Thinking about Ottawa (fit in, neighborhoods, live)

[LifesABeach1]

Thinking about making a move to Ottawa - 5 of us in the family, including a young teenage boy and two girls.

I've read through many of the posts, and it seems Ottawa is fairly athletic. My kids, however, are anything but. They're more bookworm than athlete, and no one in our family enjoys ANY kind of contact sport, or baseball.

We do like things like golf, curling (which I know Ottawa has), tennis, hiking, swimming - but no team sports.

Will we be able to find a social niche ? I dread moving to another city where the community "action" is centered around some little league competition or similar sport-related activity, and where if you're not part of the "in" thing, you're "out".

How is Ottawa (for KIDS, not for adults) who enjoy science, geography, nature, dance (ballet, for example - not hip hop), etc... Will THEY fit in ? Are there particular neighborhoods in which kids with this kind of profile tend to find more like-minded classmates ?

If we do end up moving to Ottawa, I want to be sure we're not going to find it painful to fit in. We've had issues before integrating into more "rough and tough" social environments where brawn is admired and brain is shunned.

Thanks for any specific advice on the subject as it relates to Ottawa.

[Acajack]

Ottawa is hardly a "rough and tough city". Yes, team sports are popular but all of the other activities you mentioned (cultural and sporting) are present and popular as well.

Don't forget it has close to 1 million people (and 1.3 million in the metro) so there is something for everyone and there is not one single "way of being" mould that you have to fit into. There is a live-and-let-live attitude when it comes to people's recreational interests.

Also, Ottawa has one of the most highly-educated populations in Canada (perhaps the highest) and is primarily a public service city with lots of scientists, economists, researchers and bureaucrats. Plus it has a big hi-tech sector on the private side.

So although hockey, soccer, baseball and other team sports are popular and visible, other stuff like cycling, skiing (cross-country and downhill), tennis, golf, jogging, gymnastics, etc. are very popular and mainstream.

You don't have to absolutely sign up your boy for little league (or hockey I guess) and wear the local pro team's sweater every day in order to fit in like some other places. Ottawa is just not that kind of city.