Let's Talk Sports

What to do sports-wise?  The girls have dance.  The boys have nuthin'.  As I mentioned, we're not necessarily sports people, although we've dabbled in every thing a parent can sign a kid up for.  Scott is athletic, but when he was a kid, all the boys started city league sports when they were old enough to coordinate their arms and legs.  The teams were stacked even back then (Warden), but all the boys generally played all the sports, they got pretty good at them and pretty much just played whatever sport was in season.

I think times have changed.  Boys start playing organized sports long before their bodies are capable.  Some boys develop coordination earlier, of course, and some families have more of a culture of sports, so the stronger, more experienced kids are differentiated by the time the kids are in kindergarten.  Those boys eventually go on to comp leagues, while the rest of the kids play in city leagues year after year, where the organization is pathetic and none of the kids have a clue what is going on...because the kids who like/are good at the sport are in the competition leagues.  Whenever my kids have tried soccer, and they all have, I've felt like a guest in someone else's house.  It's not us!  I am good at polite applause at Capitol Theater, not shouting from a camp chair on a grassy field wearing a baseball cap and holding a bottle of water and a golden retriever's leash.

My cute nephew who is Tolly's age, the youngest of five boys, can dribble a soccer ball across the back yard and score a goal in the net they have set up.  He is amazing!  The only ball at our house has Buzz Lightyear on it and is lost in the gully.  Ptolemy is doomed, and he's only two.  Scott keeps saying it's not too late, that he didn't get his athleticism until later.  But, like I said, it's a different world.

Last year, Freestone was on one of the worst baseball teams in the city.  Some of the other teams were full of older boys who played in comp leagues and joined the city league for fun.  They "played down" a couple of grade levels so they could play against the younger kids, ensuring themselves dominance.  Those teams got ample opportunity to bat because none of them ever struck out.  Our team, on the other hand, was often three up, three out.  The best boys from each team get a letter from their city league coach, an invitation to try out for a comp team.  How can you expect normal boys to get a letter when they're playing against older, more experienced players who are using them for batting practice?

Jim Rome would rip me apart for this argument, I'm sure.  He would point out that the kids who succeed in sports have parents who care, which is true.  Like Shinichi Suzuki said, "It was a result of circumstance that he played the violin.  Whether or not he liked it was not the question."  Meaning that if kids are exposed to sports as part of their lives and expected to participate on teams, if their parents have a plan, they will succeed.  Now I feel like I have done Freestone a disservice by not having a plan.  Kids hardly ever "want" to stick with something.  As soon as it's hard or there is something more fun to do, they quit, given the chance.  Freestone brought home a paper from the French Immersion program that said, "I am here because..."  Freestone filled in, "...my mom sind me up."  That's the only reason the kid goes anywhere.  His mom signs him up.  He says his favorite sport is Wii sports resort.  If there were a sport that I was truly committed to, he would be doing that sport whether he liked it or not.  He was on a swim team for a year and whined to quit all the time.  I made him stick it our for a year out of principle, but I just felt like a fish out of water in that environment, so he didn't go back the next year.  I feel a little guilty to this day because it could have been something that would keep him fit and strong.

My question is, if there isn't something sports-oriented that Scott and I feel strongly about, do we just choose one so Freestone has an arena where he can develop a skill and a work ethic?  I have no problem making my kids practice every day and go to every ballet class because I know the endgame.  But swim team?  Rinky-dink baseball team?  Do I care?  Is it worth it?  Answer this final question:  Is playing the violin and focusing on academics enough to build character in a boy, or do I need to direct him into a sport and stick with it?  And which one?  Parents of boys, speak to me!