Kids Sports

Day 2 in Mankato for a baseball tournament. I haven’t gotten home before 8PM or cooked at homw dinner since last Monday. My kid is just in a regular league – thr lowest skill level. Sure is different than what I remember as a kid. I biked to most of my practices and games and can’t remember playing further away than maybe the next town over.

Don’t take this the wrong way. I love watching my boy play ball and I haven’t missed a game or practice all year save for one when I was out of town. I’m just shocked at how much time and travel is involved in novice level sports these days. Hats off to all of you parents out there who have kids in sports. It’s terrific and certainly quite the commitment

Kids in sports has definitely changed over the years. Just make sure your child is enjoying it and they’re playing because they want to, not because you want them to. Too many over the top parents living vicariously through their child.

It depends on the league. My boys in little leagues as well and it’s alot of time. His Thursday night game went till 1015 pm. For 5th graders, that’s late on a school night. But it’s a riot to watch. He hit 4 for 4 on Thursday with 2 being dingers, a triple and a single. I can do base ball and wrestling but I would never have time for hockey.
Around here we also have a community league which is 1 practice and 1 game each week no weekends. So you can push them hard on one league or do regular rec on another

Ice hockey is an enormous time commitment. Plus replacing gear when they out grow out it or sticks when they break is another regular expense. It’s partly why our state has arguably the best youth hockey system in the country all the way through the collegiate level though.

Crappie, sounds like your son is playing at the A level. While that is the lowest for travel programs it isn’t the lowest level..

IMO…. The biggest difference in summer baseball is the number of kids playing. You need to be in more populated area now to have “rec” baseball. No tryouts… just evals to split teams up evenly and play 1 to 2 times a week on the local field and maybe a league tournament at the end of the season. We had these leagues even on small towns when I grew up.

Now every town has a program and tryouts for a AAA, AA, and A level teams.. pay 4 times as much…. Some play on a league like the MBL and other just play weekend tournaments. Some both..

I have a 12 year old playing AA in St Peter and on a “rec” team made up of his classmates in Mankato. St. Peter (11,000) didn’t even have enough kids come out to make 2 teams at his age level.

The more kids that want to play means more games right at home if you don’t want to play at the “competitive” travel levels.

What AK Guy said… Just make sure they’re having fun. And if they are, then there’s nothing better. We had a Baseball Tournament for my youngest this weekend as well in Woodbury.

It is a LOT different than when I was a kid, though… On one hand it’s cool how organized it is and all the resources they have access to, but it really feels like there’s a LOT of pressure being put on kids now (and parents).

Both my boys also play hockey. A LOT of their friends do Summer leagues, etc and every year we tell our kids no. They need time to be kids, too.

I think the summer sports hit worse because of how much other things there are to do and that we want to do. So many guys have to basically give up summer fishing and forget ever going to the cabin outside of a planned vacation. It gets really tricky with multiple kids in sports — it becomes all you do outside of work.

I don’t know what the answer is because the sports are good for them, too. But growing up, my fondest memories were from the unstructured time just messing around getting into all sorts of trouble over the summers.

Sports should be an activity, not a lifestyle.

2 of my kids are in travel baseball this year for the first time and we were in Marshall over memorial weekend for one tournament and just in Redwood Falls yesterday for my other sons. Then you add practice for both and my youngest has wrestling practice year round also so a night off is rare for us. With 3 boys and all into multiple sports year round it becomes a juggling act but we have never forced the kids to do sports just given them opportunities and they are the ones that say yes or no.

Even though my fishing time has taken a back seat this summer it is fun watching the kids play and improve.

Deuces wrote:

Sports should be an activity, not a lifestyle.

Agreed. But a lot of kids want that as a life style.

Sports were the only things I was into until I needed to get a job and started smoking “cigarettes”.
Hoping for some lifelong sports for my kids.

With a 4 year old and an 1 year old, I’m just starting to sort this stuff out. But yeah it sure seems to have changed a ton the last 20ish years, and I don’t think it’s for the better. Unstructured play time and at home structured play time seem to be a lot better for athletic development at this point imo. These leagues have moved more toward games and tournaments instead of practice and well rounded athleticism. Focusing on one sport is a severe detriment to athletic development imo, and should be delayed as long as possible.

Enjoy it, soon they will be off to Collage

gimruis wrote:

Ice hockey is an enormous time commitment. Plus replacing gear when they out grow out it or sticks when they break is another regular expense. It’s partly why our state has arguably the best youth hockey system in the country all the way through the collegiate level though.

Heck my kid in mites we were in Walker and Little falls for hockey, we have literal have nothing better todo in winter and he enjoys it for now.

Charles wrote:

Heck my kid in mites we were in Walker and Little falls for hockey, we have literal have nothing better todo in winter and he enjoys it for now.

I hear ya, I played youth hockey and some of my best memories were participating in those out of town tournaments. A lot of hockey players participate in spring, summer, and fall leagues now too so its become a year-round sport.

bigcrappie wrote:

Enjoy it, soon they will be off to Collage

Yup, and some won’t know what to do with themselves. Sports consumed so much of their life outside of school, when that’s not there anymore(large majority don’t play collegiate level sports) the void becomes confusing and at times deteriorating.

Important to plan for the void.

Deuces wrote:

Yup, and some won’t know what to do with themselves. Sports consumed so much of their life outside of school, when that’s not there anymore(large majority don’t play collegiate level sports) the void becomes confusing and at times deteriorating.

Important to plan for the void.

That is a great point, and something I struggled with out of college, thankfully I got back into hunting and started fishing seriously, otherwise I’d be rich! But seriously it was tough when you’ve had 20 some years of structure from sports, to none.

Charles wrote:

Heck my kid in mites we were in Walker and Little falls for hockey, we have literal have nothing better todo in winter and he enjoys it for now.

Mites travel? That is excessive.

BigWerm wrote:

With a 4 year old and an 1 year old, I’m just starting to sort this stuff out. But yeah it sure seems to have changed a ton the last 20ish years, and I don’t think it’s for the better. Unstructured play time and at home structured play time seem to be a lot better for athletic development at this point imo. These leagues have moved more toward games and tournaments instead of practice and well rounded athleticism. Focusing on one sport is a severe detriment to athletic development imo, and should be delayed as long as possible.

Couldn’t agree more. With an energetic 6 year old we are exploring all types of sports. Even basketball.
We will then let him decide what he likes and doesn’t like. We also have a lake place that we go to just about every weekend that he enjoys fishing swimming tubing skiing 4 wheelers dirt bikes etc. At some point he will have to decide what he would rather do on weekends in the summer. I am fine either way, but it wouldn’t hurt me to give up his baseball dreams early and we spent more time at the lake.
Now hockey he doesn’t get that choice.
Just kidding.
He played football last year in fricking kindergarten. Let’s just say he was not impressed and neither was I watching the same kid over and over get a handoff. So he can try something else this fall if he would like.

When I was playing youth sports in the 60s-70s, the games/practices were Tuesdays and Thursdays. Weekends were free for the family to do stuff. It should get back to that.
When my son was in Legion ball, they played ~50 games a year before post season. It’s a good thing that the rest of the family enjoyed watching him play. When he was in little league, they played/practiced 3-5 days a week. When they had a break for Memorial Day/Fourth of July and many of his team mates were going to their cabins, he asked me why we didn’t have a cabin. I said when would we go there?

My wife and I talk about kids sports all the time. It’s crazy! 3rd 4th grade kids traveling hundreds of miles to play soccer or baseball? Obviously hockey seems to be the worst but they all seem bad right now.

I’m just glad all my kids want to do is fish and golf.

There’s just no way I’m driving 2 hours To watch a 3rd grader try to play a sport. It’s supposed to be fun and dividing your family and hauling them all over the state is the opposite of fun in my opinion.

Until parents collectively say enough is enough nothing is going to change. Until then my kids and I will play sports for fun with friends in the back yard and enjoy the lakes to ourselves.

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To each their own.
Let them play, don’t let them play
It is your decision as a parent.

I opted for sports for my two kids. I coached also, baseball, softball, hockey and football. It took everything I had to keep up with them.
Somehow still we still managed to go fishing, wheeling, hunting in our free time.
My kids are in college now. They still talk about the road trips, knee hockey tourneys against other teams at the hotels, the evenings at the pool, ice fishing in Warroad and the all you can eat spaghetti feed the town feed them at tournaments.
They played AAA hockey in the summer also. As a parent the coolest sight at a high school game was kids on opposite teams get together and smile, laugh, and just hang out after their game until the refs made them get off the ice.
Why? because they played on the same summer hockey team, and became friends through sports. They would probably never meet or had a chance to become friends without sports.
You guys think youth sports are expensive, if your lucky enough, wait till one of them gets to play sports in college. Parent travel is a killer, flights, car rentals, hotels. I was in Colorado, Utah, Texas, Maryland, and Florida this spring, not including travel time to watch him play at home. I am lucky and I know that I only get a few more years of watching my son play a sport that he loves more than anything else in this world.
My love is watching him play, at all costs. I can always work more but one day seeing him play will end. Sad but true. We will just have more time to hang out, BS, fish, hunt and be the friend I believe a parent should be to their adult kids, after he is done playing.
The one thing I do know is there is no reason to push them in any direction, give them the opportunity to decide how they want to grow up. My son was a great youth baseball player, he got bored of the games pace. He quit baseball at 13. I was not happy but he wanted to try another faster pace sport, lacrosse.
Ok let’s try it I told him. That is the sport he plays in college.
We parents do not have all the answers but we can give our kids the chance to try diffent things, no matter how much time it takes us away from what we want to do, cherish the time you have with them when they are young. They grow up fast.

I agree with everything you said.
If you have one maybe two kids great. Those that have 3-4 kids that want to play sports… I’m sorry but you won’t be spending time with your significant other. One of you will be in one town and the other in another town, every weekend. No one can disagree with that. So for that reason I choose my wife over a kid sport.

We spend every weekend together all winter as a family doing things together. But each to their own. Many people don’t even like their wives so this works out great for them.

I hope your experience was the exception to what I stated above. But I know way too many people who paid for their kids fun with a divorce.

sliderfishn wrote:

To each their own.
Let them play, don’t let them play
It is your decision as a parent.

I opted for sports for my two kids. I coached also, baseball, softball, hockey and football. It took everything I had to keep up with them.
Somehow still we still managed to go fishing, wheeling, hunting in our free time.
My kids are in college now. They still talk about the road trips, knee hockey tourneys against other teams at the hotels, the evenings at the pool, ice fishing in Warroad and the all you can eat spaghetti feed the town feed them at tournaments.
They played AAA hockey in the summer also. As a parent the coolest sight at a high school game was kids on opposite teams get together and smile, laugh, and just hang out after their game until the refs made them get off the ice.
Why? because they played on the same summer hockey team, and became friends through sports. They would probably never meet or had a chance to become friends without sports.
You guys think youth sports are expensive, if your lucky enough, wait till one of them gets to play sports in college. Parent travel is a killer, flights, car rentals, hotels. I was in Colorado, Utah, Texas, Maryland, and Florida this spring, not including travel time to watch him play at home. I am lucky and I know that I only get a few more years of watching my son play a sport that he loves more than anything else in this world.
My love is watching him play, at all costs. I can always work more but one day seeing him play will end. Sad but true. We will just have more time to hang out, BS, fish, hunt and be the friend I believe a parent should be to their adult kids, after he is done playing.
The one thing I do know is there is no reason to push them in any direction, give them the opportunity to decide how they want to grow up. My son was a great youth baseball player, he got bored of the games pace. He quit baseball at 13. I was not happy but he wanted to try another faster pace sport, lacrosse.
Ok let’s try it I told him. That is the sport he plays in college.
We parents do not have all the answers but we can give our kids the chance to try diffent things, no matter how much time it takes us away from what we want to do, cherish the time you have with them when they are young. They grow up fast.

Very true. We had 2, one kid per parent married 32 years and going..
I also know many other that have multiple kids and make it work they just split up for the weekend but know those that got divorced also. A few of those were never making it with/without sports…

And I am sure you know, my post was not directed at you personally.

sliderfishn wrote:

To each their own.
Let them play, don’t let them play
It is your decision as a parent.

I opted for sports for my two kids. I coached also, baseball, softball, hockey and football. It took everything I had to keep up with them.
Somehow still we still managed to go fishing, wheeling, hunting in our free time.
My kids are in college now. They still talk about the road trips, knee hockey tourneys against other teams at the hotels, the evenings at the pool, ice fishing in Warroad and the all you can eat spaghetti feed the town feed them at tournaments.
They played AAA hockey in the summer also. As a parent the coolest sight at a high school game was kids on opposite teams get together and smile, laugh, and just hang out after their game until the refs made them get off the ice.
Why? because they played on the same summer hockey team, and became friends through sports. They would probably never meet or had a chance to become friends without sports.
You guys think youth sports are expensive, if your lucky enough, wait till one of them gets to play sports in college. Parent travel is a killer, flights, car rentals, hotels. I was in Colorado, Utah, Texas, Maryland, and Florida this spring, not including travel time to watch him play at home. I am lucky and I know that I only get a few more years of watching my son play a sport that he loves more than anything else in this world.
My love is watching him play, at all costs. I can always work more but one day seeing him play will end. Sad but true. We will just have more time to hang out, BS, fish, hunt and be the friend I believe a parent should be to their adult kids, after he is done playing.
The one thing I do know is there is no reason to push them in any direction, give them the opportunity to decide how they want to grow up. My son was a great youth baseball player, he got bored of the games pace. He quit baseball at 13. I was not happy but he wanted to try another faster pace sport, lacrosse.
Ok let’s try it I told him. That is the sport he plays in college.
We parents do not have all the answers but we can give our kids the chance to try diffent things, no matter how much time it takes us away from what we want to do, cherish the time you have with them when they are young. They grow up fast.

I agree 100 percent. Whatever floats there boat. If it is fishing hunting hockey baseball as long as they enjoy it have fun. Not all kids are created equal. What is fun for some may not be for others and vise versa. It’s a bit much in kids sports these days but I know a lot of kids that wouldn’t have it any other way as well and might stray if it wasn’t for said sport. Enjoy all of it because it doesn’t last and before you know it your kids are 18 banging on heaters drinking bears and becoming one of us. Hell for all I know my boy may become a tennis player who secretly likes to catfish at night. I better start working on my backhand and my stink bait game.
I grew up in a family of three boys. Yup manly men. I didn’t fish hard till I was in my teans. Oldest brother has a daughter who has a D1 scholarship to run cross country. None of us can run across the yard. Middle brother has a hockey player that rides dirt bikes in contest all summer. I can hardly ride a bike without falling over. My kid loves sports but really wants to get into music. I can’t strum a guitar or dance a lick.

No disrespect Joe but I suspect those folks would have ended in divorce either way.

and before you know it you kids are 18 banging on heaters drinking bears and becoming us.

I said to give them options and let them make their own decisions but i may have to step in if they are drinking bears..

I love watching my son play sports, but it’s his choice ultimately. He plays baseball and enjoys it. He is very good at the sport and one of the best on the team, I think that helps him have fun. The boost of confidence when his team is screaming his name cheering him on.
He told me he doesn’t want to wrestle any more which is sad, after 4 years and 3 of which he went to state. But it is what it is. He wants to get in to racing ama district dirt bikes. We track ride a couple times a week and I’m game with him racing.
I wanted him to play football but he has 0 interest so I ask him every year but when he says no I drop it.
We still fish every week, ride mx, and hike. I never gave him the option to play hockey and I won’t. We don’t have the time for that

We have to remember as parents our kids are preconditioned to say yes to us, so these questions of whether lil johnny wants to play again would be quite hard for a child to say. Especially when they may have friends in it, their parents seem to enjoy it as much as them, they in their own brain can’t recognize all the other opportunities available even if we can, etc etc.

I’m all for sport but this whole intense sports schedules has completely derailed society IMO. Sports makes kids good to be corporate drones, sit in a cubicle just like they did a field or rink for hours on end.

Deuces wrote:

We have to remember as parents our kids are preconditioned to say yes to us, so these questions of whether lil johnny wants to play again would be quite hard for a child to say. Especially when they may have friends in it, their parents seem to enjoy it as much as them, they in their own brain can’t recognize all the other opportunities available even if we can, etc etc.

I’m all for sport but this whole intense sports schedules has completely derailed society IMO. Sports makes kids good to be corporate drones, sit in a cubicle just like they did a field or rink for hours on end.

I agree with the bottom part and some of the top part. Maybe it’s just my kid, but if he says he doesn’t want to then that’s that. I’ve taught him to voice his opinions even when it isn’t the popular opinion. And to always be open and honest. We are also not a huge pushy sports family. Daughter was in dance but I took her out when they are now teaching 6 year Olds to twerk and shake there tatas. The boy wanted to box like I did but I denied him because I know the toll that took on me. Some of the sports these days are driven by die hards and pushed way to hard.

Having kids that are active in sports or other recreational activities seems to do a pretty good job of keeping them out of trouble. My middle son (now 16) is the social butterfly and is always wanting to do something with his friends. It was always a chore because we open enrolled our kids to the district my wife taught in since they offered all day every day kindergarten when our oldest was ready for kindergarten. We are 15 miles away from this district so any time the middle wanted to do something it was a 30 mile round trip. Now that he is driving its less burden on us to cart him around, but he is quickly realizing the cost of his galivanting with the fuel prices.