Team sports?

[Girlo]

I wasn't sure where to put this......

Alex will be 4 at the end of October. :) His strengths lie in his independence, use of his imagination, and his fantastic sense of humour. :love: I can see him as an older kid/young adult doing music, drama, science/math club, and perhaps an individual sport, like golf, tennis, or karate.

Alex is NOT a team-sport kind of kid. :heee: He likes balls okay, but the obsession is lacking. :lol: We haven't put him in any kind of pre-team sport because I know he won't really be into it and would rather do other stuff. Here comes my dilemma.....I'm conflicted.

On the one hand, team sports are a fantastic opportunity for unity, building friendships, sharing, and thinking outside yourself. Plus, they're great for getting the skills to ensure that you're not consistently picked last in gym class. :lol:
OTOH, my child MIGHT be into it for a season.....but I'd honestly be shocked if he expressed a desire to continue year after year. I could wait until he's 7/8/9 to do something (soccer or whatever....), but then looking at the programs that exist here, the beginning programs are for kids Alex's age NOW. He can't be on a rec team when he's older with kids who've been playing for 5 years, KWIM?

What do I do? Am I stressing over nothing? Are team sports such a strong requirement for strong developmental growth? :lol: Would putting him in some other group program (drama, for instance) be the same? I don't want to push him into something he doesn't want to do....but I also don't want him getting the piss beat out of him daily when he gets to real school. :lol:

WWYD?

[MrsPeacefrog]

I have started off the "team" thing by putting them in a bowling league. There is only 4 of them on the team and they bowl individually but their scores add up as a team to compete against the other teams. I have found this to be a great stepping stone, it hasn't thrown them into this mass team sport deal, but given them a taste of what it's like to be IN a team and to play as one. I have done that for this year (Aiden 5yrs & Riley 3yrs) Next year I will be moving Aiden onto a team sport like soccer or rugby league and Riley will do another year of bowling.

It might be an option for you :dunno:

I also want to say that you might be very surprised by how he handles it once you put him in it. He could absolutely love it and beg to do it for years on end. These little people love to surprise us!

[Clare]

I believe that you have to expose them to lots of things so that they get a taste of what's out there and can choose for themselves what they would like to do. If you don't give him the opportunity to play soccer or baseball then he'll never know if he likes it. You might think that he is going to be a musician or actor, but he might very well surprise you and turn out to be a football or basketball player.

Alex sounds exactly like Harry. At 3/4 yrs I thought the same about him, that he would be a loner who would be a performer of some kind, not a sportsman. But when he turned 5 he decided to prove me wrong and has become the ultimate sportsman. He just finished his first season of football and the coach told us that if there was a "most improved" award that he would have gotten it. He started out the season staring at the grass and not having a clue what to do and ended it as the best player on the team :) Soon he'll start his second season of cricket. He also plays tennis which he really enjoys, but the experience of being part of a team has done wonders for his confidence :) I never dreamed that this kid would excel on a sports team, but what did I know? :crazy: :lol:

We've exposed the older two to lots of different extracurricular activities and they have found their niche on their own. Emily has always taken dance classes and piano lessons but we also tried gymnastics to see if she would prefer to go in a sports direction but she isn't sports inclined. She will tell you herself that she's a dancer, not a sporty person. Harry has done dance and piano as well as various sports and he is definitely the sporty type (although he loves piano lessons too). Sam hasn't really done anything yet and there are two reasons for that. One is that he is a lunatic who would not be an asset to any team at this stage :scan: and the other is that I don't have time to squeeze in any more activities! We will be giving him the same choices though. I think that you should expose Alex to some different activites, maybe take him to watch the kids playing soccer or t-ball and see if he is interested. He might surprise you :)

[Girlo]

Thanks Deb and Clare. :)

Clare - it was that sort of personal experience that I was hoping to hear about. :aok: I know he might just surprise us, but is the initial experience going to be torture for him.....or enlightening?

I'm likely just suffering from first/only child syndrome. :shuffle: I'm trying so hard to not screw up my kid, I'm screwing him up in ways I can't even fathom yet. :lol:

[Clare]

I know he might just surprise us, but is the initial experience going to be torture for him.....or enlightening?



It will probably be a bit of both :lol: We tried Harry at soccer when he was 3 and it didn't go well. He was so terminally shy then that we couldn't even get him on the field. So yes it was torture (for both him and us) but also enlightening b/c it was then that we decided to put him in tennis instead as he seemed better suited to an individual sport rather then a team one. He still plays tennis and loves it, but as his personality has evolved, he's also proved to be a team sports player as well :)