Safe Sports?

[Pen]

I was trying to find old threads that might be on this subject. Is there a way to do a search that will give me both terms as required to be found together?

 

Does anyone have any opinions on what sports are safest for children? Football is definitely not going to be allowed here, but soccer with ball heading seems almost as bad (I played, but think there was less concussion awareness back then). Which do you think are most/least safe. You can consider other aspects than just injury, such as, perhaps, chemical or electrical exposure. Son has been fencing, and I am not sure that being wrapped up in electric wired outfit is such a great thing.

[JumpyTheFrog]

I read an article about the high concussion rates in football and boxing.

 

I played soccer and I'm not worried about heading the ball. Basketball is probably pretty safe (any sport can have knee injuries). Tennis seems safe.

[JumpyTheFrog]

Concussion rates of high school sports

 

The concussion rate in soccer (at the high school level) is half that of football. (I would guess that football concussions are probably generally more severe than soccer concussions, as well.) It's even lower in baseball, softball, and basketball and almost non-existant in non-contact sports like tennis and dance.

 

Knee injury rates are also important to consider, since they make up about half of all sports injuries. Football and wrestling topped the list for boys (my dad snapped a kid's leg in half wrestling in gym class) and soccer and basketball topped the list for girls.

[sunriseiz]

Tae kwan do is very safe until you reach black belt and are seriously sparring. Swimming is also safe as far as knee or head type injuries. Track, bicycling, triathlons...I can probably think of more. :)

You can probably get injured in any sport, and the car ride to practice/games is probably the most dangerous aspect. Still, we seem to know more middle-school aged girls who got hurt playing soccer than any other sport. Concussions, knee and ankle injuries and other broken bones. I don't know what it is about soccer, maybe it's just the most popular, and that skews the numbers. The concussions don't seem to happen from heading the ball, just from collisions on the field.

[bettyandbob]

Swimming is pretty safe, but you brought being exposed to chemicals --I'm not opposed, but I guess you are.

 

Running.

 

Team sports are good, but they all come with a risk of contact and injury.

 

Volleyball? I know a talented high schooler who has had 3 concussions playing this sport.

 

Badminton?

 

I don't know. I like my dc to try stuff. I like them to get exercise. I like them to set goals, challenge themselves and develop self discipline.

 

My dd dances. There are girls at her level who have stress fractures. I don't think you can avoid injury--it's a risk of movement, but not moving also makes you prone to injury.

 

Maybe I didn't understand your question

[AnnaM]

I am not sure there is any sport that doesn't produce some risk. The key to preventing injury (other than random stuff) is to make sure you are properly conditioning for it.

 

Soccer is one of the roughest sports I have seen next to football. I played 7 years of basketball and volley ball and fractured my hip in one and while I never had any serious injury in volleyball, I was constantly jamming fingers and it requires a lot of high impact moments with the floor/ground. Softball ran the risk of being hit with the ball, cheerleading requires a lot of risk, the list just goes on. I guess the least injury inducing sport would be tennis. I just can't be fearful of what "might" happen, but then again sports were a large part of my teen years and I treasure those memories :) I think I put my kids in more danger packing them into a car than putting them in sports.

[Pawz4me]

Are there particular types of injuries you're most concerned about? My youngest DS has some back issues and his orthopedic doc says no football, soccer or weightlifting. Baseball has been okayed, which is great since it's DS's sport of choice by far.

[Farrar]

I personally wouldn't let my kids play football seriously because of the head injury issues. Playing with friends or in a touch football game for fun would be okay. Not that they would want to, so it's a moot point.

 

Anything else would be fine by me. Everything in life has a risk. The benefit of doing sports outweighs the risk.

 

Is there some particular reason that you're concerned? A child who has other health issues? Or a personal experience?

[Just Jane]

I am not sure there is any sport that doesn't produce some risk. The key to preventing injury (other than random stuff) is to make sure you are properly conditioning for it.

 

Soccer is one of the roughest sports I have seen next to football. I played 7 years of basketball and volley ball and fractured my hip in one and while I never had any serious injury in volleyball, I was constantly jamming fingers and it requires a lot of high impact moments with the floor/ground. Softball ran the risk of being hit with the ball, cheerleading requires a lot of risk, the list just goes on. I guess the least injury inducing sport would be tennis. I just can't be fearful of what "might" happen, but then again sports were a large part of my teen years and I treasure those memories :) I think I put my kids in more danger packing them into a car than putting them in sports.

:iagree: Except personally I think soccer is the absolute roughest sport. You have no padding except shine guards! That is the sport my kids have had the majority of injuries - concussions, dislocated shoulder, broken ankle, broken wrist and broken nose! :001_huh:

 

You're probably never going to find a sport that doesn't involve some sort of risk if your looking at it that way.

[twoxcell]

Well I'm sure any sport can be dangerous. I feel like swimming is fairly safe so I'm happy that is what my ds wanted to do.;)

[MissKNG]

Track.

[Pen]

I'll watch for a tennis program for next summer as a possible thing to try out. Running might be a good fit. I don't know if there is any tae kwon do around. Thank you for mentioning knee injuries as another consideration and for the links.

 

I'm looking for thoughts and more ideas. Keep 'em coming.

[regentrude]

Rock climbing is pretty safe - if you know what you're doing.

[sahm99]

Our kids were/are good at skiing and it was a given that they would head into competitve skiing (we live in the Alps, skiing is very much part of daily life). After a scary accident (we literally spent 15min. wondering whether our 9-year-old son was dying while we were helpless bystanders!), we decided that we would need to find another sport. We weren't ready to take those kind of risks for an extracurricular activity! I was very systematic in my research and spoke to the pediatrition, an orthopedic surgeon, and even worked my way through to the head of the sport medicine department of the local university hospital. (Yes, I was still a bit shaken...:001_huh:) The verdict was unanimous: swimming! Nordic walking was the other option, but I don't think the kids would have swallowed that pill:lol:.

I do know about the risk of back/shoulder problems...but that is a risk I'm willing to take. A broken back/hip/head...not really!!!

[Swimtaxi234]

Our children compete in swimming and water polo.

 

I'm not sure you would consider swimming to be safe either. I have seen swimmers pass out during meets and I always see swimmers with injuries.

 

I have a feeling that water polo would easily fall under your "not safe" list. :D:D

 

But seriously, while it is very difficult to watch our children play water polo, they love the sport. My husband and I decided to let them play water polo and not dress them in bubble-wrap since they are old enough to express why they love their sports.

[texasmama]

I have a 22 year old niece on a basketball scholarship at a local university. She has had two knee surgeries as a result of injuries. She does play a lot, though.

 

My younger kids play basketball, and my boys play baseball. No injuries in basketball so far. My youngest son caught a line drive at second base to the face and lost a baby tooth, in addition to sustaining plenty of soft tissue damage. He was fortunate it didn't hit him in the nose or straight on his mouth. He still plays, though.

 

My husband broke a knuckle playing basketball and has sustained several other injuries, but the finger injury was the most serious. The break was not caught by the ER doc, and he has no mobility in that finger. He also tore his miniscus bowling.:001_huh: I suppose anything can be dangerous.

 

I have only broken one bone in my life - a finger, when I was thrown from a horse. Horseback riding has a high rate of injury, though I don't know that it is considered a sport.

 

My teen dd wrenched her thumb out of joint and needed medical treatment playing volleyball at school during PE class.

 

I think that's about all.

[Pen]

Are there particular types of injuries you're most concerned about? My youngest DS has some back issues and his orthopedic doc says no football, soccer or weightlifting. Baseball has been okayed, which is great since it's DS's sport of choice by far.

 

First and foremost would be head or spinal injuries. But I wanted to consider other aspects of things. DS is small for his age, and is probably unlikely to be a serious competitive athlete, but having a sport or sports for fun is nice. His small size alone tends to make him more vulnerable in most team sports. He has had a tendency toward ankle injuries.

 

The main local sports are football (that one is out), basketball (he is too short and too often hit in the head with that), and baseball.

 

He has not been interested in baseball, which is too bad, because it is available locally, and it is not a sport that requires being very tall or any other particular build. And it does seem like one of the safer possibilities.

 

He gets plenty of exercise with regular play, and he swims at a lake and rides horses sometimes, but as he is getting older, the interest in sports (rather than just going out and riding bikes) is increasing, or perhaps this is in part because he has a high school friend who plays basketball and runs cross-country on the HS team.

Edited November 3, 2012 by Pen

[PhotoGal]

Maybe table tennis? Just for the fun of competition, etc.

[Pen]

Our children compete in swimming and water polo.

 

I'm not sure you would consider swimming to be safe either. I have seen swimmers pass out during meets and I always see swimmers with injuries.

 

I have a feeling that water polo would easily fall under your "not safe" list. :D:D

 

But seriously, while it is very difficult to watch our children play water polo, they love the sport. My husband and I decided to let them play water polo and not dress them in bubble-wrap since they are old enough to express why they love their sports.

 

No kid water polo teams exist around here. :) Also my son thought a match he saw on TV for the Olympics was boring. He does like to swim, but not as a competitive sport.

 

 

I'm not sure that the ability to express why something is loved is all that critical. I think a parent has to decide that on balance the positives outweigh the risks, and that is going to depend on many factors such as the physical build of the child, allergies or other health issues, prior injuries already sustained, and so on. Even whether or not the family has medical insurance. A neighbor friend was not allowed to ride bikes due to no family health insurance, for example. The parents just felt they could not risk it.

[2squared]

Wrestling is a good choice for smaller sized boys. Since wrestlers compete based on body weight, smaller sized kids do not have a disadvantage. Also, I find smaller sized male teenagers find confidence in wrestling whereas they may be sized out of being competitive in other sports.

[sunriseiz]

First and foremost would be head or spinal injuries. But I wanted to consider other aspects of things. DS is small for his age, and is probably unlikely to be a serious competitive athlete, but having a sport or sports for fun is nice. His small size alone tends to make him more vulnerable in most team sports.

 

FWIW, DS6 is very small for his age and has some sensory avoidance issues. I know you said you might not have tae kwon do available, but it has been very good for DS as it's not dependent at all on size. He actually broke his first board a couple of weeks ago. :001_huh: Karate, I think, would be similar. DS also did summer swimming and is doing some beginning running with DD and DH. While TKD, track and swimming are not traditional "team" sports, they are all good exercise and still have the benefit (aka, fun!) of being with other kids.

Edited November 3, 2012 by sunriseiz

[Hockey Mom]

Speed Skating? They wear helmets and elbow pads. Size doesn't seem to be a factor on the younger levels.

[ccolopy]

At the recreational level, basketball is pretty safe. Most of the injuries I've seen have been knee and ankle injuries in competitive players. Baseball can also be very safe at that age, depending on the position and with proper equipment.

 

Flag football isn't bad either. DS plays with boys who almost all play tackle, but he's keeps up and doesn't mind not playing "real" football. My DH went to college on a football scholarship, and he's also completely against DS playing.

 

Track, cross-country and swimming are good options as well.

[Deb in NZ]

First and foremost would be head or spinal injuries. But I wanted to consider other aspects of things. DS is small for his age, and is probably unlikely to be a serious competitive athlete, but having a sport or sports for fun is nice. His small size alone tends to make him more vulnerable in most team sports. He has had a tendency toward ankle injuries.

 

The main local sports are football (that one is out), basketball (he is too short and too often hit in the head with that), and baseball.

 

He has not been interested in baseball, which is too bad, because it is available locally, and it is not a sport that requires being very tall or any other particular build. And it does seem like one of the safer possibilities.

 

He gets plenty of exercise with regular play, and he swims at a lake and rides horses sometimes, but as he is getting older, the interest in sports (rather than just going out and riding bikes) is increasing, or perhaps this is in part because he has a high school friend who plays basketball and runs cross-country on the HS team.

 

Being small for your age doesn't mean you are not able to compete. All my dc are much smaller than their peers. My boys are especially small, but that has not held them back at all in regards to sport. Both my boys have been members of our provincial rep. teams from age 10/11. Ds#1 was a competitive gymnast for over ten years, who competed at the NZ Jr. Nationals twice. He's also played soccer, field hockey, sailed, & rowed competively. Currently he runs & works out for fun & has just joined a social field hockey team. Ds#2 is very small for his age. He is almost 15yo & still wears a size 12. Over the years he has done gymnastics, played soccer & field hockey, sailed & rowed competitively. He currently plays field hockey for three teams (in collegiate, senior mens, & at the U15 rep. level). He has been asked to train with the U21 team next year & play in the premier mens league. His goal is to play in the Olympics & he is heading that way. Ds#2 also sails competitively on three different types of small sailboats. He enjoys his sailing & does well, but hockey is his passion. He began PS last year for highschool & this year has been a member of 4 school teams ---1st XI (varsity) Hockey, Sailing, Jr. Badminton, & Jr. Volleyball. Size is only an issue if you make it one. But in saying that, I've never really encouraged my boys to play basketball :tongue_smilie:

 

As far as injuries...all sports have some risk of injury, but IMHO you have more risk healthwise long term by not being active. In my experience boys need to take risks to challenge themselves & see what they are capable of achieving. I'm much more comfortable with my boys taking risks in sport, even with the chance of injury, as they are less likely to look for opportunities elsewhere (ie driving fast, girls, drugs, drinking, etc.) Also, since my boys have always been very active in sports, when they have hit growth spurts they have put on muscle & are a lot stronger than most of their friends who are heaps taller than them. Many people underestimate my boys' abilities & that has been advantageous at times ;).

[Mom-ninja.]

Track & field seems to be the safest sport here..not much risk of twisting an ankle during practice since they are on the track or road when running.

 

During one of my sister's track drills she simply landed wrong on her foot and fell. She broke her wrist. She wasn't even actually running. They were just doing knee lifts in place to warm up.

 

Accidents happen.

 

My boys love karate. Most of the time they wear full spare gear. However, my boys don't always wear their helmets. One ds has gotten a black eye and the other has gotten a bloody nose. Also punches or kicks to the stomach or groin happen on accident.

[Paige]

Golf? I'm no golf expert but I can't think of anything that would hurt you there. Maybe there's some exposure to pesticides? What are you going for here? Are you looking for exercise or fun or competition?

 

My kids do taekwondo and have not had a serious injury. As you get to higher belts, the kids are more likely to get hurt than they were at lower belts but real injuries are very rare and usually not serious. In taekwondo kicks to the head are not allowed below black belts and it should take people a long time to attain that level.

[wintermom]

Sports with speed and higher opportunities for collisions or impact with hard objects (boards, other players, sticks, balls/pucks), and opportunities to fall from heights have higher rates of serious injuries, like head and spinal injuries and broken bones. So football, ice hockey, lacrosse, motor cross, gymnastics, diving, horseback riding, for example.

 

Other common injuries in sports are from overuse or "rough" use, such as stress fractures, sprains, tendon/muscle tears, tendonitis, bursitis, etc. These can occur in pretty much any sport or physical activity if it's done for long periods of time with intensity. They are certainly not reasons to avoid sports, just reminders that our bodies are not invincible.

 

Like another poster mentioned, it's important to weigh the benefits and risks/costs of a sport. The child should enjoy it, the parent should be comfortable with the cost, time, instruction and safety standards.

 

All the best exploring the wide world of sport! Hope your family finds a good fit.

[Snickerdoodle]

In my experience boys need to take risks to challenge themselves & see what they are capable of achieving. I'm much more comfortable with my boys taking risks in sport, even with the chance of injury, as they are less likely to look for opportunities elsewhere (ie driving fast, girls, drugs, drinking, etc.)

I agree with this.

 

In addition, playing a sport doesn't mean you have to join at the competitive level. There are lots of recreational leagues for all kinds of sports that are designed to get the kids outside, learning a sport, having the experience of being on a team and just to have fun.

[LibraryLover]

Wrestling is a good choice for smaller sized boys. Since wrestlers compete based on body weight, smaller sized kids do not have a disadvantage. Also, I find smaller sized male teenagers find confidence in wrestling whereas they may be sized out of being competitive in other sports.

 

Contracting c-MRSA is a danger in wrestling. :tongue_smilie: Not to make light of it.

 

Only saying wrestlers have an increased risk of being affected.

[jenn-]

My daughter is a gymnast and in the 4 years we have been at the gym, I have only seen 3 serious injuries happen directly because of the sport. One girl broke her arm trying to do a cartwheel on her first trial class. One girl on team broke her ankle on the tumbling track (long trampoline). And one girl broke both her elbows on a release move from high to low bar. That was the only career ender. That isn't to say I haven't seen some strains and sprains from over use (mainly in the upper level squad), but overall we haven't had much serious injury. That all said, my DD has broken her foot twice now kicking a chair at home and broke fingers at the gym on a couch in the locker room (yes she has a thing for chairs apparently). My brother broke his collar bone twice on his bike, his wrist twice on playground equipment, and sprained his ankle playing basketball with his youth group for fun. Of all those injuries, it is the sprain that still bothers him 20 years later. All this to say, getting out of bed is a dangerous thing every day. You will find no sport that carries no risk.

[Violet Crown]

I was trying to find old threads that might be on this subject. Is there a way to do a search that will give me both terms as required to be found together?

 

Does anyone have any opinions on what sports are safest for children? Football is definitely not going to be allowed here, but soccer with ball heading seems almost as bad (I played, but think there was less concussion awareness back then). Which do you think are most/least safe. You can consider other aspects than just injury, such as, perhaps, chemical or electrical exposure. Son has been fencing, and I am not sure that being wrapped up in electric wired outfit is such a great thing.

 

Great Girl has fenced for years and competed at Nationals. Never heard of injury from the scoring equipment. It's very low voltage. I suppose if you soaked your glove and lamé in water and rubbed all the insulating paint off your grip you could conceivably get a mild shock....

 

Knee, foot, and groin injuries happen, and Great Girl comes home from practice with quarter-size bruises from off-target hits, but if everyone follows basic safety rules (like, wear your mask!), fencing is a very safe sport.

[mom2jjka]

As others have mentioned, pretty much everything has some risk.

Some of the things we enjoy that I consider lower risk are :

Bowling

Curling

Tennis

Archery

Swimming

Fencing

[kitten18]

First and foremost would be head or spinal injuries. But I wanted to consider other aspects of things. DS is small for his age, and is probably unlikely to be a serious competitive athlete, but having a sport or sports for fun is nice. His small size alone tends to make him more vulnerable in most team sports. He has had a tendency toward ankle injuries.

 

The main local sports are football (that one is out), basketball (he is too short and too often hit in the head with that), and baseball.

 

He has not been interested in baseball, which is too bad, because it is available locally, and it is not a sport that requires being very tall or any other particular build. And it does seem like one of the safer possibilities.

 

He gets plenty of exercise with regular play, and he swims at a lake and rides horses sometimes, but as he is getting older, the interest in sports (rather than just going out and riding bikes) is increasing, or perhaps this is in part because he has a high school friend who plays basketball and runs cross-country on the HS team.

I would think Martial Arts would be great, if you don't have TKD locally maybe there is Karate or something else.

 

Track/CC are good and running is something you can do your whole life. Maybe you could find a 5K for the whole family to participate in and see how he likes that.

[LaxMom]

My boys are small (~50lbs, maybe, at 8) and I will not let them play football. Among other things, their age class goes up to 96lbs, so players literally twice their size could be landing on them. No way.

 

The play lacrosse. Fully padded, full contact, hitting with sticks. No injuries (in the league, as far as I know) in three seasons.

[Tutor]

Well, I was going to suggest fencing, but I guess I'd better not. :lol:

[TravelingChris]

My son got a permanent injury from tumbling but never any from soccer. My older daughter never got any injuries from soccer or diving but did need surgery from a homeschool field day where she and her sister were in a wheelbarrow race and she ended up tearing a ligament in her shoulder. My youngest has done soccer, swim and dive. She broke a bone in soccer (but probably due to her as yet then undiagnosed juvenile osteoporosis), and has had a stress fracture from warm up ground exercises for swim. We have great insurance and never stopped our kids from sports. Not even my kid with juvenile ideopathic osteoporosis who continued to play soccer without any more breaks during soccer. The one break she got playing soccer was in an impromptu pickup game at a youth group ski trip= she didn't break it at any of her actual games nor did she break anything while skiing. Her other breaks while osteoporotic were for such stupid things like sitting down hard, tripping on a carpeted floor, accidentally banging her foot down incorrectly and breaking a toe bone, and who knows what she did but breaking her ribs (maybe from coughing) and one where she started falling on her bike and put out her leg to stop herself and broke a bone in the leg. SInce such minor things were causing breaks, I decided to let her continue soccer, continue swim and continue dive. Nothing happened with official sports while she was osteoporotic.

[Jpoy85]

swimming might be goof, i mean many physical therapy places offer it so it must have health benefits.

[Mama Geek]

I don't know if you are looking for competitive sports or not, but cycling, sailing, backpacking, hiking are all things that I think would be great exercise with a smaller chance of injury.

[Laura Corin]

:iagree: Except personally I think soccer is the absolute roughest sport.

 

Laura

[Laura Corin]

As others have mentioned, pretty much everything has some risk.

Some of the things we enjoy that I consider lower risk are :

Bowling

Curling

Tennis

Archery

Swimming

Fencing

 

My boss's friend died from a curling injury. She fell on the ice and came down hard on her head. She never regained consiousness.

 

Laura

[Mabelen]

Laura

:iagree: with you, rugby is much much rougher than soccer.

[Laura Corin]

:iagree: with you, rugby is much much rougher than soccer.

 

Laura

[bettyandbob]

I don't know if you are looking for competitive sports or not, but cycling, sailing, backpacking, hiking are all things that I think would be great exercise with a smaller chance of injury.

 

 

My niece was on her college cycling team. She was in great shape, but she also experienced hitting pavement at high rates of speed.

[Deb in NZ]

:iagree: with you, rugby is much much rougher than soccer.

 

I have to admit that we discouraged our boys from playing rugby as well. If they had shown interest when they were still young enough for barefoot league, we may have let they try a season... Later they didn't want to as who can understand a game where you're only allowed to throw the ball backwards?

 

The only injury my dc have had in their many years of sports was dd turning her ankle while tramping (hiking) jumping over a fence while wearing a full pack. Her walking on it for the next two days probably didn't do it any good. Dh played hockey at a national level when he was younger, but the only injury he's ever had was hurting his shoulder helping to load a small rowboat we had just sold. I did break my arm ice skating this past August. I've skated since I was 4yo, so I wasn't a novice + I played ice hockey in university with never anything more than a bruise. Well, this time I was squatting down talking to one of our smaller scouts & I leaned back a bit far. I put out my arm to catch myself & my arm snapped. I've taken some dramatic falls skiing (similar to Goofy cartwheeling down the slopes), but this simply move from squatting to sitting snapped my arm :confused: For my family we seem better off while playing sport as you are metally & physically focused. Normal day to day life poses much more risk of injury IMHO.

[Mabelen]

I wanted to add rhythmic gymnastics to the list of safer sports. There are, of course, injuries from overuse, but not life threatening ones. It doesn't help the OP since she has a boy, but it could be a good choice for girls. It is a beautiful sport.

[Pen]

Great Girl has fenced for years and competed at Nationals. Never heard of injury from the scoring equipment. It's very low voltage. I suppose if you soaked your glove and lamé in water and rubbed all the insulating paint off your grip you could conceivably get a mild shock....

 

Knee, foot, and groin injuries happen, and Great Girl comes home from practice with quarter-size bruises from off-target hits, but if everyone follows basic safety rules (like, wear your mask!), fencing is a very safe sport.

 

 

Thank you!

 

This is helpful and reassuring!!!

 

 

----------------

 

I think we will stick with the fencing and then substitute one of the suggestions like a martial art, tennis or sailing for the summer when fencing ends.

 

Thanks everyone!

[Pen]

Track & field seems to be the safest sport here..not much risk of twisting an ankle during practice since they are on the track or road when running. Height doesn't matter.

 

I'd suggest crew, if that's available.

 

CC is also one to consider.

 

Track under consideration--what about the jumping events and ankles?

 

No crew here.

 

What is CC?

[Pen]

FWIW, DS6 is very small for his age and has some sensory avoidance issues. I know you said you might not have tae kwon do available, but it has been very good for DS as it's not dependent at all on size. He actually broke his first board a couple of weeks ago. :001_huh: Karate, I think, would be similar. DS also did summer swimming and is doing some beginning running with DD and DH. While TKD, track and swimming are not traditional "team" sports, they are all good exercise and still have the benefit (aka, fun!) of being with other kids.

 

Thanks! Looking into TKD.

[Pen]

Being small for your age doesn't mean you are not able to compete. All my dc are much smaller than their peers. My boys are especially small, but that has not held them back at all in regards to sport. Both my boys have been members of our provincial rep. teams from age 10/11. Ds#1 was a competitive gymnast for over ten years, who competed at the NZ Jr. Nationals twice. He's also played soccer, field hockey, sailed, & rowed competively. Currently he runs & works out for fun & has just joined a social field hockey team. Ds#2 is very small for his age. He is almost 15yo & still wears a size 12. Over the years he has done gymnastics, played soccer & field hockey, sailed & rowed competitively. He currently plays field hockey for three teams (in collegiate, senior mens, & at the U15 rep. level). He has been asked to train with the U21 team next year & play in the premier mens league. His goal is to play in the Olympics & he is heading that way. Ds#2 also sails competitively on three different types of small sailboats. He enjoys his sailing & does well, but hockey is his passion. He began PS last year for highschool & this year has been a member of 4 school teams ---1st XI (varsity) Hockey, Sailing, Jr. Badminton, & Jr. Volleyball. Size is only an issue if you make it one. But in saying that, I've never really encouraged my boys to play basketball :tongue_smilie:

 

As far as injuries...all sports have some risk of injury, but IMHO you have more risk healthwise long term by not being active. In my experience boys need to take risks to challenge themselves & see what they are capable of achieving. I'm much more comfortable with my boys taking risks in sport, even with the chance of injury, as they are less likely to look for opportunities elsewhere (ie driving fast, girls, drugs, drinking, etc.) Also, since my boys have always been very active in sports, when they have hit growth spurts they have put on muscle & are a lot stronger than most of their friends who are heaps taller than them. Many people underestimate my boys' abilities & that has been advantageous at times ;).

 

I understand that. :001_smile: I did not actually mean that he can not compete due to being small. I meant those as two factors. 1)He is currently small for his age. 2) He is unlikely to become a major competitive athlete: Yes, anything could happen if enough work were put in, but sport is a fun pastime for him, not a passion. No Olympic aims or hopes here. There is neither the passion and drive, nor probably the raw athletic prowess that would make such aims realistic--many have those dreams and few will realize them. I do not think that that is necessary in order to have fun with a sport.

 

It is interesting to see the difference in sports available in different places! Where I am there is a HS girls volleyball team, but not boys. No HS hockey, sailing or badminton teams. The big big deal sport here is American football.