No one is saying kids should not play 2 sports.

What they are saying is that signing up for 2 sports when you know you will be missing all practices and just popping in for games now and then, is utterly unfair to everyone else on the team, even if that team is just rec.

The debate is coming in response to to the poster who said they had one travel soccer kid on their rec team who attended zero practices and missed a ton of games.

At that point, there is no point in bothering to play on that rec team. The parents need to quit being selfish and commit to what they can commit to instead of signing up for everything just so they can brag about how many sports their kid plays.

Anonymous wrote:^ Sports are about commitment, respect, sportsmanship, effort and teamwork.

All of these amateur parents are teaching their kids the wrong values.

If we weren’t 5 minutes early we were late.
If we missed practices we were benched (YES- even the Stars)
If we acted like a prima Donna, nasty to our teammates- benched

Watch old sports movies like: Miracle, Hoosiers , etc.
Those are the values kids should be taught.

I played on rec teams and I played on National Championship teams, States, etc.

That experience with a team sport and responsibility is the defining moment in my life. It’s why I am not late for work, appointments. It’s why I don’t let people down. It’s why my word means something. It’s why I’m tough and I expect more out of others. It’s why I can be supportive.

The youth sports business market and arrogant parents that teach their kid they are a star are endemic of what is wrong with our society.

Travel sports require a bigger commitment. If you can’t make it routinely, then a CHOICE needs to be made.

But even at the Rec level, if my kids decided halfway through the season that they didn’t like baseball. They finished the season. They didn’t give up halfway through.

Coaching a rec team and never knowing if enough kids were going to show up for the game was a major PIA. Parents were too important to ha e the courtesy to send an email.

This post cracked me up. My husband played high level sports all the way through college, loves Hoosiers and all those other stirring sports movies, and he always would say the exact same sorts of things about how sports taught him everything he knew about being a good, responsible person. And I would always comment that is was funny how I ended up with the exact same values and abilities without ever playing a day of sports in my life--we really are remarkably similar people in many ways. He never really has had an answer for that.

Back on topic, my husband has coached several of our kids' sports teams, and I have managed many. From that experience, my view is that there is no simple yes or no answer to these sorts of questions. You need to have a frank discussion with all potential coaches before accepting offers/starting a new season and tell them what other activities the kid is doing and what commitment level is realistic for each sport. It is the coach's job to be honest in return. If it's a serious team where everyone is very committed to that sport and to developing into high level players, the coach may tell you that outside sports are not going to work or are OK only in winter (or whatever the off-season is). That's not the team for you if you want to do 2 sports seriously during the same season. Many coaches of the 8-10 set, even serious coaches, are perfectly happy with kids doing a variety of sports and fine with missing the occasional game or practice, and they will carry a larger roster so that kids are free to explore.

As many others on here have pointed out, times have changed since most posters were playing youth sports. There was no need to try to play 2 or 3 sports at the same time 20 or 30 years ago, because you just played one each season. It's way too simplistic to just say all kids should be limited to one travel team at a time.

Is there a requirement to participate a minimum of hours of practices to play games when signing up for "Rec"? Isn't Rec supposed to be flexible? People pay money to let their DC to play games not to participate in practice. Practice is just the benefit come with your sign-up for the Rec.

I don't know if this is a legitimate concern or not, but I also have an 8 year old boy in LL and he had a teammate who never came to practices or that many games. I don't believe it was due to another sport, but am unsure what the reason was. The thing is, he missed out on all the camaraderie of practices and games. My son is good at baseball, but what he most enjoys is hanging out with his buddies and having fun. At such a young age, I would think that having fun with friends is very important and missing practices doesn't help.

Anonymous wrote:Coaches are like this because soccer is an early specialization sport. Gymnastics is even younger... if you are not doing the "elite" training at age 6, then you won't get into the uber-elite at age 7/8 and then you won't have a chance to make the junior Olympics at age 10 or whatever.

Soccer isn't quite like that, but in other countries, by the time you are 8 or 9 years old, you are accepted into an academy of a professional team, or you aren't. If you aren't, you have maybe a few years up to U12 to get into one, and if you don't, then you can certainly play soccer, but it's unlikely that you will advance to a higher level.

"Travel" programs want to start with players at 7/8 years old and then take them as far as they can go in the sport for the next 10 years on a serious, committed track of development. That is what they do. If you don't want that, then there are plenty of other options.

For every sport, there are recreational options, more challenging options, "competitive" options, and then the "elite" options where more is involved. You can choose what you want to do.

Right.

But don't join a rec team too if you are not going to show up for practices.

Coaches are like this because soccer is an early specialization sport. Gymnastics is even younger... if you are not doing the "elite" training at age 6, then you won't get into the uber-elite at age 7/8 and then you won't have a chance to make the junior Olympics at age 10 or whatever.

Soccer isn't quite like that, but in other countries, by the time you are 8 or 9 years old, you are accepted into an academy of a professional team, or you aren't. If you aren't, you have maybe a few years up to U12 to get into one, and if you don't, then you can certainly play soccer, but it's unlikely that you will advance to a higher level.

"Travel" programs want to start with players at 7/8 years old and then take them as far as they can go in the sport for the next 10 years on a serious, committed track of development. That is what they do. If you don't want that, then there are plenty of other options.

For every sport, there are recreational options, more challenging options, "competitive" options, and then the "elite" options where more is involved. You can choose what you want to do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you skip every practice to only show up for games as a starter or star player, you are not part of the team. You are nothing more than a ringer.

An 8 year old ringer now?

If he is not part of the team than what is he then?

Somebody with a parent that brings him to games.

Team builds together. Teams put in the work together.

There is no “I” in team.

And for all this talk of "team" and commitment at such young ages, how many of you can even name the roster of your 2nd or 3rd grade team in any sport?

I certainly can't but I can still field, throw and hit a baseball.

I think you got hit in the head with a baseball.

Oh, please, half of you can't even remember your kindergarten teacher not to mention a 3rd grade rec baseball team.

You can remember kids, but I couldn't begin to tell you what years or teams I played with them. In several cases I may be confusing playing against them with playing with them. And these were all kids I went to school with.

the point is, looking back, I don't remember the teams. But my body remembers the skills, my mind remembers game and my heart remembers how it all made me feel. The kids, the teams, the parents are all honestly just a blur. And if you are honest with yourself the faces would be a blur too.

So stop worrying about that kid, stop worrying about the team and instead just worry about your kid learning and having fun.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you skip every practice to only show up for games as a starter or star player, you are not part of the team. You are nothing more than a ringer.

An 8 year old ringer now?

If he is not part of the team than what is he then?

Somebody with a parent that brings him to games.

Team builds together. Teams put in the work together.

There is no “I” in team.

And for all this talk of "team" and commitment at such young ages, how many of you can even name the roster of your 2nd or 3rd grade team in any sport?

I certainly can't but I can still field, throw and hit a baseball.

I think you got hit in the head with a baseball.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you skip every practice to only show up for games as a starter or star player, you are not part of the team. You are nothing more than a ringer.

An 8 year old ringer now?

If he is not part of the team than what is he then?

Somebody with a parent that brings him to games.

Team builds together. Teams put in the work together.

There is no “I” in team.

And for all this talk of "team" and commitment at such young ages, how many of you can even name the roster of your 2nd or 3rd grade team in any sport?

I certainly can't but I can still field, throw and hit a baseball.

Anonymous wrote:If you skip every practice to only show up for games as a starter or star player, you are not part of the team. You are nothing more than a ringer.

and so what? who cares? these teams only exist to teach kids how to play a sport, take instruction, and get exercise at this age. some, but few, kids are learning leadership skills,

if a team win or lose, who cares, as long as the kids are developing in the sport they choose to play.. this is the current environment we live in, nasty traffic, 2 to 3 "practices" a week per activity, practice and game overlap is bound to happen.

It's not always entitlement, it's hard to get around, there's more than a 100 kids in our town, school, etc..

I specifically work with my kids out of practice so that they can "keep" up, actually, not just keep up, often they are ahead of the other kids who go to practice, because practice is all that those other kids do.

Anonymous wrote:The main purpose of a rec team is learning teamwork.

If you are jot interested in that lesson, then why play rec sports. Just stick to travel.

In all honesty, the reason we moved to travel was because most of the rec kids barely showed up.

In travel (at least on higher teams), that doesn’t fly.

The main purpose of a rec team is learning teamwork.

If you are jot interested in that lesson, then why play rec sports. Just stick to travel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you skip every practice to only show up for games as a starter or star player, you are not part of the team. You are nothing more than a ringer.

An 8 year old ringer now?

If he is not part of the team than what is he then?

Somebody with a parent that brings him to games.

Team builds together. Teams put in the work together.

There is no “I” in team.

I can just imagine how obnoxious and entitled the kid is.

I’m picturing about 5 I know right now. Child of an obnoxious lawyer no doubt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you skip every practice to only show up for games as a starter or star player, you are not part of the team. You are nothing more than a ringer.

An 8 year old ringer now?

If he is not part of the team than what is he then?

Somebody with a parent that brings him to games.

Team builds together. Teams put in the work together.

There is no “I” in team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you skip every practice to only show up for games as a starter or star player, you are not part of the team. You are nothing more than a ringer.

An 8 year old ringer now?

If he is not part of the team than what is he then?

An 8 year old kid playing in a baseball game. Stop being so angry about it.