you'd be surprised at the number of smaller players on national soccer teams playing for the world cup.

i think for swimming and basketball it gets to be a big disadvantage after elementary but for most other sports it doesn't matter as much.

You don't normally think of great runners as being short, but my father (5'6" and stocky) was a champion cross-country runner.

Wrestling a good one for midgets

Anonymous wrote:This is an old post, but I can't help but respond, because there were so many non-answers. I understand the reason for the question, with all other things being equal, why not encourage a kid to go into a sport where is height along is unlikely to disqualify him from playing at some future point. For some of these being short may be an advantage, for others, it isn't necessarily a disadvantage, or at least, not an overwhelming one.

Middle infield in baseball
Field Hockey
Curling
Short track speed skating
Middle to long distance running
Badminton
Squash
BMX or mountain biking
Snowboarding, downhill skiing
Gymnastics, trampoline, diving
Judo/wrestling

+1 to distance running, being short isn’t at all a disadvantage there. Many of the world’s top male runners (and I mean considered #1, GOAT, etc) are 5’3 -5’6. Anything from the 1 mile - marathon distance is possible to dominate at if you are a short guy.

This is an old post, but I can't help but respond, because there were so many non-answers. I understand the reason for the question, with all other things being equal, why not encourage a kid to go into a sport where is height along is unlikely to disqualify him from playing at some future point. For some of these being short may be an advantage, for others, it isn't necessarily a disadvantage, or at least, not an overwhelming one.

Middle infield in baseball
Field Hockey
Curling
Short track speed skating
Middle to long distance running
Badminton
Squash
BMX or mountain biking
Snowboarding, downhill skiing
Gymnastics, trampoline, diving
Judo/wrestling

For younger children, coordination and awareness are a lot more important than size.

A kid with cerebral palsy acquitted himself well in my son's machine pitch baseball league (7-8 yo) because, while he couldn't run, he could pretty reliably hit the ball.

I don’t put any limitations on my athletic short son (7th percentile) and encourage him to try more sports but he loves soccer so much! He idolizes Messi (5’7’’) and since he’ll probably end up being that height believes anything is possible. He’s only 8 but is so quick with great ball skills and it’s so fun to watch him have no fear against all these boys a head taller than him and take the ball from them every time. I hope his fearlessness stays, as long as he’s not afraid of the big guys, he’ll be great.

Baseball/t-ball now

Wrestling later - like age 7 - but go really easy to make sure he doesn't burn out. Wrestling is the BEST sport for little guys, but it's incredibly difficult so go slow and keep it positive/happy. My (short, skinny) sons would take entire years off from wresting competition when they were younger, but by high school they were very good and loved it. One does it in college now.

Figure skating

In the youth years, all sports are great and height is not a deterrent. At the older ages (i.e. competitive HS, College) basically - anything other than basketball or volleyball (or GK in soccer). I.e. avoid sports where the net is significantly above his head. Even football is ok depending on the position (RB, CB, LB, K, P, Safety)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Train him to be a catcher in baseball. Good ones are hard to find and there's an advantage to being short (and stocky) as long as he can hit too.

Nah you have to be big to be a catcher.

Wrong.

I was a catcher, idiot. I know.

NP here. What is the rationale to being big? So you can block the balls better? Big as in tall or big as in stocky or both?

There is more of you to block and smother balls, and your longer arms can reach out and snag balls. Catchers are generally substantial people. My kid is 13 and on a travel baseball team - the lead off hitters are two tiny speedy dudes who can both really hit the ball. Both also good pitchers and out fielders. My kid, on the other hand, is 5’10”, runs like a wounded camel. It ain’t pretty.

PP here. Thanks for the explanation. Laughing here at running like a wounded camel. My cousin loped like a wounded camel too- he's now 6'5" so I can totally picture it. My own 9 year old catches but is slender (though tall).

Of course kids can play lots of sports when they are short.

Long term gymnastics is the sport where there is an actual advantage to being short. As others have noted, wrestling is a sport where participation is directed by weight so a smaller person will be matched up with smaller opponents. Other fight sports do the same thing but arm length becomes a bigger factor so a taller person with longer arms within the weight class can have an advantage. Arm length again is important in paddle sports but balanced with weight and strength. Motor sports also have benefits for small and light weight.

If I had a kid who I knew would be short (say 5’6” max) I would look at getting him involved in the neighborhood stuff - little league baseball, rec soccer etc, and then basic gymnastics. As he aged, I would look at a local wrestling program too. I would be honest with him and involve him in the process. It will not be news to him that he is small.

Anonymous wrote:Get him started in whatever he wants. If he is a good athlete, he can do almost any sport through middle school. If he is a phenome, he can do almost any sport through high school. In my experience high school is where they started cutting some talented kids in sports due to height.

Depends where you are and what level your child wants to eventually play. I have seen very small kids participate at high or competitive levels for swimming and diving (national training teams), soccer (DA) but NOT for basketball. I have seen bias against short kids for competitive basketball for kids as young as in mid-elementary. Went to an AAU tryout a few years ago and the best kid at the scrimmages was the smallest. Rebounded a very large number of shots, stole the ball away from larger players and basically had the ball the whole scrimmage and passed it off or shot like a pro. I thought for sure he'd get in, but, no, when they broke out the kids into groups and had a few kids play with the existing team he was not among them. They did not even look seriously at him.

My child who did okay but is pretty tall for his age and the other 2 tallest boys were part of the group that made it in to the finals. It is like they took the three tallest kids and only looked at them. They only had one spot so my child did not make it but I keep thinking about that because younger DS2 is much shorter for his age and really enjoys basketball. I am picking up on a lot of things I didn't notice with DS1. On teams and camps they sort kids by height not by ability. DS2 is usually put with kids much younger than him which is discouraging. He's still very young but we have tried to encourage other sports knowing it will be an uphill battle for him.

Anonymous wrote:Get him started in whatever he wants. If he is a good athlete, he can do almost any sport through middle school. If he is a phenome, he can do almost any sport through high school. In my experience high school is where they started cutting some talented kids in sports due to height.

+1

Get him started in whatever he wants. If he is a good athlete, he can do almost any sport through middle school. If he is a phenome, he can do almost any sport through high school. In my experience high school is where they started cutting some talented kids in sports due to height.