Hobbies for sports injured 12 yo DS

[penguin70]

DS1 will be 13 next month, just completing his 1st year at High School which has been a big success and apart from the occasional strop is a great boy.

How he spends his spare time is a bone of contention however - he spends way to much time on the PS3/laptop already and TV taste is AWFUL American drivel. His saving grace was that he was active and talented at football and sports however he twisted his knee badly 2 weeks ago and to cut a long story short he is likely to be wearing a splint and using crutches for several months and may be advised not to play football again. This will devastate him.

He already reads a lot before bed and I have no idea what to suggest as alternative hobbies for him. He's already got a guitar and keyboard he refuses to play, has never shown interest in art and crafts, and although good at drama refuses to go to any groups.

Help please!!

[RandomMess]

Hmm - swimming would be good for him I should think?

Warhammer or some other games workshop game (too nerdy perhaps?)

[penguin70]

Thanks random, no physical stuff at all at moment, waiting for MRI scan in a couple of weeks when we'll know more but think cartilage is fractured with bits floating about, bone underneath damaged and ligaments torn. Maybe a future activity.

Flirted with Warhammer briefly a year or two ago, could try again, had forgoten about it thanks !

[RandomMess]

That injury description is gross!!!

My only other thought is something like sea scouts...

At least he could practice his painting skills whilst seat bound with warhammer!

[CMOTDibbler]

Archery ? Sailing or canoeing (may need to be out of splint, but worth investigating), but very little knee involvement.

Warhammer would be v good initially - all the Games Workshop shops have 'have a go' sessions that you could drop him to

[AdventuresWithVoles]

I wonder if he could get involved with junior coaching; wrong time of year for football, though. Cricket, maybe?
Sea Scouts pretty physical this time of year, ime.
Chess, flipnotes (animation on DSi), Army cadets (maybe).

[penguin70]

Yes it is a horrible injury, consultant touched on ops that might need to be done and i felt physically sick when he mentioned grinding bits....bleurgh!!

Thanks so much for all suggestions -sea scouts interesting, tried ordinary scouts and didn't last but there are sea scouts locally too that will do very different activities.

We live rurally in Scotland, cricket pretty non existent here (though coaching would suit him i think) and other things like archery too expensive and far away. Are the warhammer games always played in the shops?
Like the idea of more chess - he's way better than me already, I'll need to get practising!
Poor child is deprived ~no DSi
What's army cadets like? Never heard of anybody else doing it so probably none local but am imagining stricter version of scouts?

Thanks again!

[NiceViper]

I thought you had to be 13 for Army cadets (CCF in schools starts in year 9) but it might not be an absolute rule, so worth an enquiry. They do do quite a lot of physical stuff, so you'd need to ask the instructor quite carefully about what your unit does to see what he could join in, as I should imagine it would be very frustrating for him if he had to sit out a lot (and it might put him off something he would enjoy at a different time). But if you find they shoot, it might be something he could do.

Another computer game he could try (and which you can play with friends) is Minecraft.

Might he be interested in other computer based stuff like programming a Raspberry Pi, or finding a music technology club?

[RandomMess]

There is a games workshop game that they no longer sell - much cheaper than warhammer as need only 16 per team called Blood Bowl - can be played on-line. Not as good as the real thing but there are tournaments and leagues all over the country.

It is played on board so it is very similiar to chess but with dice thrown in too... plus the different races have different abilities... too hard for me.

If he's interested in that pm me and dh will play some on line games against him I should think. Problem with on line is that you get people (hmm mainly americans) cheating in a way that you couldn't do in real life!!!

You can play warhammer anywhere once you have opponents to play - you need a team each and a large surface but apart from that there is no limit!

[AdventuresWithVoles]

Need to be 12 locally to do some of the Army Cadet stuff.

[MuddyDogs]

How about sports photography? Could you set him up with your camera and PC? I think there's a grief of sorts after sports injuries...not just feeling down about missing your sport but also the lack of endorphins. It's important to recognize some of the things he may be going through.

[penguin70]

Thank you so much for all the responses :)

They have mostly gone down like a lead balloon unfortunately :(

You make a very good point muddydogs, he's miserable about a lot more than missing a' thing to do', it's the competition, his mates, the bonding - the winning and losing, tears and laughter. He can run around like a loon and get rid if lots of energy and aggression and yes get a good hit of endorphins. His football team has also been a constant in a year of big change so I think I'm going to step back a bit.

He's always developed in his own sweet time so I guess I'll wait, try not to stress about too much ps3/ laptop/ tv use and encourage whatever he shows an interest in next.

Thanks again :)