Parents Does your child have a 'fallback' sport?

[GymDad9.9]

I just learned about "modern pentathalon" and may have to see if DS ex-gymmie swimmer wants to give it a try sometime. Fencing, running, shooting, swimming and show jumping.

I could see my son doing that, especially the fencing and shooting part. Too bad the show jumping couldn't be jousting.

 

[Seeker]

My dd will likely be a runner when complete with gymnastics. If she is looking for a HS sport when the time comes, maybe lacrosse? It's popular where we live and I cannot see her wanting to do a different ball sport (like soccer or basketball), but LAX might work. She's also interested in Archery and is a pretty solid ping pong player.

She's not a good swimmer (sinks like a brick) and would be terrified of diving.

 

[Pirouette]

My dd13 (training Xcel Gold) will be in 8th grade in the fall, and she likes distance running. We do 3-4 races a year, and although she isn't the end all, be all, she's pretty good and enjoys it.

She did a track camp last summer, and the high school coach was recruiting her for high jump. We'll see . . .

 

[cassafrass]

Mine likes hurdles. I guess running at stationary objects at full speed just suits her. Turns out she had natural form for it from the get go..Also snowboarding I can still smoke her at that! And it makes her so mad.

 

[cbifoja]

No back up sport. :-(

However, she says that if she were to leave gymnastics she would like to try softball and volleyball.

 

[3gymgirls]

My daughter has played softball with a rec team, but chose to skip the tournament that was the same week as her team camp. She also has enjoyed basketball and participates in 4-H shooting sports (archery and BB gun). Her school requires participation in middle school sports (practice is their PE class although they don't have to compete) so she will participate in volleyball, basketball, and track as well.

 

[wrzos]

She has resisted all back ups so far. She was recently out for 3 months due to a bad fracture, so we introduced competitive ballroom dance. She loves it, and would like to keep it in addition to gym, but the hours are rough on her. She swims rec in the summer as well, but resists all efforts to swim more often, and hates ballet type dance - just the ballroom so far.

 

[dani4]

My older daughter's problem is that she loves EVERYTHING. She is committed to gymnastics right now and doing ballet on the side. But every time she tries something new she wants to drop ballet to take up the new thing. Lately her new interests are kayaking, tennis, and karate. And she has always been interested in track and cross country. She wants to be a pole vaulter someday.

She is definitely going to learn to row someday, though she currently doesn't think so. It's DH and my sport, and it is big where we live. People move here to train for national team try outs. We have amazing youth programs that start around age 12, which is perfect timing for average age of quitting gymnastics. My DD is built for it too. But I accept that she may choose to reject the family sport. Though we will at least get her to hold an oar at some point, because we need her for our family quad. The great thing about rowing is that you can start in college and still get to the elite level, if you have what it takes. I am not saying I want that for my daughter, it just means there's no rush, as long as she remains active she can do it whenever. No need to start in middle or even high school.

 

[Kate E]

My DD is 7 and started baby gym at 18months and now does 9.5hrs a week..goes up to 11.5 starting next week! Gymnastics is her true love but I've given her the chance to do other stuff over the time. She did baby ballet from 2.5yrs and gave it up at 5 as she was not in bed until 9pm the night before then up earlier than school for ballet then a few hour break and then 2.5hrs gym..she decided to give ballet up. She did tap from aged 4-5 and a bit but gave that up as it clashed with one of her new gym class times. She then wanted to try swimming so she trialled and was enrolled at our local competitive swimming club, that lasted 6 months as again gym times changed, clashing with swimming and she chose gym over swimming. She then started street dance alongside gym and loved it! She then (now 6 and a bit) begged to go back to Ballet and at this point she had changed gym class again so the ballet time fitted fine. Roll on Feb of this year and ballet exam done meant moving to the next class ...it clashed with street dance...she asked me to work out which one she would be able to do for longest if/when she goes to the next gym class in progression...it worked out to be ballet so she tearfully gave up street dance (she loved it and the teachers, they loved her..wanted her for crew etc (but she always said no as it meant missing much gym) so I said she could start modern (it's straight after ballet at the same school) she's done that for one term and is having to give it up as next week her gym schedule changes again which clashes with modern! Gym is her number one priority and she even chooses gym over parties or anything if they're the same time.

Outside of sport she is a clever little thing academically so if she keeps that up she has her back up there.
She also has singing lessons (begged for a year) they are in school time and singing is something she can practice anywhere so will never get in the way of her precious gym and gym will never get in signings way.

As she grows she may change her mind but she says she won't ...today in fact we picked my son up (15) from a snorkelling trip and the instructor was chatting to her saying how much she had grown and she looks old enough to start snorkelling...how old are you he asked ...7 she replied...oh you can come along now- are you going to start, she says maybe..I butt in 'no way you do enough ' he says you could just give up a gym class she was disgusted and shook her head vigorously saying no never! [emoji16]

She wants to be an Olympic gold medalist [emoji23] we've told her she will probably not even get selected (explained how hard it is, how many get chosen etc etc) but its nice to have a dream and she also wants to be a teacher and a restauranteur!

 

[raenndrops]

OG was great at softball… until certain family members got involved.
She was good at soccer and basketball (in a non-competitive rec-ish program- family were coaches)
She ran track for 2 years and played volleyball last year. She doesn't really like running, but family is involved so…
Volleyball, she started late, so she doesn't think she is very good and its not her fav.
She loves gym, but ppl need to stay out of it.

YG is gym or nothing (but Minecraft) … basketball was boring… soccer was boring.

They both like the water, but don't like doing prescribed strokes.

 

[OrangeKangaroo]

DD tried little kid soccer, cheer clinics, swim lessons, karate and a few years of dance. Truthfully she was pretty good at most things for a little kid due to being flexible and strong but gymnastics told hold early in her heart and the hours went up pretty quick. She had to make choices due to time and money. She's a good team gymnast and really has to work at it as the skills get harder. I could really easily see her transitioning to track in high school as she loves conditioning. I wish she had a second sport that could be a " life time" sport but she's such a little firecracker I'm sure she'll find activities to keep her going as an adult.

 

[gymyogimom]

How do you fit in anything else? The scheduling gods need to line up to find time on the one evening , and then it has to be the right class for that age, and not have competition, or if it does, not during gym season or on practice days!

 

[flipnastic]

My daughter is only five, so gymnastics is all she has done so far, but I was trying to encourage her to try soccer or dance in the near future and she got a really sad look on her face and said no, that she loves her gymnastics and she doesn't want to do anything else! Lol! I think I am still going to encourage her to try something else to get her a little more exposure after competitions are done but I was actually very surprised at her reaction… And it was pretty cute

 

[mommyof1]

I just learned about "modern pentathalon" and may have to see if DS ex-gymmie swimmer wants to give it a try sometime. Fencing, running, shooting, swimming and show jumping.

That sounds even more expensive than gymnastics!

 

[Blackie6]

Mine used to do dive team in the Summer in addition to travel softball. Our community pool removed the diving boards due to insurance & pool repairs last year so now we are juggling only softball and 16 hrs of gymnastics practice. She has been doing both for so many years she knows how to make it all work.

 

[Smartiegirl]

My DD doing pole vault camp this summer. It's harder than it looks . Of the 9 students 6 are gymnasts. All that upper body conditioning is paying off.

 

[CuriousCate]

Mine does soccer, field hockey, and swimming, but would give it all up in a heartbeat for gym. The other leagues are not very demanding of her time, so she is able to squeeze them in for now. I wish she'd switch to xcel so she could be a bit less focused on one sport.

Can I ask how old your DD is? My biggest fear is my DD having to give up other sports at too young of an age to keep up with the demands of gym.

 

[GymDad9.9]

My DD doing pole vault camp this summer. It's harder than it looks . Of the 9 students 6 are gymnasts. All that upper body conditioning is paying off.

How old is your daughter?

 

[MAcastsalot]

Can I ask how old your DD is? My biggest fear is my DD having to give up other sports at too young of an age to keep up with the demands of gym.

She is about to turn 8, so most other sports are low key. Field hockey is just clinic style, competitive swimming is just in the summer for the league she is in and is in the morning (gym is in the afternoon), but soccer increases in commitment this coming year, so probably not sustainable for much longer. I do not like the idea of her quitting other sports, but she also needs to have some down time, and won't scale back on gym.

 

[gymyogimom]

Does your team "contract" restrict other sports/activities?