Kids are incredible. They’re brave, they’re adventurous, and they want nothing more than to explore the world and see what’s out there. I’m surrounded by tons of nieces and nephews and it’s been awesome to see them get excited about new activities and things to try. I’m not child psychologist, but I would bet big money that most kids simply love to try all sorts of different activities. It’s only when we become adults that we start tricking ourselves into thinking that we can’t create new hobbies or find new passions. What a silly thing that is.
You might be thinking to yourself, “Look man, I know what you’re getting at, and believe you me, my child is not the athletic type and will not enjoy any organized sport, this I swear.” I understand that you might believe your child was not born to be an NFL player because they can’t yet catch a football at the precious age of 5. There are wayyyy too many stories about professional athletics not even being introduced to the sport until much later in life, and then making a profession out of it, like Ziggy Ansah.
You might be writing off your kid for an awesome experience much too early.
The reason I believe every kid should try a ton of different sports (regardless of skill level) comes from an experience I had with a coworker in a softball league. I had an old job where we all played in a local softball league. Not too competitive, mainly good times, but enough of a challenge to make anyone who hasn’t really played a softball like sport pretty nervous. We had been inviting our coworker for weeks. We knew he wasn’t athletic, but we wanted him to join for the good chill time that every game was. We finally convinced him.
He went 0-3 and stumbled on a couple of catches and didn’t really know what he was doing.
The next day, I talked to him thinking that he would never want to play again. To my surprise, he excitedly asked when the next game was. He talked about the great time that he had, how he enjoyed being outside and hanging out with some friends/coworkers and got to try something he hadn’t before. I was shocked and delighted! And shocked. I was sure that he wouldn’t want to play, and when he did, I was sure he wouldn’t want to play again. I was quite a fool.
I’ve thought about this little story a bunch since it’s happened. Just because someone hasn’t tried a sport yet and you personally think they’ll hate it doesn’t mean that they will. You have to allow them the opportunity to grow and be excited about it. My nephew was terrified of baseball and couldn’t imagine being good at it. The first couple practices were scary, he cried when his dad would drop him off, but now he’s in love with the sport and can’t get enough of it.
Some kids need to get over the initial fear stage before they unlock the potential they have for something. Some kids are ready to dive head first into a new activity. Some might need the encouragement of mom/dad coaches or their friends to get out of their comfort zone. And guess what? They might not even like whatever they’re trying! Once they’ve given it a true shot, you can both feel proud that they tried something new, stuck with it for a bit, and discovered a little more about themselves.
