Another vote for softball! DD is 5'2 1/2" on a good day at age 19. She hit 5 feet at age 12 and then basically slowed down to a crawl. She loved playing basketball - she was scrappy and great on defense - but got tired of girls guarding her who had at least 6 inches on her by the end of middle school. She played various positions in softball when she was younger, and was often placed at 1st and 3rd, but settled on catcher and outfield as she got older. When she was younger, she was one of the only ones who could accurately judge fly balls, so that got her noticed in Little League. She also wasn't afraid to be behind the plate with someone throwing fast pitches -- lots of girls struggle with that. It helped that she also took some catching lessons from a Georgetown catcher who was only 5'3" on a good day - definitely improved her confidence!

Anonymous wrote:4’11” mom here with a short dd. Normal height people will never understand. Short people have to work 10x harder just to be in the middle. It’s exhausting and it’s not fair. I completely understand my child has the same problems in all team sports. The big kids are fast without trying. I don’t know what the solution is other than follow her lead. Try gymnastics, dance, tennis, or pick one sport focus on it, she’ll have to try harder just to fit.

5'0" mom here with one tall kid, one short, and one in the middle. The short ones who love sports enough to try hard will usually be loved by coaches (especially if they do shoot up later) because of their work ethic, though.

And the life skills from learning to work that hard are invaluable.

Field Hockey.

4’11” mom here with a short dd. Normal height people will never understand. Short people have to work 10x harder just to be in the middle. It’s exhausting and it’s not fair. I completely understand my child has the same problems in all team sports. The big kids are fast without trying. I don’t know what the solution is other than follow her lead. Try gymnastics, dance, tennis, or pick one sport focus on it, she’ll have to try harder just to fit.

NP. I hear what people are saying about letting her try whatever she wants and agree with that, but also people need to understand that a lot of kids need to do activities they can feel good at. Not necessarily the best but competent.

My DD is very small for her age and she has not enjoyed soccer because she's slower (maybe partly as a function of being smaller but also as a function of just being slower) and not aggressive, and other kids who play are much faster and more aggressive. It means the sport is not fun to her. I have never discouraged her from playing it, we are super supportive and encouraging, but when she said she wanted to quit last year, we let her because I get it's not fun to just get beat all the time.

My DD loooooves swimming though. It's both individual and team, which is perfect for a kid who might be waiting on a growth spurt or might just always be smaller. She trains with others and its extremely social with a great team environment, but she's really mostly competing against herself and her coaches really emphasize personal best and focusing on your own skill development. The kids are extremely supportive of one another at meets (we do both club and summer swim). It's a good mix.

She also does ballet. I actually think she's a better swimmer than dancer even though her physique right now is probably more beneficial for dancing. She's not "the best" at either, but she's good enough that she doesn't feel bad going to class/practice and she sees improvement that she can be proud of.

Anonymous wrote:I was actually going to suggest soccer until I read the post. My kid who fluctuates between 1st-10th percentiles for height every year is one of the better players on her team and makes the team when she tries out every year when some of her taller former teammates haven’t. She does like playing striker the most. She also excelled at competitive gymnastics, but yes you do compete individually, and that schedule was pretty grueling after awhile. She did try softball for a season but didn’t really enjoy it, there were a couple short girls but it still involves speed.
I don’t know if you like competitive cheerleading or consider it a sport but my older daughter who is also short loved it. It was like gymnastics but you do everything with your teammates.

I don't really know how I feel about cheerleading, honestly. There isn't a cheer team for her age group in our youth sports league, so it's not really something I've thought about extensively yet, since it's not a real option for us. A coworker's teenage daughter does competitive cheer, so I definitely see how it's a sport in its own right. But the aspect of it that's cheering on the sidelines for boys playing sports is not what I want for my daughter.

I was actually going to suggest soccer until I read the post. My kid who fluctuates between 1st-10th percentiles for height every year is one of the better players on her team and makes the team when she tries out every year when some of her taller former teammates haven’t. She does like playing striker the most. She also excelled at competitive gymnastics, but yes you do compete individually, and that schedule was pretty grueling after awhile. She did try softball for a season but didn’t really enjoy it, there were a couple short girls but it still involves speed.
I don’t know if you like competitive cheerleading or consider it a sport but my older daughter who is also short loved it. It was like gymnastics but you do everything with your teammates.

We know tiny girls who still play very competitive travel soccer at u12. It is a team sport, every kid has a place and unique job on the team... the girls I know that are tiny, do not win the ball ball and dribble through the midfield, but they are amazing forwards, wingers and outside midfielders.

If she loves it, just have her keep playing it!

Definitely try field hockey when she's old enough. And don't rule out going back to soccer at some point.

everything! I topped out at 5 feet and played sports in high school - I knew I wasn't going much further than that and it was okay. Sometimes skill, strength, and knowing the rules help just as much as size. 7 is also young for some sports...let her try lots of things! Golf? Archery? (should be a little older for that ), field hockey? Swimming? Ice skating?

OP back. I'll try to answer some of the big questions that stuck out to me. Thanks to everyone for your input.

First, obviously, if my daughter wanted to continue with soccer, I would be thrilled and supportive. She's always loved soccer. But this past season, it really started to bother her that she couldn't keep up. She's very competitive and it was discouraging for her. Maybe when she's a little older and there's more strategy involved than just being the fastest runner, she'll come back to it and her size won't matter as much, but at this age, it really is about who can run fastest and she's fast, but just can't keep up with kids heads and shoulders taller than her.

Since she expressed some frustration with soccer, and because she's only 7, this seems like a good time to try out other sports that might interest her. And since her size was the main difficulty for her in soccer, we want to set her up for success in another sport, so it's not just more of the same issue.

I agree anything/soccer at that age!

But if she were older, I would also say volleyball! Volleyball teams have people of all sizes.

If she’s really little she could also maybe be a coxswain.

anything she wants. Anything? Anything

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She’s 7 . Let her try what she wants. If sge likes soccer keep doing soccer. Kids sizes are all over the place.

This x1000. Please let this not be a real post.

I don't think it's a stupid question. My kids often ask me what they should play and I try to sign them up for things I think they'd like/be good at. I'm a petite person with very tall children, so I'm also learning about what sports would be good for my kids.

OP as a short person I was good at gymnastics (they're very short) and also liked tennis a lot. I thought I was a good runner, but I couldn't outpace tall people in sports like track/soccer/swimming.

The kid is 7. Focus should be on exposure and fun, not future success based on body composition.

Lots of girls drop out of sports for good in middle school. Exposure is great, but I think it's also worth thinking about long term options where the kid is likely to be able to be successful.

My small girl absolutely loved basketball in early elementary and I absolutely encouraged her to play, but it became less and less fun for her as the height difference increased into middle school. She's on track to be 5'1" or 5'2" per her pediatrician. Basketball isn't likely to be a great fit for her long term, so she's trying other sports.

+100

In elementary school, of course they should try everything! But at some point, it makes some sense to consider the long term, especially if it is likely your kid will be very short or very tall. In some sports height matters (basketball, volleyball). Just common sense. Most people with older kids will have seen this.

OP I would recommend trying softball if she would be interested.

FWIW: my DD was always short (25% percentile all the way through childhood) and seemed on track to remain that way…but she is 5’7”. Late bloomer & made up for it during puberty. So things can change. But DH is tallish and I am average- nobody in our families is truly short.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best player on my daughter's basketball team is the shortest one because she's fast and squirrely (for lack of a better word - she gets in and out of situations quickly, she's really good at stealing the ball).

yeah that's great, but wont' work as they get older

So what, OP's child is 7, and she can play rec sports for as long as she wants. Not every child needs to be super competitive. Some kids just play sports for fun. Thank goodness for rec leagues.