Parents @ team Practice/games? (child, natural, schools, video)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think, also, I might not really understand the difference between a "club" sport and a "school" sport. "Club" sports would be like YMCA, AYSO, Kid Sports? While "school" sports would be something set up through the school? This would mean that both my kids I guess have always played club sports, but the teams are organized by school and practice at neighborhood school fields. ?
As far as I know the public schools here don't offer sports until high school. At the elem. and middle school level you have to go through an outside agency like AYSO, Kid Sports, YMCA, or the city recreation department but even that is mainly for high school age and up (they call it city leagues).
It depends on regions and even individual school districts. My school district offers sports starting in elementary school. That's right, first grade. Some are school sponsored, some are club sponsored but they all are through the school district. There are also community club sports programs outside of the schools for all age groups.
The only difference between a school sport and a club sport affiliated with the school is funding. The school provides most of the funding for school sponsored sports. The club sports at school are funded via parents fees and fundraisers. The way you can tell the difference is if you have to pay for anything. For example, most football is sponsored by the school and the school pays for the equipment, coaches, field time, etc.; whereas, hockey and lacrosse are typically a club sport through the school and the players pay for their own equipment, coaches, ice time, transportation, etc.
There's a law that requires schools to provide (financially support) equal number of sports for boys and girls. As a result, when my children were in school, the girl's lacrosse team was funded by the school but the boy's lacrosse team was funded by the club. The reason is because the school needed one more girl's sport to balance a boy's sport that was already provided by the school. But both the girls and boys lacrosse teams were school teams, not community teams, even though they were funded differently.
In our area, there are no school teams/sports until 7th grade. Anything before that is through an organization of some sort. City youth leagues, Upwards, YMCA...etc.
Registration fees are paid to cover fields, lights and umpire/referee costs and sometimes uniform costs, however almost all of those have volunteers for coaches, not paid ones. Personally, I don't think volunteer coaches should be expected to be totally in charge of a large group of players in practices in most situations.
There are certain levels of skill and age that needs far more parental involvement than the older and more skilled/experienced. And there are certain sports that need different amounts of parental support, involvement and attendance.
With baseball, you've got a lot of equipment that has to be kept up with, a lot of down time for many of the kids to be kept occupied and a chance of injury that needs more than a bandaid or ice pack.
For instance, our local city rec league starts T-ball at age 3. Every parent is absolutely needed! lol.
However a select team in the league may be just fine with only a few parents with kids that are 6 and above.
In basketball and soccer, you don't have quite as much equipment to keep track of, not as much down time for the kids and common injuries that don't need much more than that bandaid or ice pack .
In football and hockey you have even more equipment to deal with and the more difficult injuries to deal with. These sports need parents present more often than most of the other sports.
By the time they get in 7th grade, most have been doing sports in the rec leagues for several years and understand how it works. Their coaches are paid to do the job and are usually on school facilities with school support close by. The need for parents to be present for practices diminishes dramatically with those added things.
In our area, there are no school teams/sports until 7th grade. Anything before that is through an organization of some sort. City youth leagues, Upwards, YMCA...etc.
In our area, it's 8th grade for interscholastic sports except for track and field, which allows 7th graders to participate. My kids' middle school did have intramural sports for the 6th and 7th graders when my kids went there, but those tended to be of a month's duration or so and only in a few sports.
My kids did gymnastics (not a school sport until high school in our area). By the time the kids make the team at the club, rec center, etc they practice two hours (or more) 2-3 X per week. There was no way I was going to expend that amount of time sitting in the bleachers. A friend did go to the practices, taking her younger son along every day. One day, he fell in the bleachers from goofing around and had to get stitches in his chin. From then on, she did not go so much.
Yes, Hopes, thank you. In that case where we live school sponsored sports do not begin until high school. And even then I don't know how they can say that the school sponsers the few sports that they do offer because the fees and costs are very high! The parents pay for everything. Even sharing the cost among the team parents of renting the practice fields and such. They also get major donations from community businesses. It's not like the school makes it affordable or accessible to anyone who wants to play. Even the fees and costs I see listed for family's who might qualify for a scholarship (if your child qualifies for free or reduced lunch they say you can apply for scholarship) the fees seem high to me, even though they are lower. Plus you have to try-out for the teams - not everyone is allowed to play. It's very competitive here. We are the home of the UofO Ducks, so I suppose that's why... Anyway... so far we've been lucky. Our high schooler loves Ultimate and it is not a school sport here.
Not me, and I was the first girl after 4 boys. Ya'd think .
My kids played travel ball for years. Eldest played for two teams, both home fields were 50 miles away from our home. Yeah, I stayed for practice.
I never had a coach ask me to though. I made sure my kids had water and cell phones, and kept an eye on the forecast. If a storm threatened, I didn't wait for the call, I left for the field.
I admire anyone who steps up to coach as a volunteer.
When I played softball I rode my bike across town to practice. I never saw my parents there. When I played basketball my parents took their turn at driving the team, otherwise they didn't attend. I didn't think anything of it. We rarely played to an audience. Now, parents want to be involved in every minute of their childrens' lives.
My kids did gymnastics (not a school sport until high school in our area). By the time the kids make the team at the club, rec center, etc they practice two hours (or more) 2-3 X per week. There was no way I was going to expend that amount of time sitting in the bleachers. A friend did go to the practices, taking her younger son along every day. One day, he fell in the bleachers from goofing around and had to get stitches in his chin. From then on, she did not go so much.
Oooh ouch. Yes if I had younger babies/toddlers I would probably do things way differently.
For ultimate our high schooler's team practices 3 times a week for 2 to 3 hours. They basically start 20 minutes after school and practice until it gets dark. In Oregon it gets dark around 5pm in winter. (The field where they practice does not have lights and it's kinda hard to see the frisbee in the dark, especially if it's raining. ) So I'm glad he has not wanted us to be there, because that would not be fun for parents. It took me awhile to allow him to ride his bike or take the bus home after dark. It still makes me nervous but I'm dealing with it! I know he's fine, I'm just one of those worriers... especially when it's raining, dark, and he's exhausted from practice. But he insists it's what he wants to do.
You guys are funny. I'm the first child of many children. So The first year or two in my baby book - yes I got one - there are several entries, even some photos... but beginning around the time the 2nd and definitely the third and fourth and beyond came around... the pages are brand spanking new and absolutely empty. I have no idea what my life was all about from the time I was about 2.5 until I was old enough to remember things for myself. lol
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. 
) So I'm glad he has not wanted us to be there, because that would not be fun for parents. It took me awhile to allow him to ride his bike or take the bus home after dark. It still makes me nervous but I'm dealing with it! 
I know he's fine, I'm just one of those worriers... especially when it's raining, dark, and he's exhausted from practice. But he insists it's what he wants to do. 
