Which Sport for a balanced life?!

I was going to suggest rugby too. Its a brilliantly inclusive sport. Our club costs £20 a year for subs and then kit is provided. We just have to buy boots. DD started at 8 and absolutely loves it. It's a great time to be a girl getting in to the sport too.

I think most sports and activities can be very full on but don't have to be. It's about finding a setting that is the right fit. I coach cycling and see every possibility I think - from kids who come once a week for an hour to those with bikes that cost upwards of £10k who are off racing all over the country (and abroad) every weekend. It's certainly a sport that can be very time, effort and money heavy, but you can enjoy it in a multitude of ways without going down that path. It's a very wide ranging sport with lots of different options both in types of riding and degrees of competitiveness so there's something for most people.
Hockey is another sport you might like to consider. It's very inclusive and most clubs cater for a very wide range of ages and abilities.Depending on where you live you can end up with a lot of travel time for matches and training if it becomes a more serious hobby, but at the age your DD is at it will be very low key - learning the basics at training and maybe some friendly half pitch matches against other local clubs. Both my sons played when they were little - one still does, at quite a good level in fact. We'd been put off by the overly competitive nature of football locally, even for infant school aged children, and someone suggested the local hockey club to us as an alternative. We found it a different world. Obviously we may just have been lucky, but my son has belonged to several clubs now and obviously has played many others, as well as playing at county and regional level and the vast majority of people we come across - players, coaches, officials and parents - are really nice.
I think there is a risk of any youth sport becoming toxic unfortunately, but in my experience both as a parent and a coach, when it does, it is more often than not parental attitude that underlies that. If you approach it with a healthy and pragmatic attitude and are willing to walk away from things that you don't think are in your child's best interests it will be ok. You sound like you have your head screwed on and are not likely to get sucked into uber competitive behaviour which is where problems often arise. I'd try tasters in lots of things at this stage and see if anything grabs your DD's attention. Sports Centres often do multi sport holiday clubs over the Summer holidays which might introduce her to a sport you've never even considered so have a look for that kind of thing.

Volleyball is pretty reasonable too.

Running. It’s up to her which sessions and races she attends.

Yes. They’d rather lose promising swimmers (with national qualifying times) than say ‘OK - just do the after school and weekend sessions’. So many drop out because it’s relentless.

Maybe cycling? I’m sure others will know more than me, but our 9yo goes to training at the local clarion club. Lots of the children compete but there’s no pressure.

Don’t do competitive swimming!

Rugby can be really good for what you’re looking for. My DS quit swimming (14 hours training a week in Y7, including early mornings) and now does rugby. His club is very much everyone gets to play at least 10 minutes in a game - so long as they’re safe to do so. Inclusion is the main priority.

It’s also much cheaper than swimming, and only one evening training plus a Sunday morning for training/matches. The season stops after Easter too, so summer is just a Sunday morning of non-contact training.

That's been my experience as well. I would saying swimming is one of the most time consuming sports for children, along with dance / gymnastics.

That wouldn’t be at 6 though.

I agree swimming doesn’t have a great culture, but start there and move to triathlon as the demand gets too high.

cheer is quite a good one I’ve found, if you get the right club.

Sadly my experience of swimming is if you weren’t prepared to put in multiple sessions a week, including land training and early mornings they didn’t want to know.

Triathlon.

training is at your own pace, you don’t peak until your 20’s so there’s no intense training early on.

unfortunately for “able” kids finding a sport that doesn’t want hours and hours of training is tough.

you could start with swimming?