I have a kid that is 12 that plays select baseball. He started playing baseball at 7 and select at 9. He loves it because he gets to play with his friends and as parents we love to watch him and his team play. We are on a team that is coached by dads, has reasonable fees, and just plays tournaments in the spring. The kids on the team play other sports like football, basketball, and hockey. It's a great group of boys playing ball.

My daughter is a 4th grader and does 20 hours of gymnastics a week. Practice is year round and competition season is spring. I think her gym closes one week of the year and that is it. It's a brutal sport but so fun when your kid loves it. And for me she wouldn't be in it that many hours if she didn't love it.

I have two driven kids but no illusions that we are raising professional athletes. I hate all the talk I hear about kids and athletic scholarships and don't understand how you can put that expectation on elementary age kids. My kids love the sports they play and compete in and I love to see them work hard, achieve goals, and be a good teammate.

And some may think we are crazy because of how much time my daughter spends at the gym and that my son has something 7 days a week between baseball and 7 on 7 football but they love what they do. When it ends I don't know. That is up to them. They both have the goal of going to A&M and being engineers.

7 on 7 and he's twelve???

Suburb problems

What's wrong with 7 on 7 at 12? Lots of kids around here play it because it's fun.

ag97tx said:

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What's wrong with 7 on 7 at 12? Lots of kids around here play it because it's fun.

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7 on 7 that early is probably what is hurting some Texas HS football at the next level.

How does it hurt it at the next level? My son plays a couple games on Friday nights and I think the season is only a couple months long.

ag97tx said:

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How does it hurt it at the next level? My son plays a couple games on Friday nights and I think the season is only a couple months long.

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Pretty common ongoing debate about Texas HS players losing their edge in the trenches and around center of the field. Just go to one of the football boards.

Honestly 7 on 7 that early is probably NBD. But it's a direct byproduct of the spread offense, and the fact that so many Texas high schools use that offense hurts in-state recruiting for SEC style of play.

Rutedown said:

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Mike Evans played football only his senior in HS.

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football is different than most sports- the learning curve for positions other than qb is not near as steep as say basketball, baseball, golf, tennis, etc. Being a great athlete is the key for football, like track. That doesn't take years of experience.

Interesting. I hadn't really read much about it affecting the next level. My son is a QB so he loves just getting to throw the ball around and sometimes his coach can't be at the games so he gets to call his own plays and he loves that. It's just fun to him.

Mike Evans is just about the exception to every rule on sports development. He's a freak.

Not reading this whole thread to see if it's been mentioned, but some of you may enjoy the Ragin Cajuns baseball coach's thoughts on select ball, AKA "Daddy Ball:"

http://kpel965.com/ragin-cajuns-coach-robichaux-goes-viral-with-daddy-ball-speech-video/

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As Robichaux explains, "Daddy Ball" in his opinion paints an unrealistic picture of how baseball, sports and basically life really works. He explains with select youth baseball, kids don't sit the bench. That's not how real sports works, so later in life kids quit playing because they have to sit the bench.

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ChiliBeans said:

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Not reading this whole thread to see if it's been mentioned, but some of you may enjoy the Ragin Cajuns baseball coach's thoughts on select ball, AKA "Daddy Ball:"

http://kpel965.com/ragin-cajuns-coach-robichaux-goes-viral-with-daddy-ball-speech-video/

Quote:

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As Robichaux explains, "Daddy Ball" in his opinion paints an unrealistic picture of how baseball, sports and basically life really works. He explains with select youth baseball, kids don't sit the bench. That's not how real sports works, so later in life kids quit playing because they have to sit the bench.

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Pretty ironic he, of all people, complain about select ball!

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7 on 7 and he's twelve???

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I think he meant "flag" football. It can be 7 on 7 or 5 on 5. It's a lot of fun and doesn't require nearly the preparation little league football requires. The "big" kids aren't just thrown on the line and get to contribute and less likely for injury, concussions, etc.