• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Kids and Sports

C

CHDeac

Well-known member
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
1,669
Reaction score
175
The recent thread on parenting got me thinking about people's experiences with their kids and sports.

I have a 9 YO an am somewhat amazed at the intensity of athletics this age. My son loves sports and is above average in athleticism but is certainly not a phenom, far from it. My wife and I both believe sports provides a great outlet and teaches a lot of life lessons. So we encourage it. However, we find ourselves a bit on the fringe of this intense culture.

Soccer to me is by far the most intense. Its turning into an all out, 9 month a year sport (practices start in late July, run through the winter via indoor and then start in Feb). The clubs aren't cheap (~$1500/year) plus all the travel expenses of tourneys. Teams can be fluid, swapping players out and the practices can be far from home (we live in CH and know one family that drives to Fayetteville for practice during the week). We know some parents who scout other teams. Yeah, scouting U10 soccer. The challenge we see is that there is little middle ground The rec leagues in our area are pretty bad so we are a little stuck. You are either all in or playing really low level soccer.

Im also amazed at the intensity parents with respect to working out. I know one parent who takes her 11 and 9 YOs on long runs and even prides herself when she makes them puke! WTF? Plus, all these kids "train" for races. I love the exercise but the intensity to me is amazing.

Im curious to know other's experiences.
 
9 year olds don't stand a chance at winning a summer swim meet unless they swim year round.
 
I do feel like youth sports totally sucks now. I kind of dread getting into that in a few years. Wish the kids could just play and have fun -- from what I've read, it sort of seems like parents are trying to get their kids college athletic scholarships beginning at like age 4.
 
it is funny that there are exact opposite ends of the spectrum. there is the 'everybody gets a trophy' mentality and there is the '$1500/yr 9 yr old travel team year-round' mentality.
 
I dont have kids, but I worked at a local youth sports complex in Dallas for a few years managing tournaments, training, etc. I couldnt believe the amount of parents who acted like their 10 yr olds played in a professional sports league, would berate refs, pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars for individual coaching workouts and training sessions. It was gross
 
isledeac said:
it is funny that there are exact opposite ends of the spectrum. there is the 'everybody gets a trophy' mentality and there is the '$1500/yr 9 yr old travel team year-round' mentality.
Click to expand...

This is really well said. Very little middle ground. And god forbid your kid wants to do something else, like music, cub scouts or other after school activities. My son literally loves doing everything so there is a lot of "no, we don't have time for that". Plus we hate dragging our 5 yo daughter to event after event after event.

There are some whacked put parents....Its bad when a 9 YO tells you about their PR in a 10k.
 
Lots of time constraints these days. My kid wants to do martial arts, but that's 2 days a week with soccer and cub scouts already. He'd also wanted to play Pop Warner, but you have to practice 3 days a week or you don't even get to play.
 
I'm all for letting the kid do what he wants to do, except for soccer. I refuse to watch it so will not let my kid play it under any circumstances. Baseball and field goal kicking.
 
palmab03 said:
I'm all for letting the kid do what he wants to do, except for soccer. I refuse to watch it so will not let my kid play it under any circumstances. Baseball and field goal kicking.
Click to expand...

Cart before horse? Need to have sex before you worry about your kids playing sports.
 
Leaving for a 9U travel baseball tournament in about an hour.

It is crazy and I definitely feel you about not having any middle ground. Park ball is dying and that is one of the unfortunate results of the travel ball phenomenon. Every parent thinks little johnny needs to be on a travel ball team. So not only does it hurt park ball but it waters down the travel ball circuit.

I gotta admit as a parent it is tough to distance yourself emotionally from the competitiveness. I've said/done a few things I regret but I am learning on the job and getting better as a sports parent. Some of these folks are straight up loonbirds. I've seen fist fights. The good thing is that my son absolutely LOVES to play baseball and he's made some good friends. Our coaches are great too which is very important.

I've got a six year old on the way up and I can't even fathom having two kids playing travel ball. I want him to play baseball but there is part of me that hopes he wants to get into something else so our family life isn't totally insane. Probably won't happen bc he is so competitive with his older brother.
 
I kinda hope my kids a nerd so he won't do anything besides sit in his room and do math problems. The thought of driving around the state to watch 7 year olds play t ball is horrifying.
 
My middle child is about to graduate from HS. For the last 10 years she played Challenge level soccer in the CASL organization in Raleigh. I spent thousands of dollars a year on this and traveled all over SC, NC and VA to play in tournaments. It was great for her but I am so glad to have my weekends and that money back. My youngest plays city baseball and is not committed enough to play travel ball (thank goodness). My daughter could have played classic level and that would have cost at least $5K a year and probably more. I am so glad she didn't go that route. We had fun and have great friends and memories of State Cup trophies and big wins in weekend tournaments but we are both glad it's over. Good thing is that she plans to play club or intramural in college and that will be a great way for her to meet people. She is also very fit and learned how to stay in shape.
 
Ralph Medlin said:
Leaving for a 9U travel baseball tournament in about an hour.

It is crazy and I definitely feel you about not having any middle ground. Park ball is dying and that is one of the unfortunate results of the travel ball phenomenon. Every parent thinks little johnny needs to be on a travel ball team. So not only does it hurt park ball but it waters down the travel ball circuit.

I gotta admit as a parent it is tough to distance yourself emotionally from the competitiveness. I've said/done a few things I regret but I am learning on the job and getting better as a sports parent. Some of these folks are straight up loonbirds. I've seen fist fights. The good thing is that my son absolutely LOVES to play baseball and he's made some good friends. Our coaches are great too which is very important.

I've got a six year old on the way up and I can't even fathom having two kids playing travel ball. I want him to play baseball but there is part of me that hopes he wants to get into something else so our family life isn't totally insane. Probably won't happen bc he is so competitive with his older brother.
Click to expand...

Where?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top