Sporty activities suggestions

[Everyoneafter3]

My 9 yo dd1 will be stopping swimming lessons soon. She's doing her ASA gold award soon and has her 1km; she's no desire to join a club so we both think she's done enough!

She wants to do something sporty in its place (her main hobby is music). She doesn't want to do diving, synchronised swimming or water polo and is too young for rookie lifeguarding which she'd like to do one day.

She likes running but is rather unathletic so I'm hesitant to explore the local athletics club which seem very competitive. I did wonder about tri as she loves to cycle (goes on long rides with dh). I've also wondered about trampolining. She likes the thought of ice skating but that very expensive it seems and the nearest rink is an hour away.

Dance doesn't interest her particularly - street dance might?

Has anyone got any ideas?

If she's a good swimmer and cyclist then tri seems the obvious choice if you have a good club near you. Dd10 does tri and athletics and football. Her athletics club has two tiers, the serious runners and the less committed who do general athletics and have fun.

You don't need to be in a tri club to do tris - she can swim/run/cycle with you and your dh and then enter any she fancies. My 10 year old doesn't want to be part of the (incredibly competitive) tri club, but enjoys parkrun, cycling with us (we also enter sportives as a family, so he does up to 50 miles) and swimming with me.

Parkrun is a great thought - we both run so we could even get in an extra!

It sounds as if your DD must have the swimming technique, so she could always go back to swimming when she is a bit older. (DD is the same age and, for reasons that escape me, she claims that ploughing up and down the pool is very relaxing/mindful).

It won't be until the autumn now, but you could encourage her to enter into one of the Modern Biathlon competitions (so a 50m swim and 800m run for 9 year olds). www.pentathlongb.org/events/modern-biathlon-series/schools-championships. You can just enter as an individual if your school doesn't enter.

With the summer round the corner(?), would she enjoy cricket? It is quite popular for girls in my neck of the woods.

Parkrun also an excellent idea as it will maintain her fitness.

Tri is a great sport and the season is just coming up!! I would recommend it, our Tri club is great for both the competitive and just in it for fun kids. Aquathlons are great as well and really good for the younger kids. Look on Entrycentral for events near you.

My 9 yo Dd did a tri at with open water swimming with zero training. She is not a greatr swimmer but it was so well run.They had nearly one marshall to each child in the water and were so encouraging.Now she loves it and is something you can compete against yourself trying to get better times, which I think makes it great for kid of all abilities.