Many parents sooner or later find themselves asking the question of how to choose sports for kids. What really decides what is right for your child? Should you go with one sport or try with a diverse set of activities? Is competition good or should kids just be allowed to play?
Those are some of the questions we will investigate further in this article.
Kids sports is far from a simple matter, regardless of how you look at it. Personally I believe that the question you should really ask yourself is: “How can I as a parent help my child choose a youth sport that is right for him and her”. For example, although I personally have a passion for softball, baseball and skiing – that is not necessarily what my children will eventually fall in love with, and I don’t have a right to push any of those activities on them.
That said, there are of course certain truths about sports for kids that you can take into account. Such as the fact that team sports can teach your child valuable lessons about cooperation, or that learning how to swim is a great idea all around.
Then again, youth sports that give the kids opportunity to develop both their stamina and their physical dexterity – athletics for example – is always a good basic choice if you can’t make up your mind.
Diversity – A Key To Success
Let’s be honest here – we would all prefer to see our little ones succeed in anything they do in life. When it comes to sports for kids this can be a tricky aspect. You want your kid to shine and to improve potential weaknesses but you can’t do so at any price. If your kid suddenly looses interest in the activity you have probably pushed too hard.
It is also important to remember that for young children there is no rush to definitely decide on the sports activity that you would like to win Olympic medals in. Although there are definitely examples of how early specialization (and parents pushing) having produced medals and results, research actually suggests that kids develop better when they get to try many different sports, games and activities.
In a study conducted by Dr Jean Côté from Queens University in Canada, it was analyzed what sports top athletes from Canada, United States and Australia played as children. The answer was that most top athletes didn’t spend a lot of time on guided practice in one specialized sport, but rather that they freely tried out several different kids sports and youth sports simultaneously.
One of the important conclusions of the report was:
“…sport programmers must be careful not to focus too heavily on early specialization, as young athletes are often not physically, psychologically, socially, or cognitively ready for all that early sport specialization entails. Involvement in a diversity of activities and play during childhood appear to lead to physical competence and enjoyment, which leads to continued motivation for sport participation. Sport organizations may soon need to restrict hours of training based on age, to facilitate children’s overall healthy development.”
That is certainly something for every parent and youth sports coach to keep in mind. In fact, if you have the time I highly recommend you listen to the below interview Youth in Fitness did with Côté on this very topic. It is over an hour long, but absolutely worth it if you have children who engage in any kind of sport.
Kids Sports Should Be Fun
According to Côté the top athletes spent a lot of their time playing all sorts of games. With that he means sports activities and exercises that they did for the pure enjoyment it gave them. And enjoying what you are doing is really a key point with everything that has to do with sports for kids.
As an example he mentions the legendary hockey player Wayne Gretzky. He is known to have spent about eight hours each day, skating around and playing in the hockey rink. In his own words, he wouldn’t stop until his mom made him to.
Baffled over such determination in a young boy, Gretzky has often gotten the question what gave him such focus and determination. His answer is always something along the lines of “If he had thought about it as practice he probably wouldn’t have done it. Because to him it wasn’t practicing, just the thing he loved doing above all else.”
That certainly doesn’t imply that competitive sports for kids and teens is out of the question. Quite the contrary. As I am sure most parents agree – kids love to compete! But I think it is an important for job for parents and youth coaches to make sure that such competition always is realized in ways that are physically and psychologically suitable for the age of the kids that are participating.
To me that means competitive youth sports for 7-year-olds should be a lot less “serious” than for kids 15 and older. As a rule of thumb, if you find kids younger than ten “doing whatever it takes” for a quick win you may possibly be fostering an attitude that may be counterproductive in the long run.
Photo credit: isabelle
