OP, if you are serious -- sports come into play for college recruitment. The Big Three don't really care. Some of the Catholics do care.

Anonymous wrote:If your kids are already around 8 and haven't started playing one sport year round it doesn't matter since they probably aren't going to be star athletes. Many kids have been playing soccer and tennis since they were 4 around here all year long. There are some kids who enter sports late but unless your child is really athletic, you or your spouse were really athletic and can help your child develop, or your child is the fastest runner or unusually tall they aren't getting recruited for high school.

Love It !

let your kids have fun. don't specialize early. high chance of burnout.

Stop this troll post ----------> go outside and shovel the street...

Anonymous wrote:Golf or hockey for girls.

Something like 70% of all college scholarships for golf go unclaimed. Of course, the amount of money you invest teaching your kid to play well could probably pay for tuition.

Golf, as it's the sport of choice of the families who attend those schools.

Assuming the post is authentic (which I think it probably is) I would have to say that unless you have some indication that your child will be extremely gifted athletically (you and your spouse were high level athletes, or they show great promise recognized by others), just don't worry about this. And even if they are gifted, I'd agree with others to let them play what they love -- a child pushed into a sport is much more likely to burn out and have the sport be a burden, not a healthy release.

Schools don't generally start paying too much attention to sports as part of admissions until upper school, so if you're thinking of admissions at lower grades this is basically irrelevant.

Now, to answer your question on the merits. For a boy, probably the most helpful sport would be football, in all honesty -- fewer and fewer kids play football but schools still have programs and they need athletes. Other sports for boys that would help would be basketball (but you have to be really good -- they all get very skilled basketball specialists coming in at 9th grade); lacrosse; and perhaps baseball as #4. Weirdly, soccer is becoming less of a help because if a kid is really good at soccer, he will not be able to play for the high school because he'll be playing club for an "Academy" team and they bar hs participation. Plus, plenty of kids play soccer so the schools will get many soccer players without seeking them out.

For girls, it won't surprise that there is less recruiting than for boys. The three most prominent sports, that might give a little edge, would be basketball, soccer, and lacrosse. But again, the athlete would have to be really, really good for it to matter in the sense of giving any kind of edge.

Anonymous wrote:Have you decided on the musical instrument yet? What's the language?

We'll need full stats on the child (height, weight, hand-eye coordination, etc.).

The language is Chinese, of course. Everyone knows how super smart your kid will be after taking Chinese classes. Duh...

Have you decided on the musical instrument yet? What's the language?

We'll need full stats on the child (height, weight, hand-eye coordination, etc.).

Anonymous wrote:If your kids are already around 8 and haven't started playing one sport year round it doesn't matter since they probably aren't going to be star athletes. Many kids have been playing soccer and tennis since they were 4 around here all year long. There are some kids who enter sports late but unless your child is really athletic, you or your spouse were really athletic and can help your child develop, or your child is the fastest runner or unusually tall they aren't getting recruited for high school.

bb


Wow.

The pressure those kids are going to feel to be good at some damn sport because mommy has a plan.

Anonymous wrote:Well, you are doing everything you think is best for them academically so just let them pick what ever they want to do athletically.

NO! Don't let your child choose! You have already decided that a Big 3 is best for your child. Don't let anything---not even your child---get in the way!

Well, you are doing everything you think is best for them academically so just let them pick what ever they want to do athletically.

And remember: When you figure out which sport is best, DO NOT give your child a choice---this is the Big 3 we're talking about here!!!!!

Darts?