Need perspective on sports in Elementary School (play, son, travel)
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Neighborhood swim team. Nobody moves the pool or assigns your athlete to practice in a different one across town. One of the many reasons I favored swimming over field sports for my kids when they were young. Another "sport" my kids participated in at that age was jump rope. Elementary P.E. teacher ran a team that practiced for 45 minutes 2x/wk. after school in the gym. All kids were welcome to participate. On another afternoon, a martial arts teacher offered a class that also met right after dismissal. Kids walked home. No carpool necessary.
That being said, I agree that soccer, flag football, basketball, etc., are all vulnerable to sometimes nonsensical rec league field logistics. Just wanted to point out that there might be other activities available to the OP's child that would be more in line with her schedule.
Even so, our city's rec center, where the swim team practices, is two miles away and requires crossing several busy streets. Not a place to let a six year old (as in the OP) walk alone. My kids did ride their bikes there for gymnastics once they got older.
Even so, our city's rec center, where the swim team practices, is two miles away and requires crossing several busy streets. Not a place to let a six year old (as in the OP) walk alone. My kids did ride their bikes there for gymnastics once they got older.
As I wrote, it's a neighborhood pool, on the same side of the street, six houses down. I understand that this is not going to be the case for most people, but we chose our children's activities -- at least when they were ain't elementary school -- based on our family's priorities. At the top of our list was not spending our days and evenings racing all over town, so we focused on finding activities that took place in our immediate surroundings. For us, that included swimming, jump rope team, and scouts. The OP needs to look around at her options. She doesn't have to join in the fray, and her children will not suffer if she opts out this year...or the next...or the next.
Last edited by randomparent; 07-15-2014 at 03:06 PM..
This might be slightly off topic, but it is a very interesting series about a travel baseball team in NJ. The original stories were about all the hours, dollars, and parental commitments required for the kids to play. The follow up story is mainly about the dashed dreams of those who threw all their hopes into making it big. Highly recommended:
I think you are dating yourself. Kids rarely play football or basketball for fun anymore. When is the last time you saw a pickup football, basketball or baseball game?
Most kids are involved with organized practices from an early age, and in many cases, too early of an age. I worked with middle school and high school basketball players this summer. Some were also involved with football practice and weightlifting, baseball games, AAU basketball tournaments and high school basketball summer league games. Some of these basketball players also do track or lacrosse. They will start open gym for next year's basketball season the first week of September.
The difference between sports from the days you are describing and today is the additional amount of work that goes into being an athlete. All of the football players and most of the basketball players lift weights year round. Many athletes are getting private coaching. Basketball players are getting individual coaching on shooting and ball handling outside of their school practices. Quarterbacks and baseball players are getting tutoring on different aspects of the game.
Today's athletes don't have time to play for fun and with who would they "play for fun." With the better athletes away at practice or games most of the time, the other kids in the neighborhood no longer play pick up games. They're inside playing video games.
Actually, I see soccer and football pickup games at our local park quite often. Not baseball so much.
Here is my perspective on athletics for young children. Kids at 4 to 7 should play in recreational leagues. These leagues are usually more laid back for practices than the competitive leagues. They may have one practice a week instead of two. They may have fewer games. Once the children have decided if they enjoy the sport, a traveling team might work for them.
Pick-up football, yes. I used to see it all the time after school. One boy or another always had a Nerf football in his backpack.
Basketball, never.
Soccer, yes. It's a very popular competitive sport, but not a common pick-up game for kids. Those with an inclination to play are usually on a team. It's the adults who meet for casual pick-up games. My husband played with a neighborhood group for a couple of years when they could manage to find a pitch that wasn't already occupied, which wasn't often.
Baseball, no, even though we have a diamond right down the street.
I never see kickball, mainstay of my childhood.
Frisbee golf, yes, because our neighborhood features a course, but it's mostly older teens and adults.
Swimming, yes, yes, yes. It's both a casual and competitive pursuit. To opt out in our neighborhood would be social suicide. It's THE summer activity for kids.
I'm trying to think back to what my kids did when they were kindergarteners. Truthfully, other than swimming lessons, they did nothing organized. They stayed after school and played for an hour with the other kids while the adults talked. On weekends, we did family stuff. I think our first foray into organized youth athletics started about fourth grade.
No way would I put a 5 year old into an organized sport requiring 2 one hour practices a week and then requiring extensive travel to games on weekends. No thanks. That level of structured "recreation," on top of everything else being structured in their lives just cuts too much into their all important unstructured, free choice recreation time.
I'd rather my kid be running around, riding his bike, playing on swings, kicking a ball around, swimming or whatever other physical activity he wants to play by whatever rules he hashes out with whoever he's playing with at the time. He's got plenty of opportunity in later years to get serious about sports.
I was involved in sports through elementary and into my senior year of highschool and beyond, but we rarely had more than one hour practice sessions a week unless we were training for regional competitions. If there were kids who were serious and extremely motivated with a particular sport, they did extra practice and training of their own volition and got involved in lots of pickup games. They never forced an entire team to keep up with the top level achievers who saw sports as serious business at the grand old age of 6.
Actually, I see soccer and football pickup games at our local park quite often. Not baseball so much.
We see basketball and football pickup games. I think the issue with baseball is that the fields are fenced, and locked. Baseball coaches are very proprietary regarding their fields. It was different when elementary schools used to have baseball diamonds, but I haven't seen one in years.
Actually, I see soccer and football pickup games at our local park quite often. Not baseball so much.
I haven't seen a pickup game amongst kids in years.
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