Do your kids only play golf?

[leezer99]

> @wildcatden said:

>

> I think one key metric is whether the golf practice/tournaments are occurring year round without any breaks. Right now, it's certainly golf season and practicing at the range 4+ days/week hitting ~100 balls/day doesn't seem out of order to me. Note: We haven't practice golf at my house in a week due to baseball playoffs, but once the season ends, we'll probably be in that 4/days week of practice schedule. We are only playing 4 tournaments this summer (1 June, 1 July, 2 August) so I expect short breaks from golf during this time also.

>

>

 

That's a lot of range time. Are you not able to get out and play a few holes those days?

[BloctonGolf11]

> @wildcatden said:

> > @BloctonGolf11 said:

> > > @wildcatden said:

> > > > @BloctonGolf11 said:

> > > > I think the other thing is remembering just because a kid is only playing one sport does not mean they are "specializing". My son only plays one sport in an organized fashion (golf); however, he is heavily involved in numerous other physical activities and we do not allow golf to completely dominate his life. As stated above specialization is in itself a tricky and loaded word.

> > >

> > > It can be hard to define specialization and the repetitive stress injuries that can occur from the full golf swing on a young and growing body can be troublesome. Golf is unique that it is not a contact sport yet puts quite a level of "violence" on the back, wrists and knees no matter how good the form of the swing is. To me, if you are hitting a medium/large (80-120 balls) bucket of balls 4+ days a week every week (equates to 200+ days/year) plus tournaments 3+ weekends per month every month (not including practice rounds), then you are specializing.

> > >

> >

> > Funny you say that, why we typically limit my 9 year old to only 3 days of full on swings a week. (1 range/lesson, 1 tournament or practice round, 1 PGA Jr. League Practice/range). We will do a day of just chipping and putting as well, if he wants to, but we try to keep things stable and controlled. Outside of that he is playing pick up basketball, running, fishing, and doing all sorts of other physical activities. I think the real danger is when we see young kids (and I know SEVERAL) who literally only do golf as their primary and sole physical activity and the rest of their time is sedentary. This is also common, from what I have seen, with young baseball players where you see a lot of the repetitive injuries you are talking about.

>

> I think one key metric is whether the golf practice/tournaments are occurring year round without any breaks. Right now, it's certainly golf season and practicing at the range 4+ days/week hitting ~100 balls/day doesn't seem out of order to me. Note: We haven't practice golf at my house in a week due to baseball playoffs, but once the season ends, we'll probably be in that 4/days week of practice schedule. We are only playing 4 tournaments this summer (1 June, 1 July, 2 August) so I expect short breaks from golf during this time also.

>

>

 

Definitely agreed. Anytime he plays tournaments three weeks in a row he takes a week of no golf or just 1 day max. Too many parents don't make their kids rest to recover their bodies. This summer his schedule is packed for two separate three week spurts due to PGA Jr. League and US Kids so in between those spurts he will be resting and pursuing some other interests. As well, we typically take a month off here and there where he will just go to the range once a week and do other things. So far in 3 years it has worked physically and mentally.

[wildcatden]

> @leezer99 said:

> > @wildcatden said:

> >

> > I think one key metric is whether the golf practice/tournaments are occurring year round without any breaks. Right now, it's certainly golf season and practicing at the range 4+ days/week hitting ~100 balls/day doesn't seem out of order to me. Note: We haven't practice golf at my house in a week due to baseball playoffs, but once the season ends, we'll probably be in that 4/days week of practice schedule. We are only playing 4 tournaments this summer (1 June, 1 July, 2 August) so I expect short breaks from golf during this time also.

> >

> >

>

> That's a lot of range time. Are you not able to get out and play a few holes those days?

 

Not much time these days due to baseball and other school activities. Haven't been to the range/short game in a week. Haven't played a practice round in 2 weeks. We'll have to ramp up our practice heading into the USKG state tournament mid-June. If we don't, we won't be able to dominate other 8YO's. :D

 

Oh, and swim practice starts next week also.

Edit to add: And yes, our home course sets up well to go play 4 practice holes before or after range time. We probably do that half the time when in golf season.

 

[Kcct82]

My 6YO has been hitting 1-2 large buckets everyday since X’mas break along with another hour of chipping/putting. I told him we’d stop as soon as IMG Jr World is over :smiley:

[BloctonGolf11]

> @Kcct82 said:

> My 6YO has been hitting 1-2 large buckets everyday since X’mas break along with another hour of chipping/putting. I told him we’d stop as soon as IMG Jr World is over :smiley:

 

I have said this before in relation to some of your posts....that is an awful lot for a 6 year old....

[CTgolf]

> @CTgolf said:

> Playing lots of sports is great, especially at a young age to develop all types of skills and abilities, and also later recreationally once a child has decided to focus on one sport. Mental rest and having an “offseason”, even if only for a couple weeks, is very important and healthy.

>

> HOWEVER, anecdotally what I have found speaking with parents of elite athletes is that once they have committed to specialization, whatever age that may be, the time allocation is 90-95% primary vs 5-10% “other”. I also tend to think playing multiple sports is overrated, and more a correlation rather than a causation. (Really gifted athletes play lots of sports, because they are good at them! Playing lots of sports doesn’t make a kid a great athlete.)

>

> This is not a knock on developing the overall athlete, but it seems that the best in any sport are going to be superior athletically no matter what they do or don’t do (genetics?) and putting in the time to grind out the detail stuff merely seals the deal. You cannot teach top 1% explosiveness, hand-eye or other things *required* to be competitive at the highest level. The stuff you can teach, alone by itself, will never make you one of the best. All IMVHO.

 

Another article pushing the "jack of all trades" idea which seems very popular these days

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/24/opinion/sunday/kids-sports-music-choices.html

[BloctonGolf11]

@CTgolf I think the article kind of overstates Fed's varied interests in sports as, from what I have read on Fed, most of those were done in a very unorganized way with other young tennis players; however, he did play soccer for awhile, like almost all European athletes, until completely focusing on tennis. I think what Federer's story really espouses is let your kid be a kid and the 1950s - 1980s style of growing up is what develops kids best, playing a huge variety of games in unorganized fashion. On the flip side of specialization is this growing obsession that a kid must be engaged in different organized sports, which can be just as harmful. I see so many kids who are so overloaded with playing different sports 24/7, 365, and never get a break to just be kids sadly.

[wildcatden]

> @BloctonGolf11 said:

> @CTgolf I think the article kind of overstates Fed's varied interests in sports as, from what I have read on Fed, most of those were done in a very unorganized way with other young tennis players; however, he did play soccer for awhile, like almost all European athletes, until completely focusing on tennis. I think what Federer's story really espouses is let your kid be a kid and the 1950s - 1980s style of growing up is what develops kids best, playing a huge variety of games in unorganized fashion. On the flip side of specialization is this growing obsession that a kid must be engaged in different organized sports, which can be just as harmful. I see so many kids who are so overloaded with playing different sports 24/7, 365, and never get a break to just be kids sadly.

 

@BloctonGolf11 - That's a good point on the other side of the scale where kids are also over engaged in too many _organized_ sports year round. The standard saying of "everything in moderation" always seems to apply.

 

[SoCalCarl]

On 5/20/2019 at 2:40 PM, heavy_hitter said:

> @CTgolf said:

> Playing lots of sports is great, especially at a young age to develop all types of skills and abilities, and also later recreationally once a child has decided to focus on one sport. Mental rest and having an “offseason”, even if only for a couple weeks, is very important and healthy.

>

> HOWEVER, anecdotally what I have found speaking with parents of elite athletes is that once they have committed to specialization, whatever age that may be, the time allocation is 90-95% primary vs 5-10% “other”. I also tend to think playing multiple sports is overrated, and more a correlation rather than a causation. (Really gifted athletes play lots of sports, because they are good at them! Playing lots of sports doesn’t make a kid a great athlete.)

>

> This is not a knock on developing the overall athlete, but it seems that the best in any sport are going to be superior athletically no matter what they do or don’t do (genetics?) and putting in the time to grind out the detail stuff merely seals the deal. You cannot teach top 1% explosiveness, hand-eye or other things *required* to be competitive at the highest level. The stuff you can teach, alone by itself, will never make you one of the best. All IMVHO.

 

I actually tend to agree with you. Orthopedists will tell you, however, that there are a lot of overuse injuries in sports today because kids specialize too early in one sport. Participating in multiple sports helps strengthen muscles/ligaments/tendons that others don't strengthen.

 

My son pretty much started specializing at 12. Broken Finger kept him out for 2 months that year. This year Sever's kept him out 6 months.

Resurrecting an old thread... Just curious about your son's experience bc mine's about to turn 12... 

1) Did he choose to specialize on his own? Even if you didn't make him, did you try to "subtly" influence him to specialize?

2) Almost 3 years in, anything you wish he would have done differently, or was it the right choice to specialize then or would you have done it sooner / later?

3) From reading your threads, your son is a really good golfer. Did he / you know that at age 12 when he specialized? Or did you at least suspect he could be really good?

 

Sorry for all the questions! I find this topic fascinating... I suspect there is no "right" answer because it's so situation specific.

 

Carl

[leezer99]

2 hours ago, SoCalCarl said:

Resurrecting an old thread... Just curious about your son's experience bc mine's about to turn 12... 

1) Did he choose to specialize on his own? Even if you didn't make him, did you try to "subtly" influence him to specialize?

2) Almost 3 years in, anything you wish he would have done differently, or was it the right choice to specialize then or would you have done it sooner / later?

3) From reading your threads, your son is a really good golfer. Did he / you know that at age 12 when he specialized? Or did you at least suspect he could be really good?

 

Sorry for all the questions! I find this topic fascinating... I suspect there is no "right" answer because it's so situation specific.

 

Carl

 

1. My son played baseball and basketball along with golf but covid shut the first two down and he aged out of our local leagues. He loved baseball but I wasn't about to get into the whole travel team thing.

 

2. He specialized because he had to. Wouldn't change anything... he still plays pickup basketball at school but those kids are 4 and 5 star recruits so he knows he wouldn't have had a chance.

 

3. I don't think this was directed at me but my son won't make any money at golf until he sells his clubs.

[SoCalCarl]

54 minutes ago, leezer99 said:

 

1. My son played baseball and basketball along with golf but covid shut the first two down and he aged out of our local leagues. He loved baseball but I wasn't about to get into the whole travel team thing.

 

2. He specialized because he had to. Wouldn't change anything... he still plays pickup basketball at school but those kids are 4 and 5 star recruits so he knows he wouldn't have had a chance.

 

3. I don't think this was directed at me but my son won't make any money at golf until he sells his clubs.

LOL, love the answer to #3... What I'm struggling with is my son a) like yours, will never make a dime playing golf unless he sells his clubs or caddies, b) is probably not going to play D1 golf, nor do I care because I'm not sure I need him to put in that commitment, nor do I want him playing golf in college. But, I do think he might be good enough to get some interest from high academic schools with DIII programs, where there's no scholarships, but maybe the word of a golf coach can help be that little push that gets him in.

 

And as an Asian male, he needs every push he can get to get into a good school and so I wonder what the best way to cultivate that is... Do I let him just find his way and maybe specialize at some point or do I nudge him in that direction so that he doesn't feel forced. He loves golf, but he also loves soccer and so I'm not going to make him give up the latter.

[allenartlab]

Asian dad here as well and son has been playing since age 6. All kids my son has grown up playing with fall into the "specializing in golf" category from when they turned 12. Even before they turned 12, they occasionally played other sports, e.g. swimming, as a compliment for their golf game. There is only one kid who has played serious league soccer until the age of 16. Most of them are either playing at or are committed into top D1 schools by now. I'm not sure whether this is the correct path to take and I would say that all these kid are not forced to specializing for sure. 

[SoCalCarl]

4 hours ago, allenartlab said:

Asian dad here as well and son has been playing since age 6. All kids my son has grown up playing with fall into the "specializing in golf" category from when they turned 12. Even before they turned 12, they occasionally played other sports, e.g. swimming, as a compliment for their golf game. There is only one kid who has played serious league soccer until the age of 16. Most of them are either playing at or are committed into top D1 schools by now. I'm not sure whether this is the correct path to take and I would say that all these kid are not forced to specializing for sure. 

Interesting data point. As you said, I guess I just have to let my son choose, whatever / whenever that may be...

[AUSweeper]

You almost have to specialize in something these days or you will be left behind.  Coworkers have kids in different sports (travel soccer, hockey, baseball, softball) and it’s year round and the cost is comparable or more than we’ve been spending on golf.  A friend was telling me about his daughter’s travel softball expenses and I felt a lot better about spending what we spend on golf.  Tourneys out of state where they have to be there 12 hrs a day, requirement to see a hitting coach, on and on.  

[Movingday]

There have been some great points in this thread. I tend to fall in the category of playing multiple sports at a young age, but with some qualifiers.

Golf is my boys main sport, so that’s where 80%-90% (hard to quantify) of our focus goes. They also play or have played basketball, flag football, soccer, rock climbing. All of those at the local level (short seasons, no travel, basically what we would consider rec ball).

I’m not a fan of multiple “travel” sports being played, I think that’s a detrimental as anything. I also consider pick up games in the neighborhood as beneficial “multiple sport” activities. Playing backyard tackle football, driveway basketball, and wiffle ball in the neighborhood are great ways for kids to become athletes AND have a ton of fun doing it (No Parents Involved!)

As an 8th grader, my oldest decided he wanted to give up organized sports outside of golf. I was ok with this at that age, he continues to play everything in the neighborhood setting, but his 100% focus is now golf. 
My current 5th grader (11 yo) wanted to make the same decision and I wouldn’t allow him. I don’t care what else he plays but he has to play at least one organized sport outside of golf. I do this because he loves playing everything, I guess if he came to me and said he just doesn’t like anything else, it would be a different conversation, but that hasn’t happened yet. He loved basketball this year and had already decided he wants to play middle school next year. 

[heavy_hitter]

On 1/17/2023 at 7:03 PM, SoCalCarl said:

Resurrecting an old thread... Just curious about your son's experience bc mine's about to turn 12... 

1) Did he choose to specialize on his own? Even if you didn't make him, did you try to "subtly" influence him to specialize?

2) Almost 3 years in, anything you wish he would have done differently, or was it the right choice to specialize then or would you have done it sooner / later?

3) From reading your threads, your son is a really good golfer. Did he / you know that at age 12 when he specialized? Or did you at least suspect he could be really good?

 

Sorry for all the questions! I find this topic fascinating... I suspect there is no "right" answer because it's so situation specific.

 

Carl

1)  It was a mutual decision after broken finger, broken hand, broken thumb, severs disease.  He is a football and basketball fanatic.  Going into high school football crossed seasons with golf so that was a "no".  Basketball no reason to try out when you were 5'6", 180, and not fast.  It was in easy decision as we knew he was pretty good from an early age.  He still plays pick up basketball with friends.  Every HS practice generally ended with the team playing touch football in one of the fairways on the course.  

 

2)  Nothing would have been done differently.  It was the right choice for him because it was something we knew he could play in college.

 

3)  Is he great?  No  Is he good?  Yes  The injury bug hit him and delayed progressing in my opinion.  When you are on and off for over a year and a half it is hard to have consistency.  Also had a right knee issue that he got over after the growth plate close.  Injured a shoulder hitting a root.  Had shoulder blade issues on left and then right due to growth.  He is going to play in college at one of the top DIII schools and he is excited.  He chose to play at a top DIII over playing on a low level DI school or staying in state to play DII.

[RmoorePE]

Great thread.

 

I have 3 daughters, my youngest is the most golf specialized and she is good not great. Meaning she wins some tournaments and shoots around par in tournaments with some pretty bad tournaments as well. She is a 14 y.o. freshman who plays golf and basketball. We have signed her up for 6-8 golf tournaments per spring/summer the last 2 years. That is plenty. 

 

I have seen far too much burn out in specialized kids, mostly in fastpitch/baseball. Those are sports where the time commitments are just outlandish, way more than golf, plus once a kid is signed up, the schedule is out of their control. In golf the parent always has control. We ask our kids to play at least 2 school or rec sports each year. My middle daughter (HS Jr) plays volleyball and basketball, and decided she did not want to play basketball this year, so we told her either she plays golf in the spring or get a job. She had a job at the hamburger stand down the street over the summer, which she hated, and so it was an easy sell. 

 

Currently, my youngest daughter is in her first basketball season, while the middle daughter is working on her golf game. The youngest is paralyzed that the middle is going to better at golf than her by the time basketball is over (there is no chance). It is perfect in that she is just frothing to get out on the golf course and I barely let her. I won't have to even ask her to go practice golf for this spring, she will probably live at the course as soon as basketball is over. One thing we stress is that if you are in one sport, you do not get to play your other sport. A lot of kids play the school sport and then they play the other sport on the weekends and it is way too much for everyone, and it is not fair to your team or coach.

 

Youngest has been wanting to spend a lot of time in the gym working on basketball skills and so her and I have been in the gym a lot together on weekends and after practices. Same with other daughter wanting to practice golf. I keep telling myself that those moments, helping your kid in the process of trying to get better at something, are the very best parts of parenting. So I have made it a priority that when they want to go work on skills, I drop whatever I have in front of me and we go do it. These years are going to be over in a flash. I am a firm believer that building skills is far more important than playing in more games and events.

 

My other opinion is that you don't have to specialize, if you are athletic/talented. Doesn't matter which sport. Specialization because the kid is talented and they love the game probably produces the best outcome, but that only comes from the athlete. Golf loves a grinder which is what makes it great and accessible for a lot of body types. But golf is far easier for athletically talented kids than those who are grinding their way along. 

 

Most of us have experienced the athletic person who we invite golfing and they take up the sport at 35, and by 38 their handicap is lower than yours. I have a buddy who played college baseball, took up golf at 30 and can't understand why I have played golf since high school and am still a 13 hdcp while he flirts with 5 most the time.

 

 

[tiger1873]

22 hours ago, AUSweeper said:

You almost have to specialize in something these days or you will be left behind.  Coworkers have kids in different sports (travel soccer, hockey, baseball, softball) and it’s year round and the cost is comparable or more than we’ve been spending on golf.  A friend was telling me about his daughter’s travel softball expenses and I felt a lot better about spending what we spend on golf.  Tourneys out of state where they have to be there 12 hrs a day, requirement to see a hitting coach, on and on.  

 

I don't get the thinking my kid has to play everything under the sun.  I get doing that to find an interest in a sport when they are younger but all the parents I seen do that have kids that play nothing now they are in high school.

 

I also found that what we spend on golf is a bargain to competitive dance and travel teams out there.  Dance teams are crazy you have to buy outfits pay for venues and travel costs and latte's for the coach.

 

I also think focusing on one sport is not an issue just don't be the parent that forces the kid to spend every afternoon after school at the chipping range until it is dark.  Focus on what matters get in and get out with practice and make it count.

[SoCalCarl]

On 1/19/2023 at 7:49 AM, heavy_hitter said:

1)  It was a mutual decision after broken finger, broken hand, broken thumb, severs disease.  He is a football and basketball fanatic.  Going into high school football crossed seasons with golf so that was a "no".  Basketball no reason to try out when you were 5'6", 180, and not fast.  It was in easy decision as we knew he was pretty good from an early age.  He still plays pick up basketball with friends.  Every HS practice generally ended with the team playing touch football in one of the fairways on the course.  

 

2)  Nothing would have been done differently.  It was the right choice for him because it was something we knew he could play in college.

 

3)  Is he great?  No  Is he good?  Yes  The injury bug hit him and delayed progressing in my opinion.  When you are on and off for over a year and a half it is hard to have consistency.  Also had a right knee issue that he got over after the growth plate close.  Injured a shoulder hitting a root.  Had shoulder blade issues on left and then right due to growth.  He is going to play in college at one of the top DIII schools and he is excited.  He chose to play at a top DIII over playing on a low level DI school or staying in state to play DII.

Really helpful, thanks! Love that there are so many involved parents on here to learn from!

[allenartlab]

On 1/19/2023 at 5:46 AM, AUSweeper said:

You almost have to specialize in something these days or you will be left behind.  Coworkers have kids in different sports (travel soccer, hockey, baseball, softball) and it’s year round and the cost is comparable or more than we’ve been spending on golf.  A friend was telling me about his daughter’s travel softball expenses and I felt a lot better about spending what we spend on golf.  Tourneys out of state where they have to be there 12 hrs a day, requirement to see a hitting coach, on and on.  

And we haven't factored in the time that needs to be allocated to school work, especially when high school starts.

[mbh922]

Mine plays a travel team sport. I think he actually likes golf better, but he loves having teammates, going to tournaments (staying at hotels), and just the overall social aspect of being with a team.  He really loves junior league, but I think if he only did golf for him he’d get lonely.  I remember his first junior tournament he was a little disappointed the kids didn’t hangout and small talk in between holes / shots. My guess is he tries to do both through highschool (currently 6th) and if one suffers from non-specialization it is what it is. He isn’t going pro in either so I just want him to have fun and do it with a good group of kids. 

[MahalNeneng]

We gave the boy every opportunity to branch out since the beginning. At about 10 he though about soccer basketball and karate. Went so far to research them all up. In the end he never did and has been doing only golf for 11 years now. 
in about 4 hours son will walk into my office and drag me from work to get him to the course “hes got big things” to work on. So be it. 

[cmatthews77]

More and more high school coaches are putting pressure on kids to specialize earlier and I hate it. I get that what you’re doing in the off-season is critical in that sport for how you’ll do in-season but I still think kids that can and are able should play multiple. 
 

I have a high school senior who only plays a little tennis and I have a freshman who still plays multiple sports including golf. He recently stopped playing baseball and football with baseball being the biggest hindrance to golf. He still plays basketball on his high school JV team and is getting pretty decent at golf. He’s not excellent yet but he can break 80 from 6800+ yards. 
 

The biggest challenge obviously is time management. As a parent what do we do in the summer… prioritize the basketball summer workouts, summer league, travel team, etc. Or his non-school golf calendar and tournament play. 
 

Part of me wishes he’d focus on golf but at the same time he loves basketball and is pretty good and I believe in team sports value. We let him make the decisions with our guidance and helping him think through all the pros/cons of those decisions. 

[Petethreeput]

On 1/17/2023 at 5:03 PM, SoCalCarl said:

Resurrecting an old thread... Just curious about your son's experience bc mine's about to turn 12... 

1) Did he choose to specialize on his own? Even if you didn't make him, did you try to "subtly" influence him to specialize?

2) Almost 3 years in, anything you wish he would have done differently, or was it the right choice to specialize then or would you have done it sooner / later?

3) From reading your threads, your son is a really good golfer. Did he / you know that at age 12 when he specialized? Or did you at least suspect he could be really good?

 

Sorry for all the questions! I find this topic fascinating... I suspect there is no "right" answer because it's so situation specific.

 

Carl

On their own.  A parent driven decision won’t work often, if ever.

 

I’ll say this.  My son self specialized at 15. He was the one of the best kids on his team, and he was really, really good. College coach meetings, etc.  By 17 he realized he didn’t love competing and stopped playing.  It took a car crash injury where he couldn’t play, but he discovered he was happier, hasn’t played since.

 

I feel like 12 is early.  Kids don’t become who they will be until later, and even then it’s not a sure thing.  Life is long, golf will be there, but I think no insinuations and let a kid do their thing.

 

I do admit, I was super disappointed when he decided it wasn’t for him, but ultimately it wasn’t my decision.

 

And as you mention no two kids are alike.  Will kid become Tiger or Rory or Todd Marinovich who grew to hate the game.  It’s a really tough place to be which ever way you decide.

Edited February 26, 2023 by Petethreeput

[kekoa]

Another Asian dad here.  LOL!!

 

My son has been playing golf from the age of 2.  He will be 13 next month.  I would say he specialized since age 8 or so.  I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but I do for sure enjoy being at the golf course a lot more than a basketball gym or soccer field.  My son is good at pretty much every sport he as ever played, but excels most in golf.  If there was something I'd change looking back is the age he started playing tournament golf.  He played is first tournament at age 5.  I wish I postponed this maybe to age 9 or 10.  I'd also like to change the fact that he won so much as a youngster.  Odd, but true.

 

Personally, I've told him the only way for him to get into a decent college is through golf.  Maybe a little harsh, but that is reality around my parts.  He isn't coding or creating apps like some of the other kids are doing.  He does well in school, but so is every other kid.  Difference is, instead of golf, they go to tutoring after school to make sure they are doing work at grade levels two or three years above them.  

[Bizzle80]

Love this thread.

 

I am a firm believer that a kid will eventually choose their own path. We can make them do something until a certain point, but eventually they will decide where they want to focus their energies. In regards to golf, I am trying to foster a love for the game first. Anything beyond that is up to her.

 

To that end, my 4th grader loves sports so she plays seasonal sports (basketball, soccer, volleyball) and does jiu jitsu, tennis and finally golf year round. The team sports I relegated to school team only - no club or travel teams - we tried club soccer and I can't get down with 2+ practices per week and all weekend long tournaments.

 

She loves to play, I think the multiple sports is helping her confidence and building her an all around athletic skill set. Recently she decided she wants to wake up at 6am and workout with me before school...and she wanted to add in swing speed training. I think the fact I don't force these things, and let her choose makes her more committed. I always remind her its her choice and she doesn't have to get up early if she doesn't want to.

 

It definitely is tough for me though when we play golf tournaments and she is losing to girls that I know are 7-day/week practice players. Its the edges of consistency that they have that she doesn't, costing her a couple strokes a round.

 

BUT...I know she is having fun at the course, while some of those girls look miserable...and I know that winning tournaments at 9-10yo is not a barometer of future success. My guess is half of those girls won't be playing in a few years, but my girl will hopefully still love getting out to play...and as an all around athlete I would think it would bode well for her long term golf development.

 

 

 

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

On 1/19/2023 at 10:28 AM, Movingday said:

There have been some great points in this thread. I tend to fall in the category of playing multiple sports at a young age, but with some qualifiers.

Golf is my boys main sport, so that’s where 80%-90% (hard to quantify) of our focus goes. They also play or have played basketball, flag football, soccer, rock climbing. All of those at the local level (short seasons, no travel, basically what we would consider rec ball).

I’m not a fan of multiple “travel” sports being played, I think that’s a detrimental as anything. I also consider pick up games in the neighborhood as beneficial “multiple sport” activities. Playing backyard tackle football, driveway basketball, and wiffle ball in the neighborhood are great ways for kids to become athletes AND have a ton of fun doing it (No Parents Involved!)

As an 8th grader, my oldest decided he wanted to give up organized sports outside of golf. I was ok with this at that age, he continues to play everything in the neighborhood setting, but his 100% focus is now golf. 
My current 5th grader (11 yo) wanted to make the same decision and I wouldn’t allow him. I don’t care what else he plays but he has to play at least one organized sport outside of golf. I do this because he loves playing everything, I guess if he came to me and said he just doesn’t like anything else, it would be a different conversation, but that hasn’t happened yet. He loved basketball this year and had already decided he wants to play middle school next year. 

I have three kids.  Only two like golf.  I would say with both of them we encourage them to play any sport that made them happy and enjoyed.

 

One is a boy and the being a girl.  Son would take his sister though around the neighborhood for 2 hand down football, street hockey, etc.  They def benefited from being all around athletes.

[MikekiM]

My son plays a bunch of sports.  Right now it's golf and basketball.  He's had two sprained ankles, the flu and a cold to start the year thanks to basketball.  He's missed 2 golf tournaments this year, and has probably spent a total of 4hrs of golf practice this year.  Needless to say his golf sucks big time right now.  Fortunately basketball season ends this coming weekend.  Knowing his luck he'll sprain something else and put him out of golf for another 2 weeks.

There's something to said about just playing golf in the outdoors by yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeW2]

My oldest son played basketball, street hockey, soccer, golf, on a kickball team, took karate (earning an adult black belt) piano and saxophone lessons was in plays and choir, we did anything he seemed to show interest in. At 13 he said to me that he wanted to be really good at basketball and stop doing everything but karate. I asked him why and it was his answer that made the decision for us as parents to allow him to concentrate almost exclusively on basketball. I love it, I love the games, I love going to practices, I love playing alone in the driveway and I do have fun with doing other things but I would rather be playing basketball. I want to play in college like you guys did. You know your kids and I knew mine was sincere. I was also honest with him, sacrifice and hard work are no guarantee, you can put in all the work and miss out on things and it may not pan out. That’s fine he said I want to play college basketball and I’m ready to do whatever it takes. I made him promise me that he would tell me the minute it wasn’t fun for him and we would stop playing seriously and would only do it as a fun thing. He then presented me with AAU programs for summer spring and fall that he’d already been researching. So we “specialized” in hoop.

 

Earlier this winter he had to stop playing…two broken ankles and a torn knee in high school robbed him of his D1 dream as they took most of his explosiveness and lateral quickness away. He did play D3 but lockdown eliminated his 1st year, getting long Covid ended season 2, then a weightlifting room accident re-injured his knee. Tough conversation followed that, more for me than him. Dad I can’t do this anymore, I can’t rehab again even when I’m healthy the amount of pain I’m in isn’t worth it anymore. I know what he did to make his dream happen, I saw the effort, the grind, the commitment, the determination especially after every set back. Him not getting to play anymore broke my heart. Told him as much and he said it’s ok that he wouldn’t change anything and the fun we had working together. He reminded me of our first conversation and how I’d told him there weren’t any guarantees and that he was ok with not playing.
 

What I did get as a parent out of the dream chase that specialization is, is a kid that sees a big picture, a long term goal and works for it just an awesome work ethic, completely driven and self motivated. It taught him to handle his responsibilities in timely and proper fashion so that he could do the stuff he wanted. Helped him learn to fight through adversity and to accept disappointment in a mature fashion. This chase through specialization truly helped us prepare my son for whatever life throws his way. If the desire to specialize comes from the child and you as a parent remain aware of the child’s real desires doing so can be beneficial in more ways than just achieving an athletic goal.

Edited March 7, 2023 by MikeW2
Missed word

[leezer99]

20 minutes ago, MikeW2 said:

My oldest son played basketball, street hockey, soccer, golf, on a kickball team, took karate (earning an adult black belt) piano and saxophone lessons was in plays and choir, we did anything he seemed to show interest in. At 13 he said to me that he wanted to be really good at basketball and stop doing everything but karate. I asked him why and it was his answer that made the decision for us as parents to allow him to concentrate almost exclusively on basketball. I love it, I love the games, I love going to practices, I love playing alone in the driveway and I do have fun with doing other things but I would rather be playing basketball. I want to play in college like you guys did. You know your kids and I knew mine was sincere. I was also honest with him, sacrifice and hard work are no guarantee, you can put in all the work and miss out on things and it may not pan out. That’s fine he said I want to play college basketball and I’m ready to do whatever it takes. I made him promise me that he would tell me the minute it wasn’t fun for him and we would stop playing seriously and would only do it as a fun thing. He then presented me with AAU programs for summer spring and fall that he’d already been researching. So we “specialized” in hoop.

 

Earlier this winter he had to stop playing…two broken ankles and a torn knee in high school robbed him of his D1 dream as they took most of his explosiveness and lateral quickness away. He did play D3 but lockdown eliminated his 1st year, getting long Covid ended season 2, then a weightlifting room accident re-injured his knee. Tough conversation followed that, more for me than him. Dad I can’t do this anymore, I can’t rehab again even when I’m healthy the amount of pain I’m in isn’t worth it anymore. I know what he did to make his dream happen, I saw the effort, the grind, the commitment, the determination especially after every set back. Him not getting to play anymore broke my heart. Told him as much and he said it’s ok that he wouldn’t change anything and the fun we had working together. He reminded me of our first conversation and how I’d told him there weren’t any guarantees and that he was ok with not playing.
 

What I did get as a parent out of the dream chase that specialization is, is a kid that sees a big picture, a long term goal and works for it just an awesome work ethic, completely driven and self motivated. It taught him to handle his responsibilities in timely and proper fashion so that he could do the stuff he wanted. Helped him learn to fight through adversity and to accept disappointment in a mature fashion. This chase through specialization truly helped us prepare my son for whatever life throws his way. If the desire to specialize comes from the child and you as a parent remain aware of the child’s real desires doing so can be beneficial in more ways than just achieving an athletic goal.

 

Thank you for sharing. This was really well articulated and I'll probably share with the wife. I primarily foster my son's golf addiction and she fosters my daughters gymnastics ambitions. 

 

Would be interested to hear how he hurt himself in the gym. My son has taken to weight lifting at school and I worry every day that he's going to try for a PB and hurt himself. The coach is pretty good but you know, boys will be boys.