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?

Running, particularly track, is great for life balance. There is little investment needed, facilities are plentiful and usually close by, and you can do a lot of your training just going out of your front door. Most importantly sprint and middle distance don't have huge volumes of training (unlike many endurance sports). You can become a very track fast runner on comparatively little amount of training, compared to a distance runner who has to put in hours. The same is true of track cycling and BMX compared to the other cycling disciplines, but obviously for that you need to live near a velodrome or BMX track.

I coach cycling, and while at your daughter's age it is just fun really, it gets serious quite quickly, with expensive kit, a lot of travel if you want to compete, and a lot of time in training (often hours at home on a smart trainer).

Not sure if you are wanting training or a hobby. I imagine training is always quite heavy going and sounds like quite a lot for a 6 year old. How about a hobby like judo or tai kwando (spelling) until she decides for herself what she's really interested in.

I was going to suggest surf life saving too, it’s a really friendly sport, depends on your location though!

not horse riding - if they compete it starts to take over all your weekends which highly antisocial hours! And is extremely expensive.

Out of all the sports my kids do or have done (riding, netball, rugby, swimming club, tennis, gymnastics, surf life saving) I have to say rugby has the nicest most laidback community feel to it.

I would say netball. My daughter plays in a school and county club. She trains once a week and plays matches on Sundays. The elite netball squads are fantastic to go and watch - good for body image as lots of shapes and sizes, good sportsmanship and very encouraging of younger girls who look up to them. A lovely non-toxic sport from what I’ve seen so far!

I was going to say rugby too, it's much less full on than other sports until they get to U13s in my experience. Mid week training isn't even a thing until close to secondary and boys and girls play together until that point too. Much less faff than football until they're a good bit older.

Avoid gymnastics, it's brilliant but can be very time consuming (like swimming!)

It really does depend on the club, that isn’t my experience.

Any sport if you are national level requires lots of training hours.

Good clubs will have different streams for their participants to follow. If you are national level the truth is you have to maintain the training to compete at that level but if you don't want to then chose a squad with a lower training requirement and enjoy that - just don't blame the club/ coaches that you've dropped your training to meet your needs and aren't then performing at the level they've proven you can do with a training programme they've said needs to be adhered to to meet that.
Also don't complain you can't remain in a national squad if you aren't willing to commit to the criteria.

My sons a swimmer. I don't recognise any of the negative experiences described here.

His club had 2 streams. Some swimmers swap on exam years - some continue to qualify for nationals but many don't. They've chosen a lesser number of hours training. They know they can't have it all. And that's fine.

It's not the hours of training expected for elite level that's the problem imo it's people wanting to be or remain elite level but not commit to the requirements of training for that.

Yes it is a choice to some extent.

but IME kids who drop to lower hours because they want a year to focus on GCSE’s or A’levels etc are inevitably dropped from national squads etc

it’s a cut throat world- it’s not only about performance and results it’s about being seen to be committed to the training hours, and there are no compromises for education.

ds’s sport many are home schooled if they reach national squad standard that early, or even just deemed to have the potential to reach that standard. High performance training is full time, so they need to be available in the daytime, and be able to attend multiple domestic and international training camps, and attend monitoring appointments. That also rules out uni. Or at least any demanding degree.

all of DS’s peers have either made the choice to train full time, or have sacrificed academic potential. I don’t know anyone who isn’t doing a sports science degree which fits around trying.

some are going to the US for NCAA and uni. But it’s a GB policy that if you can’t attend all GB camps and selected comps you are off the squad. Even though many other countries compete NCAA and for their country.

lottery funding has given NGB’s a shit load of power to control how, when and what athletes train and do. Go against them, you lose your funding and your place.

Haven’t read the whole thread so maybe someone has already said cricket. Clubs tend to train only the summer ( extra winter indoor sessions can also be attended when they are a bit older) and once they start playing matches it is summer only.

Clubs are desperate for girls so she will get more opportunities to play in the A team than a boy would, there is less competition but the training is still excellent. Socially being a cricket parent (sitting on a bench outside the club house with a G&T on a hot summers evening) is much nicer than a 9am Saturday morning at the local recreation ground in winter!!!!

Socially being a cricket parent (sitting on a bench outside the club house with a G&T on a hot summers evening) is much nicer than a 9am Saturday morning at the local recreation ground in winter!!!!

Try 5am at a muddy livery yard in the freezing cold and pouring rain 🙈

My daughter clearly picked the wrong sport! Would love to sip G&Ts at a cricket ground in the summer 😭

Come join us… first ones on me 🤣

@XelaM parental experience should definitely be taken into account when your child chooses a sport.
Our Rugby club does the best fry up or bacon rolls on a Sunday morning and then the bar is open for hot, soft, alcoholic drinks (and soup on cold evenings) for training.

Much better than vending machine coffee at the local pool when DD swam.

Swimming took less of a toll on my washing machine though.