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Topic: OT: Year Round Sports

Topic: OT: Year Round Sports

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OUVan
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Bethesda, MD
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OT: Year Round Sports

Posted: 12/1/2014 1:37:35 PM

The talk about kids being able to use their left hands made me think of another topic.

When I was a kid I played baseball in the Spring and football in the Fall. I played only one year of organized basketball because I was vertically challenged wasn't very good. Baseball was my sport though but there was baseball season starting in April and ending in June. There were no organized workouts or practices in the offseason. If we wanted to play after the season it was either a pickup game or Wiffle ball which we did a lot of. Same went for football.

Fast forward to present day. My sons all have sports they play year round. I worry quite a bit on the long term affects of this. My youngest, for example, has played year round basketball since he was in the 1st grade. He's now in 5th grade. I worry a) will he wake up one day and never want to pick up a basketball again and b) will there be long term physical problems from not having an offseason (other than the month of August). But right now he always looks forward to basketball practice and doesn't want to take any time off. I also think that if baseball had been offered year round when I was a kid I would have been all over it.

Another issue is that they don't get exposed to all sports. My youngest just played his last baseball game this past Fall because he plays basketball and swims year round and he just didn't have time for baseball. But he wants to try football at some point as well. But that's even more of a time suck.

What does everybody else think? Many of you probably have already raised kids through this and some are probably just about to reach this stage.

Alan Swank
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RE: OT: Year Round Sports

Posted: 12/1/2014 2:55:53 PM

I'm a play them all type of guy - from 7th through 12th grade played at one time or another soccer (3), track (4), baseball (2), basketball (5), football (1) and tennis (2). Would do it all again and add golf to that.

JSF
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RE: OT: Year Round Sports

Posted: 12/1/2014 3:20:52 PM

I did the baseball in the summer, basketball in the winter thing. I peaked in sixth grade as an alternate for the traveling team.

But in seventh grade, I switched to tennis full time. My only regret, really, is that I didn't do it earlier. I still got the chance to play other games in PE and with friends, so I wouldn't say I missed out. As long as they're happy and healthy, that's what matters. Your doctor should be able to give you advice in avoid injuries of repetition.

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GoCats105
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RE: OT: Year Round Sports

Posted: 12/1/2014 3:45:19 PM

In my experience you see more and more kids gravitate towards one sport as the years go by. There are a couple of contributing factors, IMO:

(1) Cost is always an issue. Some families can't afford for their kids to invest heavily in more than one sport.

(2) Time constraints. I don't know how some kids go to football and basketball camps in the summer, because some of them overlap.

(3) Focusing on one sport theoretically makes you better at that sport, thus scholarship offers, more and better college choices, etc.

One of my professors at Xavier Ronald Quinn had us study this phenomena as it relates to sports injuries. Kids are more likely to get injured if they use the same muscles over and over again. It's very rare that you'll see a 3/4-sport athlete nowadays. In fact, I would estimate that only most small schools still have them.

OUVan
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RE: OT: Year Round Sports

Posted: 12/1/2014 4:08:46 PM

JSF wrote:

Your doctor should be able to give you advice in avoid injuries of repetition.

We did talk to our pediatrician and he said because there wasn't enough evidence yet to support or disprove it. But the way I see it his basketball practices aren't any harder than I played with my friends as kids and they certainly aren't any harder on his body than if he stopped playing in the Fall and played football.

UpSan Bobcat
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Location: Upper Sandusky, OH
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RE: OT: Year Round Sports

Posted: 12/1/2014 5:01:46 PM

GoCats105 wrote:

(3) Focusing on one sport theoretically makes you better at that sport, thus scholarship offers, more and better college choices, etc.

One of my professors at Xavier Ronald Quinn had us study this phenomena as it relates to sports injuries. Kids are more likely to get injured if they use the same muscles over and over again. It's very rare that you'll see a 3/4-sport athlete nowadays. In fact, I would estimate that only most small schools still have them.

I live in a rural area where all the schools are small. This is a debate that often comes up. If schools are to be any good at a sport, they need all of their best athletes to play that sport, but there certainly are athletes who specialize in one, even though they could contribute in others. I think the idea is that they want to try to earn scholarships or something along those lines, but I don't think most people realize how rare that is in any circumstance. As such, I think a kid should just do whatever he enjoys the most, whether that be playing a single sport or playing three or more.

bornacatfan
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RE: OT: Year Round Sports

Posted: 12/1/2014 6:04:22 PM

Great way this thread is going.

I was a 4 year letterman in 2 sports and 3 in another in addition to Scouts, Church youth group and several other clubs and service orgs. Also played jr high football and band from 5th grade on till 8th and drum and bugle corps till I was out of college.

My kids were in Cross Country heading off to nationals from 4th grade on till 8th grade when they were on to other pursuits. They ran track during AAU basketball but after the oldest broke an arm in 6th grade travel football his orthopedist (Hersey Hawkins roomie) advised him FB was a bad Idea.

My pops was a multi sport coach at Dayton Wayne who never let us in any sport prior to 6th grade as he had kids who were experiencing burn out by HS clear back in the 60s

As a doc I am not worried about kids with overuse injuries as much as I am worried about them suffering from acute parent presence and direction. Kids are resilient to almost everything but the crush of parental dissappointment.

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Alan Swank
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RE: OT: Year Round Sports

Posted: 12/1/2014 6:14:57 PM

bornacatfan wrote:

I guess it's because we are about the same age but I couldn't agree more with these last two sentences. To play Hot Stove League baseball in Akron, we had to be 8 and kids got cut. We played real baseball with real rules. As for parents, we always sat by ourselves when my daughter played volleyball from 7th grade through four years of college. I couldn't handle the "crush of parental involvement." Well posted Tom.

OUVan
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RE: OT: Year Round Sports

Posted: 12/1/2014 8:07:29 PM

bornacatfan wrote:

As a doc I am not worried about kids with overuse injuries as much as I am worried about them suffering from acute parent presence and direction. Kids are resilient to almost everything but the crush of parental dissappointment.

That's unfortunately a sad fact of youth sports. Every basketball team my kids have played on has had at least one kid who looks up into the stands after every shot or pass to search for mom or dad's approval or worse disapproval. I coach my oldest so he has to look at me but my youngest has only looked up into the stands during a game once that I can remember. I give him small goals in certain games (5 rebounds, get a rebound and put back as a trailer on a fast break, etc.) to encourage him to do certain things that he needs to work on IMO. One game the goal was to make his defender fall or spin around on a jab step and crossover. He did it and was fouled on a drive. As he was walking to the stripe he looked up at me with a grin and winked. But he's much more concerned about what his coach wants and not his mom or me.

Monroe Slavin
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RE: OT: Year Round Sports

Posted: 12/1/2014 11:51:42 PM

Very very very few kids will make a living at any sport, of course. If a kid can get a college scholarship out of sports, that's tremendous.

Otherwise, as seems to be the prevailing opinion here, let the kids have fun. Learn something about teamwork and discipline.

Hopefully, they get good, gentle coaching that's as much about liFe lessons and approach as about sports technique.

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Catdude
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RE: OT: Year Round Sports

Posted: 12/2/2014 1:28:27 PM

I believe that if your kid develops a passion for something then let them pursue it to their desired level. Doesn't matter if its piano, dance, drama, or sports. My two kids both fell in love with baseball at an early age. They were both all conference and all district in basketball,baseball and football but pursued baseball with a passion. They both played baseball for their high school teams in the Spring, followed by high level traveling team in the summer and played in a Fall league. They both attended many prospect camps and all star events. Both play or played baseball at the college level, one played at DIII until foot injury finished career and the other plays DI. The DI player is now working on baseball year round. He still has hopes of being drafted but the working career is looking more realistic. None of us would have had it any differently. The friends found and the experiences of playing nationally has added much to both their personalities and life skills.

Last Edited: 12/2/2014 1:32:49 PM by Catdude

Bobcatbob
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Member Since: 12/21/2004
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RE: OT: Year Round Sports

Posted: 12/2/2014 2:14:33 PM

I think the best advice for parents with regard to kids in sports is to get the h*&% out of their way and let them decide. They'll figure it out.

I had one rule for my 4 sons and sports. If you start, I insist that you finish. Your teammates are counting on you.

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