Need perspective on sports in Elementary School (teens, games, parents)
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Last year DS was in kindergarten and we had a rude awakening to the way organized sports are run in our new suburban idyll. It turns out that if you want your kid to play a sport at the age of FIVE you are committing to TWO hour-long weekly practices and one game a weekend that can be up to an hour away that starts at 8:30am.
Is this normal? It seems excessive with a capital X to me but I know nothing. For our family it was too much, just too much for a kid just starting fullday school life who only months before had napped daily. However, since there is such a push in this community I am worried that once he is able to (or wants to) pursue a sport he will be emotionally unable to deal with the fact that he is not as good as the kids who have been playing (3x A WEEK!!) since they were 4 and he'll give up.
(Keep in mind that this is per sport, so a kid on spring Tball and spring soccer would be 4 practices and two games a week.)
Last year DS was in kindergarten and we had a rude awakening to the way organized sports are run in our new suburban idyll. It turns out that if you want your kid to play a sport at the age of FIVE you are committing to TWO hour-long weekly practices and one game a weekend that can be up to an hour away that starts at 8:30am.
Is this normal? It seems excessive with a capital X to me but I know nothing. For our family it was too much, just too much for a kid just starting fullday school life who only months before had napped daily. However, since there is such a push in this community I am worried that once he is able to (or wants to) pursue a sport he will be emotionally unable to deal with the fact that he is not as good as the kids who have been playing (3x A WEEK!!) since they were 4 and he'll give up.
(Keep in mind that this is per sport, so a kid on spring Tball and spring soccer would be 4 practices and two games a week.)
I have three kids. They are teens/adults (20, 18, 15). They all played sports as they grew up (football, roller hockey, lacrosse). Two practices and a game each week for younger kids does not seem excessive to me.
We only allowed one sport at a time. As the kids got older the time commitments increased but 2 practices a week for K-2 seems about right. How do you expect kids to build their skills without practice?
I have three kids. They are teens/adults (20, 18, 15). They all played sports as they grew up (football, roller hockey, lacrosse). Two practices and a game each week for younger kids does not seem excessive to me.
We only allowed one sport at a time. As the kids got older the time commitments increased but 2 practices a week for K-2 seems about right. How do you expect kids to build their skills without practice?
Yep.
Sounds pretty normal except maybe the part about games being an hour away. But I'd guess that depends on the size of community you live in. What you see as excessive in that schedule and why?
We too limited to one sport per season.
Last edited by maciesmom; 07-13-2014 at 07:06 PM..
Reason: clarity
Somewhat normal, but I feel your pain. most kids only play 1 sport at a time here. For the few who do two, I think their parents are nuts.
My kids only had 1 practice per week until they were 7 or 8. now they have 2, soon to be 3. The oldest is 11. our games were all within about a 15 min drive except for maybe one per season that was farther.
Last edited by Kibbiekat; 07-13-2014 at 07:10 PM..
Last year DS was in kindergarten and we had a rude awakening to the way organized sports are run in our new suburban idyll. It turns out that if you want your kid to play a sport at the age of FIVE you are committing to TWO hour-long weekly practices and one game a weekend that can be up to an hour away that starts at 8:30am.
Is this normal? It seems excessive with a capital X to me but I know nothing. For our family it was too much, just too much for a kid just starting fullday school life who only months before had napped daily. However, since there is such a push in this community I am worried that once he is able to (or wants to) pursue a sport he will be emotionally unable to deal with the fact that he is not as good as the kids who have been playing (3x A WEEK!!) since they were 4 and he'll give up.
(Keep in mind that this is per sport, so a kid on spring Tball and spring soccer would be 4 practices and two games a week.)
That's pretty normal. We did one sport per season.
Last year DS was in kindergarten and we had a rude awakening to the way organized sports are run in our new suburban idyll. It turns out that if you want your kid to play a sport at the age of FIVE you are committing to TWO hour-long weekly practices and one game a weekend that can be up to an hour away that starts at 8:30am.
Is this normal? It seems excessive with a capital X to me but I know nothing. For our family it was too much, just too much for a kid just starting fullday school life who only months before had napped daily. However, since there is such a push in this community I am worried that once he is able to (or wants to) pursue a sport he will be emotionally unable to deal with the fact that he is not as good as the kids who have been playing (3x A WEEK!!) since they were 4 and he'll give up.
(Keep in mind that this is per sport, so a kid on spring Tball and spring soccer would be 4 practices and two games a week.)
That is pretty common where I live as well (except most weekend games are closer and many practices are 1 1/2 hours each). Some of the sports practice four nights a week and have several games a weekend, but that usually starts in second or third grade.
Our children did sports through the YMCA or through their school, which was much less pressure, but also you do not become as skilled.
My great-nephews started playing hockey as soon as they turned three years old with a similar schedule, two practices a week and a "game" every weekend. I personally think that is too much, too soon but obviously other parents disagree.
Last year DS was in kindergarten and we had a rude awakening to the way organized sports are run in our new suburban idyll. It turns out that if you want your kid to play a sport at the age of FIVE you are committing to TWO hour-long weekly practices and one game a weekend that can be up to an hour away that starts at 8:30am.
Is this normal? It seems excessive with a capital X to me but I know nothing. For our family it was too much, just too much for a kid just starting fullday school life who only months before had napped daily. However, since there is such a push in this community I am worried that once he is able to (or wants to) pursue a sport he will be emotionally unable to deal with the fact that he is not as good as the kids who have been playing (3x A WEEK!!) since they were 4 and he'll give up.
(Keep in mind that this is per sport, so a kid on spring Tball and spring soccer would be 4 practices and two games a week.)
The amount of time required for youth sports has gotten insane (at least where I live which is youth sport obsessed). My mom and I coached an 8 and under softball team one season a few years ago, and almost all of the girls were 6 or 7 (league didn't have T-ball that year). We had three game nights a week and were expected to have two or three practices a week. Truth be told, that league expected games or practice every day except for Sunday.
When I played in the 90s we had either one game and two practices or two games (after the time changed and we could play a late game on weekdays) and one practice a week.
However, most kids don't travel for games unless on travel (often called club in soccer and most sports in other areas of the country) teams. Almost all of the leagues (except for youth football) don't do any traveling during the regular season. That does leave out the off season leagues, though, that do travel, but only within about a fifteen to twenty minute radius.
Sounds normal to me for that age. I drew the line at 1st grade wrestling because those practices were nightly and we wouldn't get home from matches until after midnight. After a few weeks of that, I told my son that he could take up wrestling in middle school if he wanted to try it again. He got involved in soccer and baseball instead that year.
When they're older, like 4th grade, they have practice nightly along with games for sports like football. My children played one sport per season (up to 3 per year) and switched sports every few years until they found THE ONE that they were most passionate about. As a result, I think they played every sport available between the two of them, and I can't think of one sport my children played that didn't have daily/nightly practices in addition to games and meets.
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