competitive little kid sports

[nicname]

Headed to Wichita for first ever travel basketball tourney. Go team.

Genesis, SE Boys Club or West Urban? Sorry for you if it is Genesis, a sea of artificial turf and concrete.

I don't think they play basketball on turf.

:lol misread

[Cartierfor3]

It was at Wichita Hoops. There are 9 courts and over 100 whistles per minute. Our kids are pretty new to this scene and went 1-2 today.

[steve dave]

It was at Wichita Hoops. There are 9 courts and over 100 whistles per minute. Our kids are pretty new to this scene and went 1-2 today.

competitive basketball is by far the worst sport. whistles right next to you the entire game. parents and coaches going nuts the entire time. brutal scene. I hate it and wish my kid would drop out but HE'S GIVING IT ANOTHER YEAR.

[steve dave]

in his words "what else am I going to do?"

[meow meow]

You guys, my daughter is about to turn 15 months old. What's my avenue? I'm looking for cheap.

Also, I'm REALLY hoping to get her into music instead of sports. For a lot of reasons. Any tips?

this is the competitive little kid sports thread

[Cartierfor3]

You guys, my daughter is about to turn 15 months old. What's my avenue? I'm looking for cheap.

Also, I'm REALLY hoping to get her into music instead of sports. For a lot of reasons. Any tips?

For music:
1. Start piano lessons if possible. Each of my kids start piano in 2nd grade, I don't know if it's the best time to start but that's what we did. You will be miles ahead of most kids. You'll understand music theory and the building blocks of music.
2. Expose your kids to lots of types of music and let them see you enjoy it. Live, recorded, you playing etc. I know you'll do this. Take advantage of free concerts whenever you can.

For sports:
I don't know what is best, but moving your body is essential and in the modern world kids just operate differently. So you can still be a moving healthy person with teaching your kids to ride a bike and swim and run etc. but I think the experience of team and individual sports are good milestones of development. Rec sports are a great option for this if you want to avoid the club stuff. You can not go nuts but have your kid on a rec soccer or rec swim team or whatever.

I'm learning that you can have well rounded kids that have their favorite thing, but also participate in _______. Like for my 15 year old, he loves writing and is super successful in the newspaper/yearbook/writing competitions and that's his passion, and he participates in track and swimming. That's great for him. My 13 year old loves loves loves soccer and participates in band at school. That's great too.

[Stevesie60]

You guys, my daughter is about to turn 15 months old. What's my avenue? I'm looking for cheap.

Also, I'm REALLY hoping to get her into music instead of sports. For a lot of reasons. Any tips?

For music:
1. Start piano lessons if possible. Each of my kids start piano in 2nd grade, I don't know if it's the best time to start but that's what we did. You will be miles ahead of most kids. You'll understand music theory and the building blocks of music.
2. Expose your kids to lots of types of music and let them see you enjoy it. Live, recorded, you playing etc. I know you'll do this. Take advantage of free concerts whenever you can.

For sports:
I don't know what is best, but moving your body is essential and in the modern world kids just operate differently. So you can still be a moving healthy person with teaching your kids to ride a bike and swim and run etc. but I think the experience of team and individual sports are good milestones of development. Rec sports are a great option for this if you want to avoid the club stuff. You can not go nuts but have your kid on a rec soccer or rec swim team or whatever.

I'm learning that you can have well rounded kids that have their favorite thing, but also participate in _______. Like for my 15 year old, he loves writing and is super successful in the newspaper/yearbook/writing competitions and that's his passion, and he participates in track and swimming. That's great for him. My 13 year old loves loves loves soccer and participates in band at school. That's great too.

This is good stuff. Thanks, CFor3.

And yes, the genres of music my daughter has already been exposed to is quite vast. It's one of my favorite things.

[steve dave]

My CF got a dirtbike for his birthday and immediately broke his femur. Have two tourneys left and we’re already very thin on capable OF. NOT IDEAL.


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[meow meow]

what kind of coach allows dirt bikes in season?

[Institutional Control]

I would definitely fine the parents.

[Sandstone Outcropping]

Working in the healthcare sector, I've noted that parents seem to have boundless enthusiasm for turning their kids loose on powerful machines that can maim or kill them. The younger the better. "Look at my 3 year old driving this John Deere Gator that they can't control!!! Isn't it cute?!?!?!"

[Stupid Fitz]

Working in the healthcare sector, I've noted that parents seem to have boundless enthusiasm for turning their kids loose on powerful machines that can maim or kill them. The younger the better. "Look at my 3 year old driving this John Deere Gator that they can't control!!! Isn't it cute?!?!?!"

There is a gang of like eight 12 years olds in my hood that cruise around on those expensive e bikes that go really fast and they just pop wheelies in the middle of busy streets. Only a matter of time before something really bad happens. Lil SF's friend has a scooter that goes 35 MPH! A rough ridin' scooter! its insane.

[steve dave]

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[michigancat]

my little brother broke his femur when he was around that age. was in a full body cast for month - cast went down the broken leg to the toe and down the other leg to just above the knee and there was a bar between each leg and a hole cutout for pissing and shitting. just brutal.

[Stupid Fitz]

Hows the dirt bike?

[Dugout DickStone]

what kind of coach allows dirt bikes in season?

i banned the pool on game days

[Dugout DickStone]

Hows the dirt bike?

how many ccs?  I need to know if I judge the parents or the bad driver

[Stupid Fitz]

Need some opinions. Our awesome semi competitive team finally hit its end. I actually thought it would happen sooner, but it was an awesome run. Here's the thing though. All of our current players were basically invited to stay together and move to a true "competitive" team. This means more money, more practices, tournaments, etc. Lil SF is a "good" player, but is probably playing at a level higher than he should be. He's having a great year this year, but still hits toward the bottom and plays mostly outfield. He actually doesn't mind playing the outfield, but he also rotates. Basically all of the outfield rotates for the most part. Coach does a great job with playing time, but it's baseball and the best players play for the most part. I know not everyone will move on so most likely, the new kids that come up will probably be pretty good and move ahead of him potentially pushing him further down. I know all of the new coaches and it will be a great group i'm sure, but i'm just worried about all of the extra that comes with a truly competitive team and the potential of him sitting even more. I totally get it and have said that if he is one of your bottom players, you are on a decent team, but it still sucks to see your kid sit. The really shitty part is that it is basically do this or baseball is probably done for him. He doesn't have many other friends that play and I don't see him wanting to join a random team maybe down a level. I'm ultimately leaving the decision to him and he has said initially he wants to do it, but we have a bit to decide. Thoughts?

Update, had a big tryout and he made the team. Very proud of him, but i'm already thinking of losing every single weekend from April through July in 2026. 

[KST8FAN]

Anyone have thoughts on the bat flip suspension in NJ?  Dad was a lawyer so court reinstated the kid for state championship.


Tom

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nj.com/sports/2025/07/little-league-backs-umpires-in-response-to-nj-bat-flip-controversy.html%3foutputType=amp

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[meow meow]

Need some opinions. Our awesome semi competitive team finally hit its end. I actually thought it would happen sooner, but it was an awesome run. Here's the thing though. All of our current players were basically invited to stay together and move to a true "competitive" team. This means more money, more practices, tournaments, etc. Lil SF is a "good" player, but is probably playing at a level higher than he should be. He's having a great year this year, but still hits toward the bottom and plays mostly outfield. He actually doesn't mind playing the outfield, but he also rotates. Basically all of the outfield rotates for the most part. Coach does a great job with playing time, but it's baseball and the best players play for the most part. I know not everyone will move on so most likely, the new kids that come up will probably be pretty good and move ahead of him potentially pushing him further down. I know all of the new coaches and it will be a great group i'm sure, but i'm just worried about all of the extra that comes with a truly competitive team and the potential of him sitting even more. I totally get it and have said that if he is one of your bottom players, you are on a decent team, but it still sucks to see your kid sit. The really shitty part is that it is basically do this or baseball is probably done for him. He doesn't have many other friends that play and I don't see him wanting to join a random team maybe down a level. I'm ultimately leaving the decision to him and he has said initially he wants to do it, but we have a bit to decide. Thoughts?

Update, had a big tryout and he made the team. Very proud of him, but i'm already thinking of losing every single weekend from April through July in 2026. 

congrats!  this is our last free weekend before soccer starts back up next weekend (and most every weekend until next may/june).  honestly i can't wait to get back out there.

[nicname]

If most of the games are local you don’t have to go to every game. I did, but was usually a coach. I’m not advocating never going, rarely going, or neglecting kids, but I think riding to a game with a teammate from time to time, and being happy when you do come, rather than expecting you to always be there is a good opportunity for growth, especially with older kids, heading into their teens.

It happens naturally anyway as they age, we didn’t go to every summer league basketball game this year, and the guys exercised their independence by driving one another to some of the games.

[Sandstone Outcropping]

If most of the games are local you don’t have to go to every game. I did, but was usually a coach. I’m not advocating never going, rarely going, or neglecting kids, but I think riding to a game with a teammate from time to time, and being happy when you do come, rather than expecting you to always be there is a good opportunity for growth, especially with older kids, heading into their teens.

It happens naturally anyway as they age, we didn’t go to every summer league basketball game this year, and the guys exercised their independence by driving one another to some of the games.

This is good. We try to make an effort to get one parent to every event but sometimes it just doesn't happen and that is okay.

[Stupid Fitz]

If most of the games are local you don’t have to go to every game. I did, but was usually a coach. I’m not advocating never going, rarely going, or neglecting kids, but I think riding to a game with a teammate from time to time, and being happy when you do come, rather than expecting you to always be there is a good opportunity for growth, especially with older kids, heading into their teens.

It happens naturally anyway as they age, we didn’t go to every summer league basketball game this year, and the guys exercised their independence by driving one another to some of the games.

This is good. We try to make an effort to get one parent to every event but sometimes it just doesn't happen and that is okay.

yeah, this is what we normally do. I usually go to almost every game because I do love baseball, but every Friday-Sunday is daunting. We already told him that there will be lots of games where we both won't be there. His sibling is older now and hates being dragged (drug) along so there is that too. I'm still proud as hell of him regardless of the circumstances. He's basically held his own and kept an awesome attitude playing at least 1 level higher than he should for the past several years. I still go back to the original point that it just sucks ass that it was this or nothing. He was a baller though. I started getting some calls from other dads that had kids on the edge too. They were asking if we should go to other tryouts or contact other coaches and Lil SF was like, "i'm good". He was fine either way which is awesome.