The Bobcat Nation

We are just begining with our oldest, he is in wrestling now, and wants to take soccer in the spring. The wrestling coach seems fantastic, and not too perturbed by my high energy darling.

Anyone have some good tips or been there done that advice?

I do not have kids of my own, but I was one more recently than some. My advice would be to let him try out alot of different sports before he focuses on one or two. He has plenty of time to excel, but when he starts out, let him choose what he likes.

When I was growing up, my mom wouldn't let me play hockey. I look back now, and think that I could have been good at it, if only I would have been given the chance.

hey it's tee ball for us here in WA, and horses too!!!

Ben wanted rugby and ice hockey last year, but wasn't old enough. can have hockey (I LOVE HOCKEY) at age 7. Rugby - well, let's just wait until he's frat boy age for that one shall we just my observation As most rugby players ( no matter how old) still exhibit frat boy tendencies Hey April is Maggotfest in Missoula - i may have to take a few days to "observe" rugby in it's natural element before I am solid with my rugby decision either good or bad.

wrestling sounds good, but this year it's tee ball and lots, and lots of horses

They have Tball here, but it is pretty unorganized.

Wrestling in Sidney is kind of a no-brainer. He could have also done ice hockey this winter, but he's not expressed an interest in it.

My three year old it already talking about swim team, he can start on the farm team this summer.

Letting your son play soccer is like letting him date his cousin. Both will seriously scar him for the rest of his life.

G.W.Bush wrote:Letting your son play soccer is like letting him date his cousin. Both will seriously scar him for the rest of his life.

Care to elaborate on that? Aidan got a "soccerball shirt" last summer, and it's all he's talked about since.

I think its great for little kids to play soccer. They're not coordinated enough to catch yet and they can get the sickness out of their system early

catamaran wrote:I think its great for little kids to play soccer. They're not coordinated enough to catch yet and they can get the sickness out of their system early

friends should not let friends play soccer

Hell's Bells wrote:

catamaran wrote:I think its great for little kids to play soccer. They're not coordinated enough to catch yet and they can get the sickness out of their system early

friends should not let friends play soccer

No one is allowed to joke about soccer. Did’nt you know that

It's all about the post-practice and post-game treats at that age.

Bleedinbluengold wrote:It's all about the post-practice and post-game treats at that age.

Youth sports signal handily support the juice box and rice crispy treat industry.

ChiOCat wrote:We are just begining with our oldest, he is in wrestling now, and wants to take soccer in the spring. The wrestling coach seems fantastic, and not too perturbed by my high energy darling.

Anyone have some good tips or been there done that advice?

Get him into hockey. They can start an Instructional Program at a very young age and they learn an incredible amount. Sidney, from what I hear, has a great program except for the fact they are affiliated with the North Dakota league. There is no hitting until they are 11 so they really learn the game and how to skate.

I only warn you that if you do this you will become addicted to it and it will consume you and your family's life. It did to ours. The youth hockey community is amazing and we have had the best time being invovled.

stevicat- are you describing the missoula kids league?

I know I'm excited for Ben to play hockey, our big thing is he's a little shy and doesn't like "everyone looking " at him. The horse thing is really going well, and he still shows interest in playing hockey. He really liked watching olympic hockey games with mom. Here in WA it's age 7, so we'll have to wait until next winter wants to see live hockey here at the local rink.

so for now Tball and horses until winter, than it's hockey and skiing he is a snow bunny

briannell wrote:stevicat- are you describing the missoula kids league?

I know I'm excited for Ben to play hockey, our big thing is he's a little shy and doesn't like "everyone looking " at him. The horse thing is really going well, and he stills hows interest in playing hockey, really like watching olympic hockey games with mom. Here in WA it's age 7, so we'll have to wait until next winter

so for now Tball and horses until winter, than it's hockey and skiing he is a snow bunny

Yes, the Missoula kids league is great as are the other programs in the state that we travel to.

Can you get him into a IP or "learn to skate" program or just take him to the rink to skate or in-line skate around the neighborhood? This will give him more confidence when he puts on the pads and hits the ice.

I'm not familiar with the program in Yelm so I'm not much help but most of them have something that will help teach the termite and mite age kids how to skate before they actually start playing.

Soccer is fun, I played it for years. When I was in it there was a bit of soccer/football rivalry. Making fun of the "other side."

Just don't force something on them they don't want to do. I know someone who does that to his son, the kid seems to dislike a lot of the sports he's in.

My two cents on kids in sports is to get them into sports, but don't let sports drive your home. I can't tell you how many families I counsel relating to the strain of "having to drive my kids all over town" to the detriment of other family time and priorities. It has become the "signal" that shows how much of a good parent you are. More sports=better parents. Keeping up with the Joneses is now about keeping the kids in all the sports camps.

I'm certainly not against kids in sports, I was a 3 sport kid until highschool so I understand the pull. Today there are so many options you can keep the kids in sports year round. That carries a significant load on the kids and the family. Keep a healthy balance between sports and other family commitments and don't think sports will be the end all of a kids development.

lucky for me my kids take after mom - happiest in the saddle. That's an addiction I fully intend to support now i'll just be broke and tired from that on top of everything else, but figure as long as we stay along ag lines, 4H included I'll happily give up sleep.

we'll, still dabble in other sports as both show an interest in them, but I will never let them drive us. i'm a lazy mommy I like our time at home together and if slacking on keeping up with the Joneses keeps us sain than I'm all for being a slacker

We've already bucked the Joneses by not starting him in all these things last year! People were just shocked that he wasn't in Tball and soccer.

I knew we had years and years of sports ahead of us, so no need to rush. He didn't know he could play, we didn't let him in on the secret.

I just hope one or two of them want to play football!!!! And I'm glad we don't live in Nebraska any longer, if one more person told me they were going to be great Huskers, I might have had to commit hary cary!!!

if one more person told me they were going to be great Huskers, I might have had to commit hary cary!!!

don't feel bad Heather, I have been hearing that since my ultrasound showed us we we're having a little boy !!!! Pops is a Husker, so we have been hearing "GO BIG RED!!!" since the day ben was born. Mind you this makes for some confusions with dad being a former FB player for the Cats So mom just took football off the plate, tossed a horse in front of him, stuck him up in the saddle to play cowboy, and well now 2 out of 4 of us are happy

I'm all for kids playing the sport of the season. I have 2 boys (8,5) and they play all the sports. Flag Football in the fall, Hockey in the winter, Soccer Spring, Baseball and Golf in the summer.

But let me tell you its hard to do this mainly because the kids and parents are getting pressured to "Specialize". Example being, My 8 year old has been playing organized Hockey since he has been 3 (Being in Minnesota this is the common starting age) and it is great to pass the long cold winters. However since I never had any knowledge of the sport because I had never played hockey, I did not realize that he was becoming a pretty good little player. Anyway, now I am getting calls from coaches asking to have him join their elite traveling teams that goes all summer. I have declined all invitation. Now of course people are saying will if he wants to continue to play hockey and advance that I am holding him back. However I am standing by conviction that playing the sport of the season is much better education and rounding for young kids.