Which Sport for a balanced life?!

I think team sports are probably key, eg netball, football, rugby, cricket. most aren’t year round so you get an ‘off’ season too.

avoid: swimming, rowing (she’s too young at the moment anyway), dance, gymnastics, tennis. The children I know who do those to a good level (or even an average level or not particularly good level in some cases!) seem to be tied in to sessions 4/5 times a week by age 8 or 9.

At 6 I think you need the just them enjoy lots of sports still.

Triathlon! You control how much training and how many competitions they do. Our club has up to five sessions a week but most do a couple depending on time etc. It's good value too and always plenty of equipment sold on/ given away as people upgrade so not expensive at lower levels. Not letting a team down if they want to go to a birthday party or on holiday. Friendly atmosphere at events, often in nice settings. There will be a handful of kids on a performance pathway but you are really competing against yourself. Also the categories are female and open, so girls/ women are not competing against boys/ men.

Judo, definitely the nicest club we went to, and nicest wider community when we went to competitions. Focus on fun. And teaches them to manage conflict, be gracious in victory. Lots going for it.

I second cheer if your daughter has any interest in gymnastic type activities. Training is usually once or twice a week for most clubs and it’s great for fitness and team work.

Glad to read that you had discounted swimming- not at all balanced as soon as you get to county standard and the madness (and cost) increases exponentially with every tier you move up!

DS liked cricket as his chill sport, completely different to his swim training. He rather wondered if stopping for tea could be introduced midway through a 200m fly race.

Volleyball is pretty low-key and friendly.

Cricket at the right club. DS2 (7) plays U9s and that’s training once a night plus match once a week. At the wrong club though you won’t get picked if you DDad doesn’t play so do your research!

2nd generation hockey family here!

I don’t play but DH did and now coaches…both DS play county level. Great boy / girl mix, lovely kids.

Hockey all the way !!!

hockey Sat, tag rugby Sunday whilst they are younger. The hockey family is lovely 😊

I’d suggest cycling also. Probably with a bit of triathlon alongside. (If you go here https://uktriathlon.co.uk/uk-kids there are about 4 fun triathlons over the next couple of months that you can do from age 5 if you live in a convenient place - most triathlons you can’t try out until the year they turn 8.)

My eldest competes at the top end of National for cycling and still trains a lot less than friends who are swimmers and gymnasts and compete at regional level.

I too was going to suggest hockey. So inclusive, totally different ethos to football.

@MusicMum80s As I said, keep the variety - even outside of school.

If you’re dead keen on having a focus on one sport I’d go for dry slope ski racing. By far the friendliest sport that we’ve come across as a family.

Definitely not tennis! My son was on a regional scheme and it was hideous, very expensive and full of overly competitive parents and crying children.

Whereas I really like the club and talent academy hockey schemes and good representation of girls. Ditto for club and county cricket.

I was going to suggest hockey too. Have heard very good things about the culture in hockey too.

she 6. Just let her play a variety of sports. Let her play an instrument, go to Scouts etc. A variety is far healthier for a growing body and mind than just repetition of one thing.

If you have a local athletics club, they do a nice mix of running, throwing and jumping. There are competitions if she wants to do them, but the variety of skills keeps the training fresh.

Cricket? my kids started in all stars and our now on a team. Nice friendly laidback sport.

Team sport is easier on MH from my perspective - solo sports turn the focus inwards and the pressure / mistakes / PBs can be too much.
Not always. My DD used to dance competitively and she was always far more relaxed about her solos than when she was dancing with other people. If she messed up her solo it only affected her, plus she was pretty good at improvising so could often salvage her own performance anyway. But if she was in a group she was always conscious that making a mistake would spoil it for everyone and that made her much more anxious. Other girls in her dance school were the opposite - they felt the "safety in numbers" aspect of a group dance but were too nervous to dance solo.
And there are teams and teams. Obviously a good team will work together, support all its members and take collective responsibility for both good and disappointing performances, and a good coach will treat everyone fairly. But unfortunately not all teams are like that and that can put youngsters under a lot of pressure.
So I think it depends a lot on both the personality of the individual and the ethos of a team as to whether a solo or group activity works best.

Team sport is easier on MH from my perspective - solo sports turn the focus inwards and the pressure / mistakes / PBs can be too much.

A team game takes a lot of that down a valuable notch or two as you're a collective

Definitely a team sport - it adds so much more to her life and family life. I'd echo rugby - our local club is sooo inclusive and friendly and a try community.

Football is also a wonderfully easy team sport to join in plus means you find friends ANYWHERE as long as you or they've got a ball!!!

I second the friendliness of hockey. DH had played since he was a teenager and all his hockey friends are lovely. You can also play mixed (minimum of half the team have to be female), which provides a good balance.