<p>not to bash all rugby players for certain, but I know that some kids find rugby a turn off in college because of the level of partying that the players are into.<br>
I still stand by my judo now wrestling in high school idea.</p>
<p>ifence is right on! Great sport for beginners and experts too. Low cost to participate and you don’t (necessarily) have to be Rocky Balboa to get better (though, as in all sports, you do have to be pretty good to get to those national championships).</p>
<p>Crew is also a good idea. My S’s friend goes to college on a full tuition scholarship for crew. She has awesome shoulders!</p>
<p>Rugby definitely has a party culture. I don’t think that’s “bashing” the sport or players, at least not from my vantage point. I actually think it’s pretty cool that after tense (and sometimes violent!) matches the competing teams can get together and have a good time with each other. In the US rugby isn’t seen much before the college years, anyway, so I doubt it would be an issue with the OP’s kid, but I thought I’d throw the idea out there just in case there’s a club for high schoolers in her area.</p>
<p>Well, stay away from Karate America and all that stupid stuff.</p>
<p>Try training with an Asian master that learned his art from a real master in his native country. This is especially good for those specialty martial arts and if you want your son to be able to defend himself properly.</p>
<p>My friend’s son is a black belt first degree from Karate America and doesn’t know the first thing about martial arts.</p>
<p>I would second IFence, my D has been with it for 9 years (started when she was 8) so I have been it with it that long. In the end many kids who fence well may not be particularly good at team sports or other individual sports. Your problem may be finding a fencing program near you. It is by the way a full contact marshal art in the broad sense. I was a division chair for the USFA (US Fencing Assoc). You can go to its website to check your local and get a general idea about the sport.</p>
<p>One other suggestion I have is that if you are going for tennis or other individual sport: Consider private coaching. It seems more expensive, but in terms of actual returns, it may break even or it could actually be cost effective. </p>
<p>I have a child not great at sports but when she had private coaching it really helped at the beginning with tennis (and at the end with swimming). She had a chance to notice how quickly she was improving, which was very motivating and a good boost to her sports ego, plus she didn’t have any social comparison to make. When she plateaued in swimming, I moved her to private lessons and she went quickly through her last remaining levels.</p>
<p>Socializing and being part of a group are often very important (if not the most important thing with kids activities). But for some sports or activities or at certain times, private lessons are sometimes very good to consider.</p>
<p>Some other sports you may not have considered: Archery. Running. Skiing. Diving. Ultimate.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be able to judge how it fits with his body type so my only suggestion is trying different things to find something he loves to do (don’t worry about if he’d excel at it).</p>
<p>Slow and lumbering here too! I was always hopeless at sports, with the exception of swimming. </p>
<p>The thing though, is that some people just hate to be physically active. I know exercise is important for health–but you can be active without participating in a sport. I know I should exercise, but I just hate it so, so much I can always talk myself out of it.</p>
<p>Don’t confuse sports with health --it isn’t fair to your son or to the rest of the team if he hates it and is being forced to participate. If you are worried about his health, get a dog and insist that he be the one to walk the animal every day. Insist he walk to school or to friends’ houses or ride his bicycle. Organize family hikes, bike rides and cross country ski trips. My parents took us hiking and backpacking and cross country skiing under the guise of recreation, but those activities were chosen at least partly because I was so unwilling to do any sort of exercise on my own.</p>
<p>Also get his vision checked–I was horrible at sports and they discovered I was myopic; by then the window had closed–at 12 I was too self conscious to be a beginner when other kids were proficient.</p>
<p>If you’re lucky enough to be in an area with folk dance, (and if he’d be caught dead going to one) I’d definitely second that suggestion–contra dance, morris or rapper dance, etc. have vibrant youth scenes in some places, and it’s very much not a sport, but excellent exercise, and very social. </p>
<p>I’m a girl who to this day doesn’t really enjoy sports, but gets plenty of exercise from dancing.</p>
<p>LOL, just remembered my cousin at 5’2" who was the statistician for the Harvard crew team. So there’s a place for everyone, including him at 6 a.m. by the river.</p>
<p>Great suggestions above. A different direction: horseback riding. Then when he gets older, move on to stage combat courses. By 21, he could play lead roles at a Renaissance Faire as the Sheriff, Robin Hood, re-enacting the medieval jousts. Those guys were definitely huge and lumbering, but earned top pay. </p>
<p>I must think outside the box for all of us unconventional athletes. I still recall
my D tanking at T-ball. She got to second base, the coach was screaming “run, run…” but she was hanging out, chatting it up with the shortstop, “Great shoes. Where’d you get those shoes?” </p>
<p>Keep searching and you’ll find the niche. D discovered circus arts, and does stilting to compensate for her height of “five foot nothing” as she calls it.</p>
<p>Just giving you some hope. Great that you’re open to suggestions. Team sports aren’t for everyone!</p>
<p>Hmm, I also rode horses when I was little. Actually, once proficient at horseback riding, a natural progression would be polo (I always shy away from Renaissance Faire’s because of the lumbering giants pretending to sword fight, although no doubt they are working up quite a sweat and are good at what they do). I did a few summer polo camps and loved it, although finding an area nearby with a polo arena or field would be even more difficult than finding a fencing club. </p>
<p>Again, just experiment! Ask what the kids might want to try to do and go from there.</p>
<p>S got involved in karate in 1st grade when some parents organized an afterschool class for their kid. Their idea was to increase their kid’s self-confidence and self-discipline. The teacher happened to be a man working on his Ph.D. in psychology. He was very strict. Any infraction of rules, any show of discourtesy led to 20 pushups. My kid got a brown belt with several stripes (I can’t remember how many but it was just one level below black). I don’t recall blows to the head; but we still have the pieces of wood he broke into two with the side of his hand. S stopped going when the teacher moved to a far suburb. I wish he could have continued. It did wonders for his self-confidence.</p>
<p>Two of my sons who evidenced signs of mild ADD took taikwondo and I feel it was very beneficial. It helps them learn to concentrate, they progress at their own pace and have concrete goals and rewards (belt levels) and best of all, there is a male authority figure making them do stuff and he isn’t their dad. ;)</p>
<p>They took at our local rec center. There was some sparring in class (helmets, pads, groin protection) but attending tournaments was totally optional.</p>
<p>You seem to be limiting yourself to contact sports and so-called “appropriately masculine” choices. Check out my thread on my son, who is in gymnastics and dance. It has done wonders for him physically. Since posting that thread, my son has become more cooperative with his classes. I also made sure to observe my son through the window at gymnastics on Saturday, and his performance on the rings was amazing. His muscle definition on his abs and arms is noticeable. This is a child whose arms were like spaghetti a few years ago.</p>
<p>S who didn’t want to do taekwondo did gymnastics for a couple of years. Yes, it’s excellent for muscle development, but watch that they don’t push your child beyond where he wants to go. Even if he’s a “natural” at it, he may not want to compete or do increasingly difficult tricks. Gymnastics centers seem to be really big on competition, and that is stressful for some kids.</p>