Comments on: Playing sports: When did you start? http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/ The inside scoop on Kansas high school sports. Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:52:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Night http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4121 Night Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:14:36 +0000 http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4121 Geezer, You don't have to be playing competitive football to learn the terminology, positioning, or toughness. I would not put my kid (if I had one) in football at that young of age. Their bones are still maturing too much and for fear of injury I would keep them out. I had 1 year of experience before middle school football and did just fine. In fact, we lost only 1 game in middle. High school on the other hand is a completely different story. Coaching makes a world of difference. I will agree with you for baseball, 60+ games a summer is crazy. Another issue with baseball is how early kids start throwing curve balls and mess up their arms. Geezer,

You don’t have to be playing competitive football to learn the terminology, positioning, or toughness. I would not put my kid (if I had one) in football at that young of age. Their bones are still maturing too much and for fear of injury I would keep them out. I had 1 year of experience before middle school football and did just fine. In fact, we lost only 1 game in middle. High school on the other hand is a completely different story. Coaching makes a world of difference.

I will agree with you for baseball, 60+ games a summer is crazy. Another issue with baseball is how early kids start throwing curve balls and mess up their arms.

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]]> By: Greg http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4073 Greg Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:07:20 +0000 http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4073 Football is one that you have to start pretty early, for most kids. You have to learn terminology, positioning, and most of all - toughness. Starting at 1st grade seems crazy, but it's good. My kid will struggle going into Middle School w/ only 1 year of experience. He's not athlete enough to overcome the lack of practice and mental/physical toughness. Baseball can be fun, early is okay, but too many people are playing 10 year old or less kids 60+ games a summer. That's just stupid! Ask the WSU kids, they are exhausted from that many games and they are high level. Hoops, good to start early, but too many teams run up and down the court as fast as possible and don't get a fundamental thing accomplished. Yeah, I'm a geezer. Football is one that you have to start pretty early, for most kids. You have to learn terminology, positioning, and most of all - toughness. Starting at 1st grade seems crazy, but it’s good. My kid will struggle going into Middle School w/ only 1 year of experience. He’s not athlete enough to overcome the lack of practice and mental/physical toughness.

Baseball can be fun, early is okay, but too many people are playing 10 year old or less kids 60+ games a summer. That’s just stupid! Ask the WSU kids, they are exhausted from that many games and they are high level.

Hoops, good to start early, but too many teams run up and down the court as fast as possible and don’t get a fundamental thing accomplished.

Yeah, I’m a geezer.

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]]> By: Nighty http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4051 Nighty Mon, 09 Jun 2008 02:51:07 +0000 http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4051 Deb, I agree with the point you made, about how being in dance and gymnastics made your daughters better athletes. I thought it was interesting to learn the Eddie George, former NFL running back; took ballet when he was younger. Deb,

I agree with the point you made, about how being in dance and gymnastics made your daughters better athletes. I thought it was interesting to learn the Eddie George, former NFL running back; took ballet when he was younger.

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]]> By: Deb http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4050 Deb Mon, 09 Jun 2008 02:38:20 +0000 http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4050 My husband and I have 3 daughters and son. With the girls being the oldest I didn't want them to be into sports because I teach Physical Education and had to choose between my music and sports and at a young age chose sports....I miss my music even today. So we put the girls into dance, piano and gymnastics around 3/4 years of age. As they got older (around 7-10) they wanted to play sports with their friends. I truely believe my daughters are better athletes today, with a stronger work ethic, more disciplined and injury free (knock on wood) because of their dance training when they were very young. This I would recommend to parents for boys and girls alike. Our son wanted to start young to follow his sisters and started at the YMCA at 3 playing soccer, then West Urban tball at 4. He has been with the same group of boys and families for the past nine years as he is now 13. The only problem we ran into was that he didn't like to overlap sports....when he was playing basketball he was playing basketball and didn't want to start baseball during basketball or football during baseball so we would sit out some of the camps when we could to try to keep his mind at peace. He's just now this summer able to overlap without stressing. My opinion (for what it is worth) is to experience as much as you can with your child so you can be open to when their breaking point is and be sensative to their need to sometimes just be a kid. My husband and I have 3 daughters and son. With the girls being the oldest I didn’t want them to be into sports because I teach Physical Education and had to choose between my music and sports and at a young age chose sports….I miss my music even today.
So we put the girls into dance, piano and gymnastics around 3/4 years of age. As they got older (around 7-10) they wanted to play sports with their friends. I truely believe my daughters are better athletes today, with a stronger work ethic, more disciplined and injury free (knock on wood) because of their dance training when they were very young. This I would recommend to parents for boys and girls alike.
Our son wanted to start young to follow his sisters and started at the YMCA at 3 playing soccer, then West Urban tball at 4. He has been with the same group of boys and families for the past nine years as he is now 13. The only problem we ran into was that he didn’t like to overlap sports….when he was playing basketball he was playing basketball and didn’t want to start baseball during basketball or football during baseball so we would sit out some of the camps when we could to try to keep his mind at peace. He’s just now this summer able to overlap without stressing.
My opinion (for what it is worth) is to experience as much as you can with your child so you can be open to when their breaking point is and be sensative to their need to sometimes just be a kid.

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]]> By: Joanna http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4049 Joanna Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:04:18 +0000 http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4049 Is that sarcasm Lion's Roar? Hmmm. Or do I need to define snarky for you? Or were you just trying to think of something funny to write and failed? (This is sarcasm Lion's Roar. I hope you see that and we don't suddenly have all-out war on this blog.) Is that sarcasm Lion’s Roar? Hmmm. Or do I need to define snarky for you? Or were you just trying to think of something funny to write and failed? (This is sarcasm Lion’s Roar. I hope you see that and we don’t suddenly have all-out war on this blog.)

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]]> By: The Lion's Roar http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4038 The Lion's Roar Sat, 07 Jun 2008 03:43:01 +0000 http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4038 How dare he make a snarky comment. I mean a rude or sarcastic comment would have been fine, but SNARKY. Oh no, that just won't do. How dare he make a snarky comment. I mean a rude or sarcastic comment would have been fine, but SNARKY. Oh no, that just won’t do.

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]]> By: Night http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4027 Night Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:36:25 +0000 http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4027 When should someone start lifting weights to get bigger and stronger? When should someone start lifting weights to get bigger and stronger?

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]]> By: Jim Cross http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4025 Jim Cross Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:29:46 +0000 http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4025 I started when I was about 4 or 5 and that is about 55 years ago.  Played any sport that I could.  We grew up old school, you always keep score, no playing just for fun.  My son started playing as soon as I could get him on a team and he loved it.  My grandson is going on 4 and can hit a pitched ball, kick a football and is even messing with an 8 pound shot in the back yard. No matter what age you start a young person, teach them to run and run correctly, it is the foundation for all sports. I started when I was about 4 or 5 and that is about 55 years ago.  Played any sport that I could.  We grew up old school, you always keep score, no playing just for fun.  My son started playing as soon as I could get him on a team and he loved it.  My grandson is going on 4 and can hit a pitched ball, kick a football and is even messing with an 8 pound shot in the back yard. No matter what age you start a young person, teach them to run and run correctly, it is the foundation for all sports.

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]]> By: Sports Gal http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4023 Sports Gal Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:31:56 +0000 http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4023 Our son has been playing football since the first grade, it is his passion and he wishes he could play all year and will never get burned out. Basketball was a little later, maybe 4th grade, and of course t-ball before school started. Sports at an early age in opinion is great for kids, teaches them many great lessons. Our son has been playing football since the first grade, it is his passion and he wishes he could play all year and will never get burned out. Basketball was a little later, maybe 4th grade, and of course t-ball before school started. Sports at an early age in opinion is great for kids, teaches them many great lessons.

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]]> By: WNFAN http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4011 WNFAN Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:54:06 +0000 http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2008/06/05/playing-sports-when-did-you-start/#comment-4011 One son started sports around 10, played a few years and is now a professional musician. My second son want to play baseball when he was three (and was watching sports before that). He is headed to college on a baseball scholorship. My two daughters have not shown any interest in sports. I once read that you can't tell what athletic potential a person has until after the age of 12. Based on what I have seen over the years, at younger ages it is always the biggest and fastest kid that is the best. By high school the athletisum then shows up and that is what takes them to the next step. I say, if the child wants to play what ever age let them but make sure they understand, once you start the season you must finish the season and the coach is always right. I also feel that since you committed to a team you must show up to support the team. One son started sports around 10, played a few years and is now a professional musician. My second son want to play baseball when he was three (and was watching sports before that). He is headed to college on a baseball scholorship. My two daughters have not shown any interest in sports.

I once read that you can’t tell what athletic potential a person has until after the age of 12. Based on what I have seen over the years, at younger ages it is always the biggest and fastest kid that is the best. By high school the athletisum then shows up and that is what takes them to the next step.

I say, if the child wants to play what ever age let them but make sure they understand, once you start the season you must finish the season and the coach is always right. I also feel that since you committed to a team you must show up to support the team.

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