How do you and your children decide on sports?

[mamaley]

My son is 6 and wants to try everything when it comes to sports. I'm not kidding, dh even jokingly told ds that the hopscotch team gives out trophies, would he want to join, and ds said "sure!". He's done soccer, basketball, t-ball, swim lessons and a gymnastics (well, gym with a gymnastics focus) class and he wants to do all of them plus football, tennis, and track (which they don't have for his age group yet). This obviously doesn't include anything from the arts, like music lessons, etc, which he's not currently involved in.

I love that he's so enthusiastic, and he has an awesome attitude and tries so hard, most of the time. I wouldn't say that he's naturally a gifted athlete, but he's pretty good. I also wouldn't say that there is one sport that he excels at in comparison to the others. He enjoys everything and won't choose one, two, or even three but just says he wants to do them all.

So I'm having a hard time narrowing it down for him. I would love for him to be able to try everything, but it gets expensive, and some of these have practice/games/lessons 2 nights a week so I don't know where we'd come up with the time to do everything, kwim?

So how do we narrow it down? How have you dealt with this with your children?

[Jess A]

My son is 6.5 and he also wants to try everything. DH is thrilled. He played sports his whole life, and he encourages DS to try different things. So far, he's done swimming classes, two seasons of soccer, and a season of Tball.

Sports can get pricey and they take up time. We want to teach him young that it's a commitment--one we all have to make what with practices, games, and occasional coaching.

We allow DS to play whatever he wants, but he's only allowed one thing per season. DD will be old enough in a year and a half to play soccer, and she's already planning on it. And with another one coming, we've decided early on that it's one sport per season per kid.

As far as which sports, we leave that up to DS. We have scratched football off the list . . . DS is small for his age, and I want him bigger before he tries (if I ever let him ). This year, he's going to do basketball in the winter and tball again in the spring. He's still not sure about soccer in the fall and he's counting the years until he can be on the track team at school.

Sports have been wonderful for DS. He's a decent player, but he's an AMAZING teammate. He loves being on a team and cheering for his friends and learning all he can . . . I love to watch him interact with everyone and enjoy seeing the respect he has for his coaches (especially when DH was his soccer coach). It can be chaotic for us (and I found tball games really boring), but we make it a family thing--everyone goes to games and practices unless they are sick to cheer each other and it has been more rewarding than I thought.

[danellsar]

We do 1 at a time for dd. She's going to play soccer this fall, and when that's over, she might play softball next spring. Mostly that's to try and keep some control over the insane practice/game schedules.

[Alkenny]

My son is a little older, so we've been doing this for a few years now. My only rule has been "1 at a time"...which means he's never wrestled, because he'd rather play basketball.

This past year, he did do both fall soccer and football at the same time because he was old enough to get himself to practices (we live 2 blocks from the practice fields), but it did get to be a bit too much so he's giving up soccer. (They've moved into another league where most of the boys have given it up and he says it is no longer a challange for him, so...his decision.)

He doesn't do any arts/music, though he's tried it. He's just not inclined that way, no matter how much "I" want him to be, so he's focusing on his good points...football, basketball and baseball.

[MamaBug]

My ds is 8 but started sports at 4, and my youngest is now 6. My older one also wants to do "IT ALL". We tried to do one sport a season, and then they found hockey and karate. In the fall we play soccer and that will overlap both karate and hockey. Reason being that soccer here is only 5 weeks and hockey is 7 months and karate is year round. Also he is very good at soccer (at the moment) and our school does not have a hockey team so we would like him to have the skills/opportunity to play soccer for the school team if he wants/can. Thankfully the karate place is very laid back and meets 3 times a week, so if we only go once a week it is still ok. Some weeks we skip karate altogehter. Plus they are not all on the same night. Now that he is in 3rd grade and they will be getting more homework we may not do the karate until the summer. He used to do basketball and baseball but now has decided to focus on hockey as he cannot do it all. The leagues they are involved in are also now very competitive so if we decide to just stay home it's not a big deal.

I honestly think it also depends on the kid. My boys like to be busy, the older one more so then the little one. In addition to those sports they also do boy scouts. So far it has been ok but if it interferes with homework or they seem to be overwhelmed then we will stop one or all things. Our attitude is now is the time to dabble and find what they like. Thankfully for us too the things they are doing ( except for the ice hockey) are rather inexpensive so it is easy to try a bunch of things out. Look in to your local Y that is where we do the karate and it only costs me $40 a month for both boys to go 3 hours a week if they choose to.

[Houdini]

We also do just one at a time. My boys all play soccer and my daughter plays basketball. The boys are happy with soccer and haven't really wanted to try anything else. My daughter loves basketball and has also participated in cheerleading in the past.

[Fieryfly]

6 is a great age to start trying out all the sports because obviously he is enjoying the experience and its a great energy outlet. He is going into these sports with very little expectations and preconceptions. Plus at his level they will be focusing more on the fun of the sport rather than drills and skills, as well as shorter seasons(sometimes). As he gets older he will probably start leaning more towards the sports he enjoys the most, other players he's befriended, and the teams that value his skills the most.

My DS is now 10 and has been playing sports since he was 3(yes, 3, lol!). We've done basketball, baseball, soccer, flag football, football, track & field, bmx biking, as well as trying many other sports just for fun and not in an organized league. We do one at a time, except one season he did track and baseball at the same time, and we don't it that again.

So in the end, there isn't a need to have him narrow his choices down just yet. I'm sure he will naturally do that as he gets older, probably around 12 or so. Remember, sports can be a life-long interest(I play soccer and softball in a recreation league), so he'll probably continue trying new things throughout his whole life.

[BusyMommy]

My kids do lots per their choice. I guess I'm open about him doing whatever he wants as long as he actively participates and it doesn't negatively affect our family life. Right now, my 5 y.o. is on the gymnastics team & the running team and plays soccer. But, he just told me he prefers yoga (timing conflict) and doesn't think he'll do soccer next summer. I love that he's learning to make his own choices....Go Yoga!!!

[Zach'smom]

For the kid who wants to do it all, you may want to check out your local YMCA. Ours offers a great program called "Sports of All Sorts" The kids get to try out many different sports so they can decide which they would like to do more of.

[mamaley]

Zach'smom, I wish they had that here! That would be perfect for him.

Thanks for the replies. We'll just leave it up to him, but probably implement the "one at a time" rule, especially during the school year.

[Mirzam]

We have done two sports at one time with DS (Judo and Soccer), but DS really prefers soccer so he has been concentrating on that. He is an extremely gifted athlete and really excells at anything he tries -- he can throw a ball way faster and harder than I can, he plays soccer with 8 and 9 year olds and holds his own. This summer he will spend 4 weeks (three down one to go) in soccer camps and two weeks doing a camp which offers soccer, baseball and basket ball. This is his third year doing this camp and he just loves it. So for us now, it is one sport during the year and what takes his fancy over the summer and at this point soccer wins out.

[mamaley]

Originally Posted by Jess A

My son is 6.5 and he also wants to try everything. DH is thrilled. He played sports his whole life, and he encourages DS to try different things. So far, he's done swimming classes, two seasons of soccer, and a season of Tball.

Sports can get pricey and they take up time. We want to teach him young that it's a commitment--one we all have to make what with practices, games, and occasional coaching.

We allow DS to play whatever he wants, but he's only allowed one thing per season. DD will be old enough in a year and a half to play soccer, and she's already planning on it. And with another one coming, we've decided early on that it's one sport per season per kid.

As far as which sports, we leave that up to DS. We have scratched football off the list . . . DS is small for his age, and I want him bigger before he tries (if I ever let him ). This year, he's going to do basketball in the winter and tball again in the spring. He's still not sure about soccer in the fall and he's counting the years until he can be on the track team at school.

Sports have been wonderful for DS. He's a decent player, but he's an AMAZING teammate. He loves being on a team and cheering for his friends and learning all he can . . . I love to watch him interact with everyone and enjoy seeing the respect he has for his coaches (especially when DH was his soccer coach). It can be chaotic for us (and I found tball games really boring), but we make it a family thing--everyone goes to games and practices unless they are sick to cheer each other and it has been more rewarding than I thought.

Whoa, I think we have the same kid! That sounds so much like my son...must be a pretty special kid I think we're deciding not to do football with him too, for similar reasons. Also, this fall is going to be super busy for us as it is.

[lilyka]

we do one at a time and only with teams that allow used equipment. (we did tae kwon do at a gym that required only new equipment only from thier proshop. : ). we also have a one practice per week rule and nothingon sundays. so far we haven't found anything she is intrested inthat fits those so she does a class at our gym that is fitness and intro to games and sports. more just PE sort of stuff.

[TheTruth]

Eventually he will have to limit to one at a time.