<p>I love these stories! It makes me so proud of these kids that I don’t even know!</p>
<p>We knew that DS was “quick” from an early age, but no sport seemed to suit him because he didn’t have the killer instinct. We thought something was a bit unusual when in 8th grade, he RAN the entire 20 miles of a Habitat for Humanity “Walk.” We called a HS coach who said that was great, but he shouldn’t be running that far at that age!</p>
<p>In his first week of cross country as a HS freshman, he was put with the slowest kids, in group “C.” He said, “Mom, by the end of the month, I’m going to be running in the A group.” I thought, “Isn’t that cute?” because he was so tiny he looked like a 7th grader! Lo and behold, within TWO WEEKS he was running with the fastest kids, and made varsity his very first season. His coach nicknamed him Mighty Mouse. As others have mentioned, I think it was his dedication that really indicated he might do well athletically. He does NOT miss a run for any reason, even blizzards. He will get out on our street and shovel a path if he has to. It blows me away.</p>
<p>Indie, I have a son that same age as well as one going off next fall to play college football. When my senior was 11 he wasn’t even playing football yet. I wouldn’t even begin to guess what sport my little guy will still be loving in high school. Right now he’s a great swimmer and plays basketball and baseball. What I do see are so many of his friend’s parents already paying for private coaches, stressing about “playing time” and making it all so competitive instead of emphasizing learning the sport, exhibiting sportsmanship and having fun.<br>
Looking back some of my older son’s friends who were the “stars” in baseball or basketball when they were younger, I can tell you that many of them don’t even play at all anymore, they just burned out or developed other interests.</p>
<p>So true Misswan! I wish parents of younger kids could read your comments and learn from them. Most of the gung-ho parents who were coaches in elementary and mid-school…well, their kids burned out and quit the sport, too. </p>
<p>I remember hearing a comment from a coach about my 9 year old: well she’ll never be any good because she didn’t start the sport at 8 and 1/2 like his daughter. Really, parent coaches should be banned from the planet.</p>
<p>Love the stories above-- Longhorn’s XC whiz, takitallin’s runner too, OldBate’s Midd athlete. Wish we could attend and form a cheering section for them all!</p>
<p>OMG Fauve you have no idea! We’re in the throws of CYO basketball playoffs and there is actually one parent who counts every minute her child plays and then approaches the coach after the game to discuss the playing time. My husband and I just chuckle thinking Wow, wait until your child gets to high school and good luck approaching the high school coach to complain about playing time!!</p>
<p>My favorite story–a boy we know was recruited for BB at a highly selective school. After his freshman year on the bench behind another freshman, his dad (an assistant AAU coach) decided to talk to the college coach “coach to coach” and explained how everyone knew that the son was one of the best players on the team and didn’t know why the son wasn’t playing.</p>
<p>Misswan,
This reminds me of when I was coaching one of my daughter’s 6-8 year old soccer team. I wanted it to be fun for everyone and made sure that the playing time would be as evenly divided as possible with everyone playing at least half of every game. I didn’t keep track of the time over the season, just looked at who was available each game and tried to come up with a quarter by quarter line-up (which often changed at the last minute due to sickness, church, birthday parties or kids simply not showing up or having to leave early). There was one girl who at the beginning of the season, despite the exhortations of her parents (which may have been the issue), refused to even go on the field; I would try and would put her in the line-up but then she would say no and I would have to have another girl run onto the field in her spot. Over the course of the season she progressed to going on the field if I held her hand, to playing if I promised to stand next to her, to playing if she could be on the side of the field near the team and then, finally, playing with a smile on her face and having a good time with her teammates. She wasn’t a great player, but hey, they were six and seven years old!</p>
<p>After the last game when the parents and kids were milling about talking, saying thank you, eating cupcakes, etc., the mother of the girl in question approached me in a group of people. I thought that maybe she was about to thank me for her girl’s progress but she instead pulled out a piece of paper on which she had written every girl’s name and the number of quarters they had played through the year and proceeded to tell me that her daughter may have ended up playing half of every game but that a number of other girls including my daughter had played much more over the season and that she was going to complain to the league. I was so stunned I couldn’t speak but a few of the other moms were not so quiet and let her have it. There was no recognition that her daughter hadn’t wanted to play at the beginning, that she progressed, made friends and most importantly had fun. Instead it was about the minutes played and how it looked to the woman’s friends that her child didn’t play exactly as much as some of the other kids. Amazing what people will do in the name of “looking out for” their kids.</p>
<p>maine: he sounds like the next pre. do many people draw that comparison?
you must be so proud of him. congratulations! athletes like that are not trained to win, they are born to win!</p>
<p>In my experience, it’s hard to predict what might happen with a preteen boy. I have 3 kids, all athletic, all excelled in multiple sports. S1 was the fastest kid in town and although short was an all-star in basketball as well as soccer. He had a late growth spurt, shot up to 6’4" by his senior year but speed and coordination suffered. He enjoyed volleyball, basketball and soccer in high school but didn’t shine like he did as a preteen. He just finished college and is a high school coach now and plays rec softball and basketball :).
S2 grew more steadily, was also a basketball and soccer all-star and concentrated on bb in high school. He has a different body type, more like a football player but he loved bb so he struggled to remain extremely disciplined in hs, did well, but that was the end of it. He’s a college student and dedicated fan now :).
My daughter was always head and shoulders above her peers, very strong, very athletic. She started with dance at age 2, went on to gymnastics, figure skating, and then every team sport that was available. Excelled in all, lettered throughout high school in volleyball, basketball and track & field and had a 4.3 GPA. She ended up as the scholarship athlete of the bunch, in track & field.
So…IMHO U11 is a little early to know how things might pan out. I would be supportive and let him do as much as he wants as long he’s having fun. Size, speed and coordination–not to mention interest–could change by the time he gets to high school. Good luck and enjoy the present!</p>
<p>My husand knew…he is an athlete himself and trains athletes. He has an eye for athletic ability and talent and he saw it in our younger two. Both of them were also spotted by coaches at very young ages…my daughter was told at age 3 that she had unusual strength and kinesthetic awareness and that she would be successful in gymnastics (and she did indeed continue on to the elite level in that sport). Same with my son who was asked to join a U7 travel soccer team at age 5; we had him wait a year and he begged the entire time. He was always head and shoulders above his teammates, high goal scorer, etc. Both of my younger ones are very driven athletically and extremely independent as well (aka hard to deal with at times!) My daughter’s gymnastics coaches used to say, when speaking of athletic talent, “The cream rises to the top.” This does seem to be true as I have observed that no matter how hard you push a child, no matter how much money is spent on their athletic development, etc. it will not make much of a difference if that raw talent and desire is not there to begin with.</p>
<p>the other way I knew I had an athlete is when at 13 she would shake me awake at 5:30am and say, “get up sleepy head it’s time to go to practice” and then a few minutes later in a much louder voice, “you’ve got 2 minutes mister!”</p>
<p>prior to her becoming an athlete you could have shot a cannon off in her room at 5:30am and she wouldn’t flinch from her deep sleep.</p>
<p>how many teenagers get themselves up at 5:30am on a Saturday and Sunday and enthusiastically go off to practice…this was transformative behavior.</p>
<p>indie18 - When did you know you had a athlete? I love the question. I’ve never seriously thought of it. I’m going to answer in the context of potential college bound athlete. </p>
<p>My son has always had a passion for baseball since he was 4 years old. He would sit and watch a baseball game on TV with me. He figured it out and would ask many questions about strategy as he got older. Not many kids today have the attention span to watch a baseball game, nevermind a 4 year old. That struck me as very different at the time. </p>
<p>Fast forward to youth recreational baseball…one of the coaches wanted to know who could pitch at our first practice. So he had me rotate all the kids through to see who could throw strikes. My son was consistent and throwing strikes which caught my attention. We worked on it outside of practice, and he improved dramatically. By 11 or 12 years old he was striking every one out, and we decided we needed to find a travel team for stronger competition. He tried out for a travel team in our area. It was a neighborhood travel team, but this was no ordinary neighborhood travel team. They were very competitive in the State tournaments and won it all at 12 & 13 years old. Meanwhile, my son worked more an more on his all around game while continuing to work on pitching. We took him to a pitching coach, and he has been seeing him for 6-7 years now. The pitching coach challenges him, and works on the finer points . The pitching coach told us early on that he will be a strong high school player, and that college baseball could be on the horizon if he works hard. That caught my attention as he was 13-14 at the time. He continued to work & practice hard, and joined a national travel team at 15. His national travel team won multiple national championships. When they won the first national championship at 16 (he pitched strongly in the semi-final game), then I knew college baseball was in his future. He told us he wanted play college baseball, so we started looking into it through his travel coach and asking others. His travel coach was fantastic about helping my son match up to interested colleges with academic emphasis. Here we are. In the words of Jerry Garcia…what a long strange trip it has been.</p>
<p>In our case–
we have a student athlete on our student’s team…
the parents head the teams parent support group
and one of the parents is now a “coach” with said team </p>
<p>The particular athlete -while good–will not be physically the right ht/wt to make it long term in collegiate/national competition…</p>
<p>Those parents are relentless at promotion/nepotism etc…and the athlete…lets just say the athlethe believes own/parent’s press…</p>
<p>I have no doubt the little darling will be “team capt’n” next yr…</p>
<p>Looking forward to being beyond this and hoping it won’t interfere with our student’s aspirations</p>
<p>pacheight - this past spring/summer he was touching low 90s a few times a game. He is consistently 86-88 with fastball. I’m curious what MPH he’ll be at this Spring with some games under his belt. He throws 4 pitches for strikes, and has really good control. IMO his best asset is his brain, he gets that from his Mom. He remembers every pitch, every batter, every situation. I can’t remember what I had for breakfast ;-)</p>
<p>Is your son also a pitcher? If so, let’s discuss.</p>
<p>Wow, fenwaysouth, low 90s! That’s wonderful. If he makes the pros, you have to come back on here and tell us his name! We can say we “knew” him when!</p>
<p>no pitcher here, but know one that just went pro, with big bucks! but I don’t think he can bring the heat like your boy. If I understand it correctly, there are not that many pitchers in the world that can toss up in the 90’s, very few in the high nineties…</p>
<p>pacheight - Yes, there are many D1 college pitchers throwing in the 90s consistently. As I said, my son will touch low 90s a couple of times a game, but throws consistently mid to high 80s. He is a high school senior, so he isn’t in college yet. He does have a big upside with daily coaching, conditioning and nutrition. I’ve never heard him discuss anything baseball related past college. Next year, he will be focused on his education, and trying to win some playing time on the baseball field. It is very hard to get any playing for a freshman on any college team. There are so many great college players out there, that I don’t think it (professional) has even entered his mind.</p>
<p>Two boys from my high school class made the pros. Back in the dark ages, though (mid-80s). I thought that was pretty cool! One was a pitcher and one was a shortstop.</p>
<p>When did I know? I signed us up for a Women’s Fun Run 5 K- a benefit for breast cancer research- when she was 5 years old. My plan was for us to walk it together. She ran the entire way in under 30 minutes, chatting and smiling, wearing Beauty and the Beast tennis shoes from Target. Yes, I have a picture. D1 Track and XC now. </p>
<p>Between then and now: lots of wins/high finishes at local, regional and national races. She also played soccer until 9th grade. Wasn’t sure which sport she liked best. Once in a while an injury would force her to take a break. This would make her so miserable that we came to know how much her sport means to her. When it was time to look at colleges, she made it very clear that she would be doing her sport in college and that any discussion about schools would have to include that piece. </p>
<p>OP, take it one step at a time. Things unfold and reveal themselves slowly. Advice? If the child is addicted to sports-related endorphins, competing, being part of a team, etc, they will find a way to be in sport their entire lives. Heck, I’m late for my workout right now! If they also love the tuba, though, keep that a part of things as well. The hardest thing to see is a wanna-be athlete who can’t quite make the competitive level he would have liked, and doesn’t have an identity or competency at something else to feel good about: hang in there with academics, music, art, whatever else makes him happy and feel accomplished.</p>