Up until this summer we have purposefully held off on organized/team sports for Kyle and Owen. Don’t get me wrong, the boys have had plenty of exposure to sports (1 sports camp each summer, gymnastics, ice skating lessons, golf, swimming, and tons and tons of fun with sports). But overall we’ve really held back on what we’ve signed them up for. We have done this very deliberately, much to the chagrin of many sports enthusiasts we know. The pressure has been on us for years to get Kyle and Owen into the local sports leagues—baseball, soccer, basketball, swim team, etc., etc., etc. People who love sports love our boys— it is love at first sight when they spot the raw unbridled giftedness of Kyle and Owen’s athleticism. And the Sports Lovers of the world have not held back in sharing their opinions with us: basically, ‘Get these boys on track to the NFL/NBA/MLB/Olympics ASAP. There is no question that Kyle and Owen are mightily talented in the sports arena.
Braydon and I are not in any way against sports. In fact, for lots and lots of good reasons we very much want our kids (all three of them) to play team sports and be involved in organized athletics. But with Kyle and Owen we’ve held off thus far for a few reasons. 1) Kyle and Owen are so good at so much of the sports that they try that they attract coaches/trainers/advocates/etc. like magnets and we have not wanted to pigeon-hole them early into any particular sport – or even into athletics more generally. 2) It is important to us that first and foremost Kyle and Owen enjoy playing sports and feel as little pressure as possible to excel/perform/achieve in regards to organized play, so we have conscientiously encouraged them to just “play” and not be bogged down in the “organized.” 3) this is probably the biggest… we have been very certain that once we begin we’ll never end… in other words, once our life of organized sports with Kyle and Owen begins, we know there is no turning back. There is a sense we have that once we let the gates open we’re going to be semi-dominated by our boys’ sports for many, many years (the driving to their events, the schedules, the purchasing of all the equipment, etc., etc., etc.). And so, we’ve held off. And we’re so glad we did.
But now, with our boys at age 7, it is time to begin. We’ve felt it coming for awhile now. They are just chomping at the bit. And they’re verbally asking us to do it. They want to be on teams. They want to be coached. They want it as serious as it gets. They are ready.
And so, we begin. We go into it with our eyes wide open.
This summer K & O are signed up to do a lot of organized/team sports. First up was last week— a week of Baseball Camp for Kyle and Owen. Kyle did this camp last year and loved it. This year they both did it and it was Heaven For a Week times two.
So, the day after returning from our trip to South Carolina, Kyle and Owen began a week of immersive baseball day camp. And the camp ended the same day our houseful of 4th of July guests arrived. It was a crazy start to the Summer of Sports. For Kyle and Owen it was nothing but CRAZY GOOD.
P.S. Just for the J-M Family Record: at the end of the boys’ week of baseball camp the head coach pulled me aside and told me that he sees “one or two” truly “naturally gifted athletes” each year in his baseball camp—and that this year there were two—my two boys. It was very flattering and nice to hear, and I’m really proud to have such stand-out sons. But I also suspect I’ll be hearing the same story from their coaches of the other sports they’ll be doing over this summer.
I also have a very talented and gifted athlete at our house. Growing up, the kids were allowed only one outside activity at a time so my talented athlete had to select what she wanted to do. She played soccer, gymnastics, tennis, hockey, track, crew and whatever else sounded like fun from the time she was 8 until about 16. All along we had the same comments about how gifted she was and coaches wanting her to pursue their sport. In the end she became a tennis player who was also offered college opportunities in soccer and crew. She did this all while playing tennis just 2x a week, limited tournaments and competitions and very few private lessons. All coaches told her she needed to devote herself to tennis and her response, starting pretty young, was “if I do that, I will hate it by the time I get to college”. She is now a college player and will finish her undergrad debt-free, thanks to not devoting herself to tennis. My point – if you have gifted, talented boys, you don’t need to specialize early – their gifts will always be there and there is plenty of time for them to fall in love with a sport (or two or three!)’Great job mama!
Oh wow sounds like Kyle and Owen are going to have an awesome summer!!
– Kate
They did a study where they analyzed and scanned the bodies of pro athletes like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, and they discovered that some people will excel in whatever sport they play. They just have the body for it and an innate ability. Sounds like your boys do too!
I know what you mean, we have an athlete in our house as well. When he arrived from Ethiopia, he was 3 1/2 years old and terrified of the pool. He started swim lessons right away and fast forward 4 years later, they want him on the swim team. He loves soccer (what else…it’s Italy!), and again he’s been playing for only two years and they keep telling us how gifted he is. Let me say this about organized sports – the parents are the ones who ruin it for the kids. In soccer, everyone thinks their kid is the Christian Ronaldo or Leonardo Messi and brutally insult other kids (most do not do it to the kids faces but word gets back to the kids). It happened this year on my son’s soccer team, our goaltender is not very good, so we lost many many games. It’s the parents who were all gung-ho on getting this kid off the team! I was appalled, and much to my son’s disappointment, I avoided attended some of the games cause I would’ve end up insulting most of these parents. My husband is my son’s chauffeur for soccer, 2x week training, games on Sat and/or Sun. Once the league championships finish, the tournaments start and sometimes they have 2 or 3 tournaments going on at the same time…it’s so time-consuming! We’ve put in the rule that if our son has a birthday party to attend, we tell the coach ahead of time that he won’t be playing that game. My son is only 8 1/2 and they expect these kids to act like pros and miss out on their childhood! I’m hoping he’ll try other sports as he grows up, athletics, basket ball, volleyball etc so that soccer doesn’t become the ONLY sport. Good luck on whatever you decide…and don’t let those crazy parents get to you!