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Extra-curricular activities

Find advice on the best extra curricular activities in secondary schools and primary schools here.

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Original poster

What sports do your girls do

59 replies

Tohaveandtohold · 15/06/2022 10:07

What would you recommend.

So I have a DD who will be 9 soon. She plays an instrument at school and at a music school for 3 hours on Saturday and she’s very good at it. She likes it as well and also does 30 mins of swimming per week.

She has been doing gymnastics for almost 4 years now (goes to training for 8 hours a week, more during competition season) but myself and dad thinks it’s getting out of hand now. She loves going and has lots of friends however since competitions started after covid, she has been to 4 (2 county and 2 regional) but apart from the second competition when she came second with her group, she has always had a low grade in her individual routines and not come home with medals which is getting her down. She cries for days, we ask if she wants to stop but she refuses.

We don’t care about medals, etc but I care about how this is making her feel. It’s almost like she feels like an imposter, this is getting me down as well but she just does not want to quit, mostly because of the friends she has made as she’s also in a competitive group there.

I feel if you’re committing an average of 10 hrs a week to something, at that age, it shouldn’t be something that’ll affect you negatively. We’ve decided that we’ll pull the plug on it at the end of this term but she’s very athletic and competitive, we can’t just take her out and not find her something else (though ideally, I want something that does not require that much time commitment), sorry this has turned out to be long but what sport will you recommend.

OP posts:

MrsPnut · 15/06/2022 16:45

Teenage DD does rugby and roller derby, used to also do judo but struggled to fit it in.

drspouse · 15/06/2022 16:48

Mine is just 8 and gave up gymnastics when it clashed with football. She isn't exactly an avid footballer (and she isn't on a team yet) but it's the kind of thing where you can take part, or not, and be with your team without competing with the others.
She also swims and has started learning skateboarding. I've promised to take her again to a girls night at the skate park as she enjoyed going to that before (they lent her a board and older girls helped her).

drspouse · 15/06/2022 16:49

Oh I forgot she does karate too.

IDidntKnowItWasAParty · 16/06/2022 10:12

Tennis and football. Wants to do a martial art too.

Natsku · 16/06/2022 10:23

Agree with the suggestions of team sports for her competitive side, and martial arts are a good option too. DD is 11 and she does volleyball, parkour and jujitsu.

Natsku · 16/06/2022 10:24

Oh and circus school, which isn't really a sport but a lot of similarities to gymnastics, but no competitions so no disappointments, the focus just on improving in the areas you enjoy and lots of fun.

TheMousePipes · 16/06/2022 10:30

My dd is 12. She does a martial art and is a navy cadet which means she sails, kayaks, hikes, mountain bikes etc. Not competitive but progressing through the qualifications and she loves it.

DorotheaDiamond · 16/06/2022 10:30

I was going to suggest trampolining- her gym background will be a real help
and it’s not nearly so competitive! Plus you can get as advanced as you want and never be forced to compete if you don’t want to.

DontBuyANewMumCashmere · 16/06/2022 11:07

I played rugby at uni and it was the best thing ever for my body confidence and friendships.
In rugby, unlike most other sports, the team actively needs team mates of all shapes and sizes. It is a really welcoming accepting sport.
I found netball and football to be a lot more cliquey, but I might have just had bad luck with that.

My 7yo DD plays rugby and really loves it, who knows how long it'll last for. She might not enjoy the tackling...!

Kite22 · 16/06/2022 11:26

One does football and one rugby, but over the years have also done climbing, kayaking, cricket and then - through Scouts - lots of other things occasionally (archery, sailing, rowing, orienteering, stand up paddle boarding, canoeing, and l others I have forgotten).

BlackandBlueBird · 18/06/2022 11:48

I also have an 8yo gymnast. She doesn’t do any other sports on a regular basis because of her gymnastics but she loves football, basketball and tennis, and when the time comes for gymnastics to go (which I presume it will at some point when the hours become too onerous) I will steer her towards football/basketball because I do think it’s lovely playing on a team.

She is also a very strong climber as mentioned by a PP and that’s quite a nice sport if your DD wants that confidence boost from medals because there aren’t generally many kids competing. (None of my kids have competed in climbing; we go as a family for fun, but I’ve heard this from other families.)

Finally cheer, modern dance and trampolining would all be good fits for a gymnast OR does her club have a performance team? That’s where a lot of the ‘retired’ competitive gymnasts from DD’s club go.

cricketingdays · 18/06/2022 14:38

I'd agree that hockey would be good. I think they'd just be training now as the season doesn't start up again for a couple more months.

Cricket is another good one. Perhaps slightly better as there's a big focus on the rest of the team encouraging each other: cheering on the batsman/bowler and celebrating wickets, catches etc.

They're a good pair of sports to do as they have opposite seasons.

DustyTulips · 18/06/2022 14:45

I know an ex gymnast who got in to fencing - maybe that’s worth trying?

My dds do football, tennis and swimming (the one who enjoys ball sports) and ballet, jazz and contemporary (the one who hates ball sports and running around).

Quornflakegirl · 28/06/2022 21:04

I have 9 year old girls. One plays an instrument, she has an hour weekly music lesson and spends 2 hours on Saturdays with her junior orchestra, which she loves.
Both of them belong to a swimming club and train twice a week (their coach as asked for more but I have said no)
They both play netball with a local team once a week.

Blaggertyjibbet · 05/07/2022 11:30

Tennis is the main one for us, and riding starts next year. We go swimming and skiing as a family for fun. I wanted sports that they can enjoy recreationally in adulthood and that don’t have a reputation for giving girls a body image complex.

BoogleBear · 05/07/2022 11:33

You could look at different gymnastics disciplines such as Team Gym or Acro. The work and compete in groups for both.

isthatwhatyoureallywanted · 05/07/2022 11:40

If she's going to continue with music school on a Saturday and you want to get her into a team sport, it needs to be one with matches on a Sunday. Around us that's hockey, rugby and boys' (mixed) football. The girls' football teams play on a Saturday but, at grassroots level, girls can play in boys' (mixed) teams.

Louise0701 · 05/07/2022 11:46

DD does tennis and dance.

hippoherostandinghere · 05/07/2022 11:53

DD (10) is also a gymnast. It's her first love and she's been going since she just turned 4. She trains 9 hours a week and competes a few times a year. Some times she medals and others she doesn't but she handles it well. But she gains so much from gymnastics. She has the best group of friends there who are all so supportive of each other. It has made her strong and fit and she's constantly challenging herself. If your DD loves it and doesn't want to quit I don't understand why you want her to give it up. Things can change very quickly in gymnastics and next year she may well place in some competitions but that's not what it's about. It's about the love of the sport.

DD starting playing football last year which she equally loves. I love that she has a team sport too and it's a lot easier to watch a football match than a gymnastics competition! She also does Parkrun and runs cross country in school. I believe the gymnastics goes along way to helping her fitness it all sports.

HGC2 · 05/07/2022 11:54

My daughter is a gymnast, has done other sports alongside it but always went back to gym, her club had a team feel even though artistic was individual of course but that’s what kept her there, only now at 14 she’s ready to move to a different discipline snd has gone from 16 hours training to 6. She loved it though and if your daughter isn’t getting the joy from all those training hours it’s not worth it. What sports do her friends do? My daughter is now moving into climbing and cycling and really enjoying them

Squashedraddish · 05/07/2022 12:00

My daughter is almost 7 and does netball, swimming and acro. Swimming is just lessons, not competitive. Netball is once a week for now and I think matches will start next year. Acro is really fun.
with your dd gym background maybe acro would work for her? Or acro dance?

MusicMom83 · 22/07/2022 20:11

I've been thinking of getting DD into a sport now that we'll be stopping her swimming lessons but was also looking for something she could do competitively that didn't require an excessive time commitment.

How many hours practice across how many days do those of you with kids doing tennis have to practice to be able to participate in competitions etc?

Hersetta427 · 28/07/2022 19:47

Mine did netball and basketball at that age 5 year later she only plays netball for the school but trains for basketball 3 times a week and plays at the weekend.

heymammy · 28/07/2022 19:58

Middle dd did parkour for a few years, it's brilliant! Your dd might like it as there's a fair bit of cross over with gymnastics...they do flipping, corkscrews, handstands, swinging on bars etc

ruthiesi · 28/07/2022 20:10

My girls did ballet and dance with gymnastics (10 hours a week of gym). They eventually dropped the gym (they weren't getting a day off and had competitions on top, and it was expected to take priority over everything else. We chose a dance comp over a gym comp once and got into trouble).

Artistic did you say? You could move into rhythmic gymnastics, we tried that as less commitment was needed in terms of time. We kept the dance (teens still do ballet) and I'm going to stick my neck out and say it's easier to win medals in dance than in the gym comps, or it was for my DC.

My other child only ever did rec gym and ballet and does a lot of ballet now. I would recommend it, but it presents its own problems. Find a good school (definitely not just in results) and that's a start.

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