild concussion.

My fourth (girl) played soccer (hated it) and rows on the Crew team. She is the one about to have surgery on her shoulder from a Crew injury. It's rare, but it happens. She also had surgery on her wrist after falling from the monkey bars at school.

My fifth (boy) played soccer and did martial arts. No serious sports injuries. Lots of injuries just from being a kid. Broke his collar bone wrestling with his sister. And had stitches twice.

As a family, we run in local races and we sail! So far no major sailing injuries...just a couple of close calls.

Anonymous wrote:We did martial arts at a young age to teach discipline, self confidence and balance.

We did soccer starting at 5 yo since their school had a program that helped kids from their class meet each other this way.

One of my sons wrestled for 2 years because his friends did.

My kids did not do Tball/baseball because it is painful (2 hour games) and not enough exercise....

my kids combined have played five seasons of tball/baseball with total of ~70 games played, and there had been ZERO game where it reached NEAR one hour. Most were done within 45 minutes.

DD does/did ice hockey, swimming, figure skating, wrestling and softball...most injuries have been from ice hockey, ended up in the emergency room once for wrestling...

8:39 again. Although thinking about this, DC's crew club costs are not a whole lot higher than travel soccer costs. Slightly higher, but not a whole lot higher.

Fencing and crew have almost no injuries. You wear a mask and several protective layers in fencing, so the only way you're going to hurt yourself fencing is if you pull a hamstring or another muscle, or you trip over your own feet (it does happen). You might get a bad bruise while fencing if you're playing a really strong opponent. Crew clubs require you to pass a swimming test.

The downside of these: cost. Fencing starts around age 8 and is cheap for the first few years when DC is doing group lessons, then for the next few years costs are about on par with travel soccer, but if DC gets really good, by high school he or she will be going to fencing tournaments in different countries. Crew generally doesn't start until high school and is very expensive because even when it's offered through a high school, it's usually a club sport rather than a school-sponsored sport. (Imagine your local public school system buying rowing shells - it's not going to happen.)