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?