Multi Day Sports Activities - Managing Schedule

massdreams

My husband and I are having a big debate over sports activities for the boys. We realized that next Fall, in first grade, the town soccer program my older son would play in would be two practices per week plus a Sunday game, which will sometimes involve traveling to one of two neighboring towns. The one he did last year was only Saturday morning. Both my boys play tball this spring, and practice is one night per week and games on Sundays. The Sundays frustrate me because they make church impossible. But Tball is manageable though because they are both on the same team, so it's only one team schedule, which probably won't happen again for a few years. 

What do you all do about these sports schedules and activities? I just feel like when I was young, soccer and activities were on a Saturday, and that was it. Maybe one night a week practice. I want them to have these experiences and do these activities, but it also seems like a lot to have that many practices/games per week at that age. My husband is not as into these things and says we should just skip them all, but they enjoy playing sports and I'm not going to lie, I worry that if they don't really get going in an activity until 8 or 10, they will already be way behind other kids and be frustrated. They only do one activity at a time, but we're realizing even that is a lot. I'm looking at programs at private centers since it would just be a Saturday morning, like the Lil Kickers type of thing, but those cost three times as much as town activities! I think this is a bit more of a vent than question, but I am interested in hearing how others approach this and balance things.

2-Step

There is research that shows that kids with athletic talent will develop it quickly even if they start later. I read a study about kids and sports and it said that the average age that a college athlete started the sport was around 8-10. Research also suggests that excessive sports participation, (particularly in one sport year round) is actually detrimental to children's future sports endeavors. So, I think a lot of the pressure we get to get them going early and often is actually misguided. I think early sports are great for kids if they enjoy them and the parents can handle the schedules, but not a necessity to their future sports involvement. However, now that you have started them it is probably hard to stop. 

We have one DS in fall soccer and spring tball now and we usually have 2-3 commitments per week for that. We don't attend church so that isn't really a problem for us. We take winter off and do swimming lessons for both boys in the summer. Next year we will put our younger son in soccer and tball and the age gap is just big enough that they can't be on the same team, so then I'm sure it will be nuts! 

My parents limited us to each having one sport when we were young and we were in different seasons. My DH is an athlete though, and both of my sons are seriously die hard about sports already, so I don't see that happening in my family. I've kind of resigned myself to the fact that I will be a taxi service for the foreseeable future. I do really enjoy watching them play and I think it helps us really connect with the community and other parents. Do you have family nearby? My mom and DHs dad are near us and I plan to recruit them to drive to practice/games once in awhile, or help me out if the boys have a conflicting schedule. My DH works late, so it is hard for him to help. 

My hope is that by the time they are 8-10 and out of carseats they will have some great friends whose families we know and we can all set up some sort of carpool schedule. I only work part time and I have a hard time getting everyone to everything on time. If I worked full time I think we would have to cut way back or hire help!