Ask Bonnie

Is my child too young to become involved in competitive sports? Which program or coach in my community will provide the best possible experience for my child? There are no simple answers to these questions because each child is unique and the decisions must match the child. We can, however, provide some general guidelines that should help you.

Which sport? Your child must be interested in the particular sport to have any chance for having a good experience in the activity. Selecting a sport only because Mom or Dad or an older brother or sister had played that sport is not the way to go. If your child has no particular sport in mind then you might try enrolling them in an all-sports program at a recreation department or similar facility. This type of program will give your child a taste of several different sports in a relatively non-competitive and stress free environment. 

Is my child too young? The age question may be the most difficult to answer. Often this decision is controlled by what programs are available. With visions of Olympic medals or lucrative professional contracts we are often tempted to start the child as early as possible in order to get as much experience as possible. Unfortunately, this approach typically leads to burnout before the child attains these lofty goals. One key seems to be to find a program that is designed to match the developmental level of the child. Contact/collision sports are not a good choice for young children.

Which program or coach? As was just mentioned the best program is one that is designed for the current physical, psychological and emotional level of the child-what is referred to as developmentally appropriate. To determine this you must ask questions of the coaches and program administrators. Ask them to describe the philosophy that guides their program. For example, is it win-loss focused or skill learning focused. What is the experience and training background of the coaches?

These guidelines should get you started in the right direction. Good Luck!

This article was provided by Dr. Richard Stratton, Health and Physical Education Program, Virginia Tech.