July sports thread

[waverly]

Just your monthly sports thread.


Question for you all.  The kids can do the church league soccer.  It is Saturdays from 9-10 for DS and 10-11 for DD.  I am kind of leaning towards that because there is nothing during the week.

Or I can do the park district soccer league.  It is one day a week practice and one Saturday game.  The problem with that is that I don't know what day a week they will be practicing, nor do I know what times the games are for the Saturdays.  And with two kids doing it, this one would be more of a commitment because it is 2 nights a week, and one Saturday multiple games.  Unless they have the practice on the same day/ time.  She is in the 4-5 year old group and he is in the 6-7 year old group. 

We are doing the church league for baseball, and we do like it.  The only problem is that my friends coach the soccer league for the park district, and he has been trying to recruit DS not for his team per se but for the league in general, and I don't want to hurt their feelings.  They aren't doing baseball, so baseball isn't an issue. 

I did the basketball league with them different coach, and it was a really good experience, but it was awkward with their other friends.  The team/ coach itself was good.  So the other thing would be that I wouldn't have to worry about socializing, which sounds bad but at 6:30pm on a Tuesday night after working all day and rushing around to do pick up and cook dinner and then rush to practice/ game the last thing I want to do is socialize because I am exhausted. I've enjoyed the baseball because it was outside, and DD and I basically just sit around and snack, which I guess we could do at soccer too because it is outside, so basically I guess I also like outside sports and snacking better than sitting in a gym, but that is irrelevant to this question. 

I have to decide soon because registration ends 7/15.  

ETA- I did send the park district an email asking when practices and games might be, but I am afraid they will write back and say it is team specific, and it bounced back on me. 

[traveltheworld]

How long is the season? If it's only 6 - 8 weeks, I "might" suck it up and go with the district league if it's a good friend and he is a good coach. And they do get more out of it if they do it twice a week.

But if it's a long season, then absolutely not.

[2chatter]

I don’t see much point in games only, as games are where skills learned and practiced in training should be utilized. The kids who don’t train on my kids’ teams suck, and there’s a reason for that. I’d skip sports over only playing games.

[waverly]

8-10 weeks for the park district. I just don't love how fuzzy their description is. I just left a message with the league supervisor to get more information. He was the one in charge of the basketball one, so he was pretty good about that one. Is it really 8 weeks or 10 weeks etc.

[mommyatty]

Jul 5, 2018 13:56:34 GMT -5 2chatter said:

I don’t see much point in games only, as games are where skills learned and practiced in training should be utilized. The kids who don’t train on my kids’ teams suck, and there’s a reason for that. I’d skip sports over only playing games.

This. DS just played Bubba ball (pre-tee ball) this way, with no practices. The only thing most of the kids learned was which way to run after they hit the ball. DD had one practice a week with tee ball and by the end of the season they had all learned a ton.

[waverly]

Jul 5, 2018 13:56:34 GMT -5 2chatter said:

I don’t see much point in games only, as games are where skills learned and practiced in training should be utilized. The kids who don’t train on my kids’ teams suck, and there’s a reason for that. I’d skip sports over only playing games.

The do practice.  Usually it is a 30 minute practice 30 minute game or 20 minute practice 40 minute game.  I will say with this format with DS he was not that great at basketball, and is going much better with baseball because of the one more a week practice.  

I am just worried and I know you are used to it now, but doing 2 practices a night one for each kid and say a 10 am and 2 pm game on Saturdays, but if that is what it is and the kids both really want to do soccer than maybe I just suck it up.  She wants to do girl scout too, but we decided to wait until 1st grade.  And she wants to do dance, but I think I could start that in January.  So we would only have to do soccer for the fall.  

[justcheckingin73]

My experience with our park district is that the practices aren’t scheduled until the teams are created and the coaches decide what day(s) it will be on. Several years in a row, practices have ended up being on Tuesdays at the same time as religious ed. They’ve been able to change the times somewhat but there was overlap and I was still rushing around trying to get two kids to two different places. It was such a pain. For that reason, I’d probably lean toward the church league.

[waverly]

Jul 5, 2018 14:48:29 GMT -5 justcheckingin73 said:

My experience with our park district is that the practices aren’t scheduled until the teams are created and the coaches decide what day(s) it will be on. Several years in a row, practices have ended up being on Tuesdays at the same time as religious ed. They’ve been able to change the times somewhat but there was overlap and I was still rushing around trying to get two kids to two different places. It was such a pain. For that reason, I’d probably lean toward the church league.

Yeah I think this is how it will be. Pretty much based on the coaches schedule, and with two of them in it with no control over the schedule.

I actually think my friend might have suggested me for a coach that had a later league time for basketball.  I could be wrong, but they know that I get home from work later.  I think his practice if we select him was Wednesday at 5:30 which would be tough because I pick up at 5:30, but I could leave work 15 minutes early, but then to have to do that for two kids, and where do I put the other kid.  

I mean DH has been helpful for baseball, but basketball was all on me, so if I have to do all evening stuff on top of my commute, then I might not make it with my sanity intact.  Yeah I am pretty sure this is how it will be.  We knew for basketball it would be Tuesdays, but I think soccer has more teams or something so it is based on the coaches schedule.  Not sure what happened with the spacing. 

[justcheckingin73]

For me I always have to consider tax season. DH can sometimes help out but it’s usually me. Whatever keeps you sane and the kids happy!

[2chatter]

waverly - the adjustment wasn’t fun, but now it’s NBD and we are actually kind of at a loss without as many weeknight practices during the summer - it sounds crazy, but it provides structure. DD often brings friends to or meets friends at DS’ and DD’s practices or games so she gets much needed social time without me being anywhere additional/having kids here for hours and hours. Same for DS. It’s also time oldest has the house to herself to study without interruption.

We worked up to it with tennis lessons and gymnastics, then took the team plunge. The team thing has been one of the most rewarding aspects - things like icees after practices, parties, meals out - and the kids have learned to be a team, navigate difficult people and situations, lose but learn a lot, win gracefully, show up even when you don’t want to and not everyone does....I could go on, but I’m a huge believer in youth sports. If you can ride share it makes it even easier! But I also get the weird social dynamics thing - we have been there for sure.

And...our current conflict is DS is playing really well for a new coach we intended to be summer and winter only - but now one of his besties wants to play for this coach year round and they all want DS to do that. DS wants to play on both teams (one of his buddies also plays on the other team with a friend of ours as coach). I hate these decisions, but the win will probably go to the former team not the new one because DD can walk DS home from practice if I have somewhere else to be (like GNO haha). And we can ride share on the former team. And in a year the roster size increases so if needed DS can jump then. I just had no idea these things were even things before having kids.

[akafred]

Get him on the friends team with understanding you may need help with transportation. Then do church league for her for a couple more years.

[waverly]

Jul 5, 2018 16:31:34 GMT -5 akafred said:

Get him on the friends team with understanding you may need help with transportation. Then do church league for her for a couple more years.

That’s pretty funny because I just asked the kids and DS voted park district and DD voted church league.

[waverly]

Also, I am wondering if DD would really want to do soccer since she is doing soccer class this summer. I think summer plus fall would be a long time for her. That maybe she might want to do dance in the fall? She says she wants to do soccer. Anyway I just signed DS up for now, and will think about DD for a bit longer.

[waverly]

Has anyone done poms or cheerleading for girls at a young age? I mean to me cheer was to cheer on sports at older ages, so I wasn't sure I saw the point for young kids.

But DD wants to do dance, and they have an 8 week Poms, and I am thinking well you can't get easier than 8 weeks and a tiny show rather than 10 months and a big recital.


The description says they may or may not use poms, so it is basically teaching pom type dance moves in a squad formation. I typically don't love pom type dance moves at least at my HS because they were over sexualized, but I can't imagine them using those for 5-7 year olds.

[2chatter]

waverly - this may be a Texas thing, but oversexualized - both the dance moves and the outfits - is an understatement. The only exceptions I have seen to that are rec center or church programs. DD still did some pretty questionable hip thrusting at 5, some shimmy moves that were a bit much for me, but they wore T-shirts and shorts. Three of her BFFs have done different types of “real” cheer and the pics/videos are .... disgusting. And I’m not overly prudish - both DDs have worn volley shorts for volleyball, have two piece swimsuits, oldest wears some crop tops - but put bralettes and lame hot pants on a five year old and have them perform sexual moves and I just can’t!

[waverly]

2chatter , it is through the church, so that is the only reason I am thinking maybe it would be better? They do wear shorts and t-shirt. 

I mean in HS I did do a somewhat questionable dance for our recital once. But when the HS pom team came out in front of entire school with hip thrusts and whatever the move is called where they round their leg and thrust out their vagina- vagina thrusts? It was like ugh. I was glad I didn't try out for it, because they were terrible. They didn't have any dance moves that showed off their talent just their ability to thrust body parts.

[covergirl82]

waverly, ah yes, HS dance teams... I wasn't on mine, but I do recall multiple pep rallies where the majority of the routine was various body part thrusts and twerking (before there was a name for it).

[callmekd]

we are struggling with DD1 and t-ball. for the record, she said she wanted to play (even though it was a struggle last year) and I told my H that we shouldn't sign her up again. she only want to bat and then run around. she has no interest in playing in the field (which I get - she's bored). But we have told that she has to participate since she wanted to play. (she's 5 and it's only 30 minutes a week).

[2chatter]

waverly - my only church league objection was v specific to the program DD did - so you should be fine! (The coach person talked a lot about girls and boys - that boys play sports and girls cheer them on! And things like that. And I was very nope with that).

[waverly]

2chatter, I agree. Nope to all of that. They are open to all genders for the sports leagues here, so hopefully it won't be so gendered.

[justcheckingin73]

Both of my kids have really strong throwing arms and we got them into tball when they were younger. They both started out wanting to do it but ultimately neither of them liked it. DD loves basketball and XC and DS was anxious about being out there “on his own”. I think he felt a little too exposed and would throw tantrums, refuse to play, etc. It was incredibly frustrating and embarrassing. Finally after two seasons of that DH relented and didn’t sign him up again. He loves basketball since he’s not the only person out there. And he’s played tennis with me casually but said he doesn’t want to take lessons. He also said he wants to run like his sister. Hopefully he finds a sport he loves because he’s an athletic kid. 

5 is a tough age for tball. I think a lot of the kids are bored. Maybe it will take a couple of years before she really starts to enjoy it (if you continue to sign her up). 

Though I was fast enough but I wasn’t This is in response to callmekd . 

[mommyatty]

Re: Pom or cheerleading. DD did cheerleading in kindergarten where they cheered at flag football games. She loved it, and it wasn’t hoochie. But they didn’t dance. It was more yelling little chants and learning little moves for it. And they had a tee shirt and little knife-pleat skirt.

I’m a huge NO on anything that looks like I’m training my kid to dance on a pole or take up residence on a street corner. So dance teams are out.

Re: tee ball. I’m big on keeping commitments. So my kids know if they sign up, unless there’s a big reason to stop early, we aren’t stopping early. (Like we stopped taking DD to basketball because the games were highly ghetto and twice we saw women start screaming obscenities at one another and have to be held back from a physical fight. I felt unsafe. And I certainly felt like my 4 year old was unsafe.) But my kids so far haven’t wanted to go back to something they didn’t enjoy, so I’m not sure what to do with that one.

[akafred]

Charlotte wants to do Tae Kwon Do this fall, with a school friend. My concerns:
* She did TKD at age 4 through a "serious" dojo, and while the master was really impressed by her at first, he quickly became annoyed by her behavior/ADHD.
* She really struggled trying to learn the first form. Not sure if this was a function of various diagnoses or not, but it was a problem.
* Most of the other kids were older, and would progress much faster than she. Even some of the ones her age would progress quickly, which was frustrating for her.
* If her friend progresses more quickly, will she be frustrated or upset?

OTOH it will be great to be able to car pool, and share experiences with a friend.

[186momx]

akafred, I would sign Char up for Tae Kwon Do with her friend. Having a friend in class really helps you like class. I've also found that having a friend in class is a huge motivator and if they advance a little faster than your kid does it gives your kid someone to catch up to.

DD has improved a ton over the last month. Her class is really small went from 10 kids to 4 and two have been on vacation so far this month. Some of this is summer and the rest is the big move up happens in July so 5 girls moved to pre-team two of those girls where DD's friends who she was so desperate to catch up to. Her new goal is to be in pre-team come January when the next move up happens. She has a lot of work to do over the next 5 months to get even close to ready. Her friends did it in 6 months so she thinks she can to.

[callmekd]

thanks justcheckingin73 - she loves doing dance and is doing pretty well at participating the whole time at swimming. she's acted the same way with soccer too - I think it's a combo of her age, her attention span and her being anxious about not "being good enough" at soccer an t-ball. she loves to run and play. it's hard to force her to do it, but at the same time try to teach her that she has to follow through since she committed to it. and it's only 6 weeks but ....sigh.

[waverly]

Jul 11, 2018 8:50:40 GMT -5 akafred said:

Charlotte wants to do Tae Kwon Do this fall, with a school friend. My concerns:
* She did TKD at age 4 through a "serious" dojo, and while the master was really impressed by her at first, he quickly became annoyed by her behavior/ADHD.
* She really struggled trying to learn the first form. Not sure if this was a function of various diagnoses or not, but it was a problem.
* Most of the other kids were older, and would progress much faster than she. Even some of the ones her age would progress quickly, which was frustrating for her.
* If her friend progresses more quickly, will she be frustrated or upset?

OTOH it will be great to be able to car pool, and share experiences with a friend.

Is it a different center/ teacher so that hopefully they would work with her better?
Can you ask her, would you be OK if your friend or classmates advance faster than you?  Or would that cause her to worry?  
I could see it being a problem for DS with his motor planning issues, but I also think it would be good for him.  He is more interested in group sports right now though.  

[mommyatty]

Jul 11, 2018 11:43:07 GMT -5 callmekd said:

thanks justcheckingin73 - she loves doing dance and is doing pretty well at participating the whole time at swimming. she's acted the same way with soccer too - I think it's a combo of her age, her attention span and her being anxious about not "being good enough" at soccer an t-ball. she loves to run and play. it's hard to force her to do it, but at the same time try to teach her that she has to follow through since she committed to it. and it's only 6 weeks but ....sigh.

FFC- Team sports aren’t for everyone AND THAT IS OKAY. I hated team sports. I even hated team sports like swimming and tennis where I competed alone but then my score had an impact on the team. It just felt like a ton of pressure. I loved being a dancer. I loved running cross country because only some runners’ times counted. I hated everything else. So she may never grow out of it. And that’s okay.

[waverly]

Jul 11, 2018 16:49:49 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

Jul 11, 2018 11:43:07 GMT -5 callmekd said:

thanks justcheckingin73 - she loves doing dance and is doing pretty well at participating the whole time at swimming. she's acted the same way with soccer too - I think it's a combo of her age, her attention span and her being anxious about not "being good enough" at soccer an t-ball. she loves to run and play. it's hard to force her to do it, but at the same time try to teach her that she has to follow through since she committed to it. and it's only 6 weeks but ....sigh.

FFC- Team sports aren’t for everyone AND THAT IS OKAY. I hated team sports. I even hated team sports like swimming and tennis where I competed alone but then my score had an impact on the team. It just felt like a ton of pressure. I loved being a dancer. I loved running cross country because only some runners’ times counted. I hated everything else. So she may never grow out of it. And that’s okay.

Same @mommatty- this is probably why many of my sports questions sound dumb because I had zero experience with group sports. I only did dance and track.

[akafred]

Jul 11, 2018 15:45:27 GMT -5 waverly said:

Jul 11, 2018 8:50:40 GMT -5 akafred said:

Charlotte wants to do Tae Kwon Do this fall, with a school friend. My concerns:
* She did TKD at age 4 through a "serious" dojo, and while the master was really impressed by her at first, he quickly became annoyed by her behavior/ADHD.
* She really struggled trying to learn the first form. Not sure if this was a function of various diagnoses or not, but it was a problem.
* Most of the other kids were older, and would progress much faster than she. Even some of the ones her age would progress quickly, which was frustrating for her.
* If her friend progresses more quickly, will she be frustrated or upset?

OTOH it will be great to be able to car pool, and share experiences with a friend.

Is it a different center/ teacher so that hopefully they would work with her better?
Can you ask her, would you be OK if your friend or classmates advance faster than you?  Or would that cause her to worry?  
I could see it being a problem for DS with his motor planning issues, but I also think it would be good for him.  He is more interested in group sports right now though.  

Yes, it's a different center with a different master who seems more in tune with kids and reasonable expectations.

I actually did ask her about the friend advancing faster the other day. She was all like, pshaw, that's totally not gonna happen! A little too sure of that lol. She was like, "Come on, mom, it's ____." Which...yes and no. This particular friend is basically her polar opposite. Calm, reserved, excellent listener, like a little Spock to DD's Captain Kirk. She's far more cerebral while DD is very physical. So DD has an advantage (not that it's a competition at all!) in terms of athleticism, but the friend has a big advantage in being able to listen and follow directions. So I'm not sure the friend won't advance faster because advancing requires learning the form. Anyway, she assured me that if the friend did advance, she would be ok with it. Seemed surprised I would even worry about that.

[mommyatty]

akafred, with a different master, I would go for it. But you hit on one of my pet peeves. People who choose to work with kids as part of their jobs really need to have a flipping clue what is an appropriate expectation of a child and an ability to adjust to different kids’ needs.