Best Sport for a 10 Year Old to Start

Athletic Recruits
41

It does help with admissions to have a sport, we’ve known for the last 40 years what the structure and teamwork offer kids. Aside from some quest to be a superstar, adcoms can look for the commitment, which does imply the ability to choose, stick, and be resilient. For a ten year old, I have no problem with trying to figure out what sport this is. But there are other avenues as well.

What happens if you create a star and there’s an injury? Or it turns out the kid loves science or lit or politics and no longer wants the sport to be the sole trump card, occupy every weekend and break? You have to make this make sense, organically. The whole kid.

42

Probably not what you’re looking for, but my daughter just got a music scholarship as a non-music major at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania. In addition to the yearly award, she will get free weekly piano lessons with one credit per semester. It reminded me of the sports scholarship my older son got. I think it’s a wonderful idea for kids who love playing instruments but don’t want to major in them.

43

This thread is ridiculous.

I’ve got news for you - you can choose any sport you want, but chances are, your kid will not be talented enough at the sport to get recruited. Being elite at athletics requires talent and There are hundreds of thousands of girls playing soccer and lacrosse and volleyball and so on, all around the country. Parents spend thousands and thousands of dollars on travel teams and camps and everything else, but percentage-wise, only a very few of those kids will ever get recruited by an academically elite school.

Your kid should do the sports she likes, for the sake of doing the sport itself - for teamwork and staying fit. If she show an unusual level of aptitude for one of them, then maybe you can start thinking about this stuff.

44

Just want to chime in with a thought expressed earlier that you often have no idea at age 10, for example, what sport a child may excel in in his/her later teens. Yes, some sports require such dedication at young ages that if the child hasn’t started to play soccer, or lacrosse, by age 12, it would be very difficult to become good enough to be recruitable by age 16. On the other hand, my daughter was a recruited NESCAC swimmer who didn’t start swimming truly competitively until age 13. She began slowly on a club team at age 10, and I can tell you that it never crossed our minds at that age that she would be good enough to be recruitable in high school. She expressed an interest in it (and also lax), and I followed up out of a desire for her to stay in shape and be active. She led the way when she expressed desire to train more intensely, and we, as parents, followed. She also was a two sport athlete through her freshman year of high school - we let her make the decisions as to what she wanted to do, and how much time to commit to it. Honestly, I just cannot fathom trying to figure out a good way to get a child recruited at such young ages (unless the child is a true athletic superstar).

On the other hand, I totally understand the desire to get a child, especially one who does not seem to be the most athletically gifted, active and involved in a sport of some sort, and wanting to know which sports to encourage. My youngest one, due to medical issues (and perhaps innate ability - we’ll never know), is not a top athlete by any stretch of the imagination. She expressed early desires to play soccer and lax, most likely because her sisters played them. And early on I could see that she had no natural ability in either (especially soccer). I want her to exercise and be committed to a sport, but not to feel badly about herself. So I have gently tried to steer her away from the sports that people are most fanatic about around our area (soccer and lax being at the top), and toward some less stressful sports. We tried softball, and it was a much better fit for a child who isn’t the fastest runner. But even then, she was a bit behind most of the other players. At age 10 she has now landed in dance, which she loves and already seems fiercely committed to, and also swims a bit (but not very intensely). My advice would be to follow what the children enjoy, with perhaps a little nudge away from the ones that are most intense in your area (where it’s most likely that kids have been playing since age 4).

45

Just want to add that I know swimmers who were really really good - so much better than my daughter - at ages 10 and 12, who seemed to have peaked around then. One in particular seems to have burned out, and another honestly just stopped progressing in high school. You really can’t tell what will happen years down the line. What you can predict, though, is that if the child does not innately enjoy something and is not self motivated, s/he will not ultimately be successful.

46

I agree with @CheddarcheeseMN - look into programs in your area that are known to be excellent. Sometimes there are some real sleepers that you can discover by asking around locally.

47

http://bowdoinorient.com/article/9151

PS only 5% of highschool athletes make it to college at any level.

The kids and parents have to go full on into it if they wish to be any of those.

If a kid has the stats to go to the school then a sport will be the hook for admissions, even if the coach doesn’t give them an automatic in.

Automatic in spots are usually kids who fall in what nescac schools call the d band. A band students have no issues and they are basically unlimited if the coach is willing to tell admissions that they are recruits.

48

Non recruited isn’t a “hook.”

49

A friend moved to Minnesota when his kids were 5 and 7, so he signed them up for hockey (it’s almost a law in Minn that you sign up your kids for hockey). His 7 year old was about 4 years behind his age group in skills and my friend suggested to the coach that he skate with the younger kids (like the 3-4 year olds). The coach said the son would never catch up if he did that and advised that the son just push through and take extra skating lessons and just skate all the time. Yes, 7 years old and practically washed up.

Play what they like. If they like skiing, go for skiing. My brother was on our hs ski team and we had no mountain in our town. They mostly trained dry land, and then traveled about 45 minutes to a tiny ski hill for race practice once or twice a week during the winter. He loved skiing and moved to a resort town where he could ski every day. His kids grew up with it, and my niece was a junior olympian, but went to college in Hawaii because she was done racing at 16. No injury, no drama, just done. She had turned down a scholarship to go to a training high school because she just wanted to stay with her friends. Some of her friends did go on to the Olympics and some probably used their abilities to go to colleges with ski teams but that’s not why they skied as 8 and 10 year olds.

There is no golden ticket. Women’s ice hockey might be a better opportunity than lacrosse to get into Bates and Harvard.

50

@lookingforward I know that I didn’t say that.

I said that even if the coach isn’t using an automatic in on you, as long as they tell admissions you are a recruit…YOU WILL MOST LIKELY GET IN.

Just because you aren’t their top choice, doesn’t mean that you aren’t getting in. It just means you have to have better grades.

51

I strongly agree with what others have said regarding giving kids the chance to try many things and discover what they are interested in. Off-topic, but this applied to music for our DD’20 as well. We tried to push her into various musical avenues during elementary school that matched our talents/interests but nothing clicked. But from the first week of middle school band she was hooked. Back to sports, on the day our daughter turned 10 she would have said that soccer was her favorite sport. But two months later she was sick of it and it was a relief to me as it was the one sport she really showed no talent for. Locally, their are many parents who push their daughters around that age into heavy participation of either volleyball, softball, or soccer. And with a relatively good number of them playing these sports in college that thinking seems to gain popularity with each year. But even though our state has in some past years produced the most D1 volleyball players per capita, the percentage of girls getting these scholarships is still quite small. So while our daughter has the size and jumping ability to suggest she’d be a good volleyball player, she never got passionate about it. We allowed her to play a season on a club team her friends were on in 6th grade. And because of her physical attributes it was tempting to force her to continue with clubs beyond that one season. But I’m fairly sure that would have led to resentment and she is happy to simply enjoy the social aspect of the sport when the school season rolls around.

And I agree that there are much better motives for getting kids into sports than for an off-chance of some college admissions help down the road. Our initial motive for getting her into sports was just as a means of staying active during the summer. But it soon became clear that she thrived academically while having the stimulation provided by sports so we encouraged her to try a sport each season if she found one she was interested in. This encouragement ultimately led her to try water polo a year ago, and if she is to go on to play a sport in college it will definitely be in water polo… The sport is an absolutely perfect match for her. And with HS graduation still 4 years away it’s impossible to say if she’ll play sports in college, but I know she has a much better chance of it now that she has naturally discovered her passions and talents for herself rather than have us force her into hardcore participation in a sport she ultimately had no passion for.

52

Agree with ThankYouforYourHelp. Have seen many parents spend many thousands on travel sports only to see little Johnny or Suzy peak at age 12, get hurt, and most sadly get burned out. Amazing how many quit the sport in HS because they have already been to every “national” or “world championship” and HS sport is a let down.

Encourage them to find something they like, have them do it for fun and involvment with others, and don’t expect it to get you a scholarhsip or an admissions nod. Many (I didn’t say all) of those getting admissions help at Ivies and select D3’s could have played fairly competitively elsewhere. Admissions counselors should look favorably on those participating in sports - to see that they understand the importanance of teamwork, dedication, sacrifice, and balancing of work load - but don’t focus on or expect much past that.

Specifically Track and Field is a great sport, a lot of diverse events, HS teams welcome everyone with no cuts, and often a kid can start working and focusing on an event that is a little obscure and become very competitive at it.

Its never too late to start. My D tried a few sports but never loved any. She did handstands in the OF in softball, etc. Cheered very competitively for a few years and we (and her coaches) recognized her speed. Her tumbles were always a foot higher than the other girls and the coaches explained that was because of her speed. She told us in 8th grade she wanted to run track, we said fine, she really just wanted to do it because many of her friends were doing it also. In her first meet against she won the 100m dash with about 180 girls competing in the event. Started thinking she might be on to something, it became her ticket and opened college doors that otherwise would have never been a possibility for her. Never pushed her, let her find Track and grow to love it on her own. She will probably be a track coach after college.

53

Look for a good fencing club near you and give it a try! http://nationalfencingclubrankings.com/best-fencing-clubs/

My kids love it. Here is a promo from our local club. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUMRjC_U8xk

A great experience for kids. 10 is a good age to start.

54

Not sure the point is coming out clearly, so to reiterate: participating in athletics is not a hook for admissions purposes. Being active in an individual or team sport at the same time as maintaining high grades in the most rigorous curriculum available to the student, is appealing to highly selective schools because it shows a student has experience managing multiple obligations, and has demonstrated perseverance, team work, work ethic etc. Sports can demonstrate these skills, but so do many other extra-curricular activities, such as music, science research, service – in this context, sports is just another extra curricular activity.

In contrast, being a recruited athlete is a whole other ballgame. We’ve gone through this for D3 Men’s Soccer, and it’s a game of musical chairs – getting roster spot offers, followed by ED decisions, and then waiting, and trusting, that the coach’s communication about experience with admissions, and about having a spot on the team, holds up. There are other messages on this Board about whether a D3 recruited athlete is “guaranteed” a roster spot. Answer is, it depends on what the coach said and how good their word is. D1 starts and ends sooner, with most D1 men’s players committed by the spring of junior year, and the women are often done by 10th grade. In D1, there are letters of intent, for schools which offer athletic scholarships, and the Ivy League may issue a likely letter from admissions, saying the students is likely admitted. But there is still some trust involved there.

This process is not for the faint of heart, and the feeding frenzy of parents at the NESCAC camps my kid attended was rather unsettling. At the end of the day, the chances of a kid liking a school AND the coach wanting that specific player, are really very small. A kid’s top schools might not be recruiting in his position that year, or the coach might have a style of play which is incompatible with your kid ( roster of players all over 6’1, and your kid is a 5’7 midfielder? Time to move on). The analogy in one of the earlier responses about a choosing an instrument based on the hope that a student will be admitted to Julliard is a good one – the kids who become THAT good, are not just suited for it, they are driven because it is part of them.

So, getting 10 year olds involved in sports for physical and mental health, and to be well-rounded kids who can get along with others – great goal. But do not look for sports based on predictions of where a post-puberty, adolescent body type might be well-suited so that they can be a recruited athlete and thereby be “hooked” for a top school.

55

Reportedly, the chance of a high school fencer going on to compete in the NCAA is about 30% for boys and 40% for girls http://www.scholarshipstats.com/varsityodds.html

I would guess for club fencers (as opposed to HS fencers) the success rate is higher. My experience with two separate local clubs over a four year period is that ALL of the the core group of kids go on to fence for college teams.

The downside is it’s a major time, travel and financial commitment (like many sports) and there are very limited college choices. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NCAA_fencing_schools

56

I’m just disagreeing with you that there IS a list of recruits that goes to the admissions office, @SeniorStruggling . The coach gets 2 or 3 slots, and those might be kids who make the AI or whatever index that school or conference approves. At some schools those 2 or 3 get Likely Letters. If the school is playing by the rules, the rest of the ‘recruits’ are unknown to admissions. The kids have to get in on their own. The coach will love to have them on their team IF they get in but the coach can’t help them get in. Does being an athlete help with admissions? Up to the admissions office to decide if that’s the EC they want.

Look at MIT. Supposedly no recruiting at all. No tips/slots/nods, yet teams are put together with players who got into MIT on their own. A girl from our HS went to MIT for volleyball, but according to everyone, she got in on her grades and then the coach was happy to have her on the team. If she didn’t get in, he’d have to use another player.

My daughter was ‘recruited’ by Smith. We were told to just apply. No help with financial aid, no help with admissions (but told to apply ED). The only advantage was that they’d do a pre-read for both FA and admissions.

57

At my daughter’s NESCAC school there was a list of recruits - a good number of them - that were sent to admissions by her coach and who were given “tips,” aside from the couple of athletes the coach used slots for. I think this is fairly common, actually, at least among the NESCACs.

58

A rare point of disagreement with twoinanddone. I do believe that coach support is conveyed to the adcom at the D3 level, regardless of how strongly the coach is supporting the recruit. The procedure does vary considerably depending on the school.

At the NESCACs, both tips and slots are indeed conveyed to admissions. At one NESCAC school, for example, it is done by way of a letter from the coach that appears in each recruit’s (both tips and slots) application file. At another NESCAC school, there is direct communication such that a coach told me that admissions suggested switching a slot for a tip, since the slotted applicant would probably be admitted without the support of a slot. In fact, the point of being a tip is that your application is in the mix of getting admitted without coach support – the tip is given so that the applicant doesn’t get lost in the 8000 other applications. It wouldn’t work unless admissions knew that an applicant was a tip.

At other schools, a coach can convey this information through a ranked list of 10-20 recruits, with admissions to follow the coach support in varying degrees. Apparently, at Smith, only a pre-read is offered to recruits. I would venture to say, however, that the request of a coach for a pre-read is yet another way that admissions is tipped off on the nature and strength of coach support for a recruit. Suffice it to say, if you have coach support, admissions most likely is very much aware of it. Whether admissions will follow the coach’s request is, however, a different issue altogether.

59

Remember do not force them to play a sport they do not like. Just let them do what they like, they are just 10 years old! If some of them don’t like sports and prefer to read or play a musical instrument then let them do that instead of sports. Just let them enjoy their childhood and not force anything.

60

@twoinanddone MIT is a special school. They are one of very few schools in which coaches have no say.

Don’t tell me about recruiting lol, I know more about it than most people will. I have gone through the ins and outs. I know pretty much all of it.