Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this will be flamed. I have a 3.5 year old who is oddly good at soccer in my opinion. He kicks the ball harder than my 2nd grader. He is also faster. He is doing a soccer shots program and the dads there make comments about how they’ve never seen a kid like him. I think they’re probably just making conversation, I have no idea what signs I might see that my kid has a real gift. Can anyone whose child grew up to be a college soccer player, etc tell me what their kid looked like at 3.5?

LOL you can not be for real.

My two college athletes ,one spent time hanging from the net in kindergarten. Division 1 soccer

The the other didn't touch a lax ball til 9th grade. Division 1 LAX

Let your kid have fun fun fun and play play play as long as they are happy

Read the update. She actually came back to let everyone know how it's going now. The OG post is maybe 3 years old.

Anonymous wrote:I know this will be flamed. I have a 3.5 year old who is oddly good at soccer in my opinion. He kicks the ball harder than my 2nd grader. He is also faster. He is doing a soccer shots program and the dads there make comments about how they’ve never seen a kid like him. I think they’re probably just making conversation, I have no idea what signs I might see that my kid has a real gift. Can anyone whose child grew up to be a college soccer player, etc tell me what their kid looked like at 3.5?

LOL you can not be for real.

My two college athletes ,one spent time hanging from the net in kindergarten. Division 1 soccer

The the other didn't touch a lax ball til 9th grade. Division 1 LAX

Let your kid have fun fun fun and play play play as long as they are happy

Love this! A healthy perspective, humility, and some good fun self-deprecation are a rarity on DCUM and especially this forum - so thank you OP! (And also, this was very informative!)

Love that you came back to update, OP. And your kid is still really young. It will probably all change again at least a couple more times. Some of the best kids quit by age 12 and some average kids work their way up to being really good. Mine is 11 and moved up from a second travel team to a first team at age 9. But I feel like other kids, including some old teammates and kids from lower teams, are starting to catch up and pass him. And who knows what puberty is going to bring for all of them. If I had to put money on it right now, I think mine will end up in cross country or track because speed and endurance have been things where he consistently stands out. He has played with and against the upper tier kids in soccer, the ones who will make the high level leagues and HS varsity, and I can see he doesn’t have their technical skills despite working hard. Just trying to support him where he is at right now and make sure he’s on a team where he can feel like a contributor. I think if a kid is truly gifted there won’t be any wondering; they stand out in every setting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the kind of DCUM thread I live for! Thanks, OP!

What, you mean some made up sweet sounding story. You all can’t see when you are getting suckered. Beautiful story but totally made up, if it sounds too good to be true it isn’t

why would I make up my 3 year old being really good at soccer and then come back 3 years later and say he's not really that good? What a lot of effort to save a fake post for 3 years and then come back to it. You can ask Jeff to verify I'm the OP if you want. I was just laughing at myself a little today (because some parent was talking about their kid being super good at something and I'm thinking, you have no clue if that will change! and it made me remember how I privately used to think the same thing when mine was younger- not out loud thankfully). So I thought I'd let you guys get a laugh in as well, since most of you were so polite but still likely laughing at me in your heads when you read it

Anonymous wrote:This is the kind of DCUM thread I live for! Thanks, OP!

What, you mean some made up sweet sounding story. You all can’t see when you are getting suckered. Beautiful story but totally made up, if it sounds too good to be true it isn’t

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, wait, didn't read the update! Many of the best soccer players are short. Mine is very tall and eventually got moved to defense because of that. Don't give up on him!

And, finally, if your son loves it, he shouldn't give up. The kids that were big and fast early mostly drop out because when you are older, the others catch up and if you haven't learned technique, it is clear that you are not very good. The little ones learn the technique.

Oh he still loves it! He plays for fun in the yard all the time. And plays rec soccer both fall and spring (along with basketball, baseball, and summer swim team- he just likes sports in general). But soccer is still his favorite! Despite being handily beaten in after school pick up soccer by 2 other boys in his grade almost every afternoon! (One boy just because he is a lot bigger, but the other boy is legitimately much better. And at age 3-4, he definitely wasn't!)

This is the kind of DCUM thread I live for! Thanks, OP!

Anonymous wrote:Oh, wait, didn't read the update! Many of the best soccer players are short. Mine is very tall and eventually got moved to defense because of that. Don't give up on him!

And, finally, if your son loves it, he shouldn't give up. The kids that were big and fast early mostly drop out because when you are older, the others catch up and if you haven't learned technique, it is clear that you are not very good. The little ones learn the technique.

Oh, wait, didn't read the update! Many of the best soccer players are short. Mine is very tall and eventually got moved to defense because of that. Don't give up on him!

I knew my son was gifted when the teacher at his school came up to me and told me that the entire school of 400 or so preschool kids were all in the auditorium sitting on the floor - imagine, arms, legs everywhere. I showed up to take him to the doctor. He was in the front middle of the room and he did the high knee run out of the crowd and, came through in record time, missing every child. The teacher was completely amazed.

Also, second children are always more competitive than older kids - your younger has seen the elder and wants to be as good as him.

Also, if your son is great at soccer, he will need other sports too because specializing too early is not healthy. My son did a Brazilian martial arts thing, rugby and especially tennis - many soccer players are also great at tennis, for some reason.

Now mine plays professionally.

I love that you came back to update OP! It says volumes about what is important in raising a child: that the early years are just that, the early years and that it is a long road ahead of parenting these amazing kids.

And that the kids who are truly "gifted" are the ones who have parents who love them just as who they are in the moment just as you, OP, have demonstrated. Your son may not continue on to be a soccer super talent (or he may still - the long road has many twists and turns) but he has already won big in having a parent like you.

Mine are now in college and I speak from someone who is now able to look back at all the early years nonsense that exists especially among the parents. I never understood it and I say that with one child who did get recruited for college level soccer (D3) and even with that, in the end it does not matter. What will guarantee that your child is happy and even successful in life are the tiny little things that parents can teach their children every single day. The things that no one notices and that certainly do not involve teams or performances. Trust me on this and great job OP!

I found this post just to update it and entertain you all!!! I am the mom of the 3.5yo who was a soccer phenom a few years ago who is the OP of this. He is now 6.5. He is not a soccer phenom. He went from being tall for his age to being short for his age. The other athletic kids his age have since learned to also kick with the laces, lift the ball in the air when they take shots (I don't know if that has a technical term, sorry), etc, and therefore he no longer stands out at all other than being one of the more athletic and interested kids on a team.

I remember how he used to just drill the ball so hard compared to other kids his age, and now he's like 35th percentile for height and weight and kids with no athletic ability who are a foot taller with 8 adult teeth already (there is a kid in his grade like this!) can run up and kick the ball harder. Oh, and since he's small, he isn't faster than them anymore either. He's still a good little player and loves playing soccer, but he was definitely surpassed. If he were trying out for a local U8 club team, he'd probably make the second team, not the first team. And only if the club wasn't one of the more competitive ones.

Just wanted to provide you all some entertainment!!! Carry on!

My son started playing soccer in kindergarten. He was at first clueless, sometimes he would stop in the middle of a game to watch a plane He was a dribbler with good speed at the age of 5, but he wasn’t big or strong compared with his teammates. He liked to try new moves or skills he learned on his own in games. Now at age 16 he is playing for a national champion team. Almost all of his childhood teammates stopped playing soccer or switched to another sport before starting high school. So you really can’t tell at a young age.

Some kids natural athletic talent shows early. It tends to foster itself bc they like being good and so they keep at it. Of course hard to know how plays out over 15 years.
Main advice is listen to the person whose kids were recruited for multiple sports. Kids these days often specialize too early. They often end up w overuse injuries. Expose him to lots of sports - and painting too have fun!