Aspasia Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 When I was growing up I played softball in the spring, soccer in the fall, and basketball in the winter. As I got older, basketball became my clear preference, so that's what I focused most of my energy on. Then I played high school basketball and softball and I was quite competitive in both (made the all-state team in basketball). Now it seems like everything is offered year round and a lot of kids choose their "specialty" sport at an early age and play the heck out of it all year. Our dd is interested in tee ball, soccer, and basketball. I'm trying to figure out whether I should register her for soccer or tee ball for the spring. Is there a norm for either one these days? Like, do most recreational players play one in spring and the other in fall? We're not interested in pursuing competition or travel leagues down the road. That's just not for us. If our kids love a sport, they can get good at it by playing in their free time, just like we did. Mostly, we're interested in sports just for fun and for character development. We can't/don't want to compete with the super intense parents/kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Is either one not offered in the Fall? If so, I'd do that one, otherwise I'd pick whichever fits the weather best. Soccer has a lot more running around, so it's better for cooler weather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooCow Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 We do soccer in the spring, football in the fall, basketball in winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Out here soccer and baseball/softball are offered for may and june only. The younger 2 usually play soccer and the older 2 used to play ball, though they won't since we left the city because the focus out here is on practices not games. Their martial arts goes year round. Usually everything starts in september and tapers off by the end of June so all sports just like school are done for the 2 months of summer break. If my kids were in school they would have the options to play volleyball, basketball and football depending on season and age but they are not. They could do ski club in the winter and then the other sports in the spring but their schedule is full enough with the activities that last all 10 months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 One of my dd's friends plays basketball, softball, and volleyball at different times of the year. My neighbors son does different sports at different times of the year. I know of a few others. But, there are also a lot who pick one or two sports and do those all year. My kids are on a swim team and they do it all year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 My niece right now is playing volleyball, basketball, and she's on a year round softball team. She just turned 12 and this has been her life for years now. I don't know how they do it. My own only do non-team sports because we didn't start soon enough here - which is apparently at birth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoxcell Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 My ds did until he turned 9 and joined Swim Team. He played soccer, basketball, t-ball, swim lessons, and flag football(one at a time). We don't have the time or money for him to do other sports on top of swim. He likes swimming the best and chose to do that alone. My oldest dd has done swim lessons and soccer. Not both at the same time. She hasn't been interested in other sports yet. My younger dd has only done swim lessons so far and my younger ds played itty bitty soccer once and will start swim lessons soon. Right now the girls are taking a roller skating class that my mom paid for as a Christmas gift. None of my kids know how to skate so they are excited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Χά�ων Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 If she wants to play tee ball, signs ups are NOW in many areas. :tongue_smilie: DS played baseball through the YMCA. There are really good about each sport being in the season and only lasting 8 weeks and never overlapping. DS's main sporting interests are not the standard youth sports. He still participates in the more standard sports but they are not where his passion lies. He has been consistent in asking for his sports since the age of 2. When I was growing up I played softball in the spring, soccer in the fall, and basketball in the winter. As I got older, basketball became my clear preference, so that's what I focused most of my energy on. Then I played high school basketball and softball and I was quite competitive in both (made the all-state team in basketball).Now it seems like everything is offered year round and a lot of kids choose their "specialty" sport at an early age and play the heck out of it all year.Our dd is interested in tee ball, soccer, and basketball. I'm trying to figure out whether I should register her for soccer or tee ball for the spring. Is there a norm for either one these days? Like, do most recreational players play one in spring and the other in fall? We're not interested in pursuing competition or travel leagues down the road. That's just not for us. If our kids love a sport, they can get good at it by playing in their free time, just like we did. Mostly, we're interested in sports just for fun and for character development. We can't/don't want to compete with the super intense parents/kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 We do softball/baseball in summer and ski in the winter. Since we only really have the two seasons, that's all we get. Doing different sports at different times in the year is pretty common here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 There were many three-sport athletes at our high school. Most of my kids did one or two. The majority of high school athletes had one main sport, but still chose different sports during their "off" season that might benefit their main sport. So, swimmers often did cross-country. Coaches felt that cross-country running would benefit their swimming. Then again, we live in a small town and there aren't the year-round clubs, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinE Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Families that are serious about sports often have their kids on travel teams, which are either year-round or take time-off during the school year's season. DH and I prefer our kids rotate amongst sports so we enroll them in recreational programs offered through the church, community, or YMCA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loowit Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I know a lot of kids that do more than one sport, but I also know many that only do one. My nephew plays soccer in the fall and baseball in the spring/summer. We have stuck mostly with soccer in fall and spring. My youngest loves soccer and wishes he could play more. My middle kid is not a sport person but needs it for his gross motor skills and soccer is the one he complains about the least. My oldest used to play soccer but then she started doing competition dance and had to make a choice because we couldn't do both because of schedule conflicts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Yes, especially the kids who do sports through the schools. They play the normal seasonal sport and move on once the season is over. The kids who do club sports are more likely to stay in one sport longer than a season. Some sports seasons in club are longer than a school season so they may seem like they are playing longer....because they are. Swimming is one that I know of that is this way. Club swimming has two seasons with only a 2 week break between winter and summer seasons. School swimming is fall or winter (in our districts) depending on gender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plateau Mama Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Around here Softball/baseball/Tball are in the spring. Soccer's main season is Fall but they also offer it in spring, but it is much more low key. I'm pretty sure the Little Leauge is spring all over because the Little Leauge All Stars/World Series is always in the summer. I know soccer varies because my niece in Florida plays in the Winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripley Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Where I live, t-ball/baseball are more instructional in the Fall ... and competitive in the Spring. Not "travel team" competitive, just more competitive in the sense that they've spent Fall season learning and practicing basics. So in your shoes, I'd go with t-ball in the Fall. And in your shoes, if she loved it I'd sign her up for both Fall and Spring because baseball is hard to play on your own ;) and let me tell you, neighbor kids aren't out in the streets looking for a pick-up game. I have a year-round soccer player who also plays travel baseball - he's on scholarship for both, and good enough that both coaches work with us on schedules. I only let him do baseball in the Spring, plus a tournament each in summer and fall. I worry more about his arms than I do his legs. I pull my son out of Winter soccer league and commit him to 1/2 of scheduled practices during Spring soccer season. This gives his body time off completely, and not just rotating the muscle groups he's using. He is still active but it's not scheduled workouts. Soccer he can easily practice at home, alone or with others, and improve his skills. It's just not true of baseball, IMO. I also have one that does Fall and Spring soccer with a rec team, and guests on a travel team for winter and summer tournaments. She is passionate about soccer but doesn't want the time commitment of playing travel soccer year-round. The tournament seasons involve two games a week - no practices - which is why she likes them. For regular season play, her rec team has one practice and one game per week. Compare that to her travel team that holds 3 practices and 2 games per week. Her brother loved keeping that busy, but she does not. :) You should look at the YMCA. They're a great organization for kids who want to try out a bunch of different sports in a low-key environment. Another option might be city rec center classes - ours does 6 week sessions, allowing kids to play up to two sports per semester (four total per year, plus summer). It's great for kids who want variety or who are still figuring out what they want to play. Where I live, soccer and baseball rec leagues run Fall and Spring seasons. Basketball is always a winter sport, held in the interim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I'm wondering if it depends somewhat on the size of the community and schools. For public school students where I live it is pretty much impossible to be a three season athlete. Just to give an example, softball for girls is a spring sport but demands conditioning four or five days a week in the winter. Conditioning isn't just general fitness but practice with the team. Girls have to try out in the fall to make the conditioning group for winter and there are further cuts during the winter. The system is just not set up to foster kids being in different sports in different seasons. We have large high schools though so it may be different in a more rural area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Don't really know. I have friends who swim year round. My kids golf in all seasons but winter. But overall, my boys aren't sports type kids. They do scouts, Robotics, Engineering club, that sort of thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Library Momma Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 My Middle school daughter plays soccer in the fall, both school and rec basketball in the winter and will be doing rec soccer and school track in the spring. Here rec sports are competitive/travel. We do not have a big enough town to have both non competitive and competitive teams so most are competitive/travel. By middle school age most of her friends have had to choose between soccer and softball because they are both spring/fall sports. There are girls that choose to do both but unless they are extremely talented they would have no chance of making it onto the middle school and ultimately high school team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer in MI Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Around here, the super-talented kids do choose a main sport. Early. My boys played travel baseball starting around age 8 or 9. It was year-round and left little time for other sports. Now, the boys all row and it is year-round as well. Dd is a gymnast and doesn't have time for another sport. But, if they had wanted to do things on a recreational level, they could have done that too. Baseball in the spring. Soccer in the fall. Basketball in the winter. Swimming in the summer, etc,e tc, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Χά�ων Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I am going to second time off. But I will say that very rarely are younger kids so highly motivated to be fitness freaks that need such restrictions. At his peak of insane conditioning and sports schede ds did no organized sport or conditioning on Sundays and limited on Wednesday. Tuesday and Saturday were heavy days and he needed the rest. We have gotten a bit lazy this school year (schedules change in May, September, and January for us) but DS still has a heavy Tueasday load and a moderate Saturday load. Even on a dIly basis I limit the time he spends but I do not prevent him from doing planks, push ups etc on his own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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