Which Sport for a balanced life?!

[MusicMum80s]

So my DD is pretty athletic and enjoys a lot of different sports- running, swimming, tennis, cricket, netball etc mostly done at school.

She’s only 6 but wants to do more sport outside of school and her school says she’s ‘able’. She already does other out of school activities though so I’m just curious which sport is least demanding regarding practice time, coaching at primary school age if you play in a club or progress to county level?

Young tennis players seem to train excessively if they are talented and I don’t really want her to get roped in to that or be demoralised because she can’t progress.

All sport seems to be so serious from so young these days so I guess I’m asking what is still relatively low key for kids at club or even county level?

There are lots of sports where able kids are doing them very intensively from this age.

Boys are recruited into premiership football pre-development squads from 4. Actual scouts go out looking for kids this age.

Again, I absolutely don’t want anything like that but youth sports if you are good can get very intense from a young age in many, many sports, especially those where there is serious money involved and training at a young age makes a difference. Its really mad

Rugby, fantastic for DDs body image as roles for the tall and stocky and for the small and nippy. As a team sport its sociable and everyone gets to play at least half a game regardless of skill level and it's cheap at £70 a year and you don't need much kit. Training once midweek, and Sundays are training or matches.
Under 11s / minis play in mixed teams and then single sex after that.

DD has been involved in competitive swimming, tennis, dance and rugby is by far her favourite.

By far the less time consuming and pressured sport my DD6 has taken part in is bouldering. It is very laid back and inclusive where she goes.
Her other sports are dancing and horseriding and they are very time consuming.

Horse riding is time-consuming if you have your own pony. My own daughter spends her life at the livery yard. But loads of kids just tide once a week. So horse riding is as time-consuming as you want it to be.

ride*

If she likes swimming & you're near the coast then surf life saving. Starts from 7 if you're at the right swim level. Loads of sport (running, swimming, boarding), the option to compete, but just as much about developing life saving skills. Also great for teen job opportunities as a lifeguard and for general all round ability to deal with crises as well as the obvious sea safety.

My dc both play cricket. The problem is, even with winter nets it's a short season.

My view is that if a club starts demanding multiple sessions a week, I will find a different club.

IME most sports have a variety of clubs, some super competitive and pressured and some much more laid back. I don’t think it’s down to the particular sport, it’s the ethos of the particular club and of course the pushier clubs attract the pushier parents.

Gymnastics for example, there’s one near us which puts kids in squad very early and demands at least biweekly sessions (and charges a fortune!), at the other end there’s one that says come as little or often as you want and has no “squad only” sessions, and then our club is somewhere in between.

You have to be ok with the fact that X’s child who is at Pushy Club and goes 3x a week will be further ahead than your child who goes to Laidback Club and goes 1x a week (and maybe has some time for playdates and craft and tv, shock horror!)

Oh and also the pushy “multiple sessions a week” stage generally doesn’t start until about age 8/9

My DS (7) is similar, very keen and does wel at what he tries. I looked up triathlon recently (large city) and the local clubs do not train with children as young as him so we will wait a bit. So far he is really enjoying a low key football class (not competitive) and keen to get into cross country that can be started in Y3. We have discounted diving as being too demanding. I’m keen to explore cricket next summer after reading this thread.

I have an acquaintance who is a fairly high level youth athletics coach.

He says that the DC he sees to go on to be outstanding (runners, mainly) are generally those who do not specialise too early, and play various sports until early teens.

So unless your DD has a burning passion for something, I'd suggest a mix.

Ideas:

• junior parkrun on Sundays
• watersports in the school holidays
• netball club (doesn't start getting seriously competitive until secondary age so plenty of time to learn skills and have fun before deciding if she wants to aim for a squad)
• active family days out - try climbing walls, archery, bike rides
• soccer (the boys game can get a bit loopy with competitiveness early on, but they're trying to rein that in, and it was never as bad for girls anyhow)
• council-run athletics camps if you need holiday childcare - they'll tell you if she shows flair for anything (and I've found athletics parents more friendly than for some other sports) and she can join a local club later
• a racquet sport, or cricket

And pick and mix - you don't have to do everything all the time!

It also really depends what the clubs are like in terms of friendliness. It may sound daft, but it makes a huge difference if you feel that you have a group of supportive parents around you as well.
I've spent a lot of time on the touchlines of various sports and it is such a relief to know that you can have a bit of a chat with the person next to you. It can be bloody miserable on a rainy Sunday morning in February so having a friendly face beside you is such a blessing.

I agree rugby, cricket, triathlon, and hockey would be good starting places, especially if she is going to do a lot of sport at school.

And hopefully a reassuring thing to note....
I have one pretty sporty DS. He was always lucky enough to be picked for a good team throughout prep up to Y8. It was only in year 8 though that you really noticed a large skills gap between the kids who were generally very sporty, and those who just did one sport or really specialize. i.e. there are very few kids any of the first teams for football, hockey, rugby and cricket who only did one sport; the generalists could hold their own at least up to 13. And the kids that specialize are quite inspiring anyway!
So, if your DD is sporty, the likelihood is that she will have a blast with school sport and anything outside is a bonus.

I would also say that we introduced athletics when he was about 12 and it has been great. And we possibly should have done it earlier but he did not have the time.
He had only played team sports before and he loves the training and the atmosphere. It's great for him to train with kids older and younger than himself, and people who specialize in different events. It has also been brilliant for his other sports, For example, he's a fast bowler at cricket and long jump training has really helped him.

Now is the time to try anything and everything. It is hard to give things up, but sadly you can't go into GCSEs doing sport and music and drama and art and Scouts etc etc to a . so you may as well make the most of it now.

So rather than be concerned about time commitments when she is 12, just find what she loves (and what you like) and go for it. Good luck.

IME anything a bit niche/less common tends to be more laidback but it depends on what is available where you live eg fencing, fives, skiing (dry slope/artificial snow).

IME girls football is very inclusive and generally one training. Session in the week and a match at weekends. Ditto rugby. Any team sport really tends to be twice a week max at this age. DS is just increasing training for football now at U12.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I agree that doing multiple sports enhances overall athletic ability and reduced the risk of injury. Even kids who are ‘specialising’ are encouraged to continue with at least one other complementary sport for that reason.

I’ve discussed a few options with her and she’s picked triathlons and is extremely excited.

I hear all of you saying not to worry about it and let her have variety but again, a.) she will get to do school sport and b.) she’s a very competitive and driven person. If she knows others are working harder than her SHE will want to work harder. It’s her personality. Very competitive since a toddler and not just in sport. For those who have a child like this you’ll understand. I don’t want to get anywhere near a sport that can go down certain paths where I’ll have to say no

@HoisttheMainSail why do you say ‘sadly you can't go into GCSEs doing sport and music and drama and art and Scouts etc

of course you can! Music outside of school helps with the music gcse, gcse PE needs 3 sports - 1 of which needs to be individual, Scouts is ideal preparation for the DofE expeditions.

our ds does all of this and is on track for 13 A /A* in his GCSEs

I said " you can't go into GCSEs doing sport and music and drama and art and Scouts etc" because the average child cannot do all of them. Even an exceptional child can't do all of them to a very high standard, and I get the impression that the OP's daughter may be pretty high achieving and wants to do well.

You can do some of them at 15/16, probably even two or three, but not all of them.

Or you can maybe do more of them but not to a particularly high standard?
😁

@HoisttheMainSail we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one!

Have a look at martial arts, there are so many benefits - discipline, coordination, balance and flexibility to name a few.

My DC do a MA called Kuk Sool Won, DD started at 7 and now, aged 9.5 will be joining the next black belt cycle in the autumn. There are opportunities to compete if they want to, but it doesn’t become compulsory until you enter a black belt cycle, and even then you only have to compete once per cycle (each cycle takes a minimum of 2 years to complete).
Her younger brother started last year aged 5 and is up to his yellow belt so far, if he moves up belts at the average pace he will enter the black belt cycle when he is 8.

@MusicMum80s I had one like yours! We found her a multi-sport club which she did on Saturday mornings (they also had sessions on Sunday mornings). 9-12 at her age, 9-1pm when she was a bit older. She did a load of sports such as hockey, softball, cricket, athletics, football, TAG rugby, badminton. But also had the chance to try a few slightly different sports: martial arts, archery, cheer, trampolining etc.

She ended up representing her secondary school (or club) at 11 different sports without ever getting to county level in any of them. Suited her personality perfectly.

Athletics ! If she enjoys running she might enjoy park run / fun runs - there are junior park runs too which she would be well suited too which are 2k. Our local junior park runs are fun, welcoming and very social. Some kids take it seriously ( Eg getting a course record ) but equally I have watched plenty run in costume too . She might enjoy running enough to join an athletics club ( many have junior sessions) where she might enjoy any track distance or cross country but also other events like long jump , throws, etc

the great thing about athletics and running is that it is relatively cheap in comparison to other sports - most kids have trainers - and events like park run are free. My daughter was spotted at a park run by an athletics coach who asked her to consider joining the athletics club . She is now a high level athlete with a uni sports scholarship . For full disclosure she actually started doing park runs etc because she entered a fun kids triathlon with some friends and we found she was a very fast runner . She loved doing triathlon until she decided to focus on track athletics . So I second the poster who suggested triathlon .

running and athletics should not take over life at a young age ( and no early starts like the swimmers ) - so that’s another plus point and most schools . There are plenty of options to compete at what ever level as well.

Hockey. All three of my kids play, plus DH and myself. In fact I play in an adult team with my daughters now.
They all started at about 6 or 7. My DH has played his whole life and I picked it up again about 13 years ago.

It's truly unisex so plenty of social opportunities, it's fun, great for mental health and making friends and keeps you fit. It's also polite and well-mannered generally - something which football isn't great at.

Training when they are young is about 1.5 hours a week (once a week), with some weekend tournaments during the winter with very little during the summer. This tends to stay the same as they get older, or can increase as much or as little as you want.

My daughters now for example do junior training, ladies training, school training, Indoor training and County training. Plus ladies and junior matches at the weekend. But they are all now older teens now and love the social side of it.

They also now help out with coaching and umpiring and so earn some money from that too.

Athletics they will encourage her to try everything until she is at least 11, so she will get all rounded training (sprints, middle distance, throws, jumps). However, most clubs don't take juniors until they are 8. She can do junior parkrun on Sundays now which she may enjoy.

At 6, the most important thing is that she continues to enjoy being active and works on functional and soft skills (which could ultimately translate to success in a number of sports) - so on her swimming stroke, on her flexibility, balance, coordination, speed, endurance, hand-eye coordination, throwing and catching, hitting a ball, listening, following instructions and communicating, teamwork.

She's still very young to specialise in any sport (except for maybe gymnastics and tennis), and many people who ultimately become professional sports people will continue to build fitness and functional skills in a number of sports until they are at least 10 or 11. Focus on fun and her trying lots of things she loves at the moment. There's no rush to find "her sport" and she needs to have the opportunity to find that for herself as she matures and develops her personality.

Thanks, I agree with all of that.

I'm not looking for her to specialise-- as I've mentioned, she'll do a wide range of sport at her private school to a reasonable level. I'm just looking for the best sport for her to do outside of school that isn't too time intensive and I need to pick only one as there isn't time to do more than that given the other things she's also interested in doing as extracurricular activities.

Maybe rugby. At 6 our local club just do Sunday mornings at that age and it’s only tag. Lots go and it looks like they have great fun. My dd is now 11 and he trains one night a week and then it’s either training or matches on a Sunday morning so it’s not too much. Dd dances competitively (solo and troupe) and the hours are horrendous, plus you’re expected to attend extra at a drop of a hat near comp time. It totally takes over so I definitely wouldn’t recommend it.