Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Sports for the non-sporty

[quote=KJPThis is something my son is going to do. Something like this might be available in other cities.

http://www.seattlemarathon.org/kids/eventinfo.php[/quote]

The kids marathon sounds really fun. DS might like it, though his parents don't run.

Thought of something else. Even though DS has tended to prefer the individual sports so far, he was recently at camp and they played dodgeball, and he loved it. So, I will take all generalizations about GT kids and individual sports with a grain of salt, ha ha.

I think it's also odd to assume that the way a child is now is the way he's always going to be. DS9 hated team sports at age 5, but now rather likes them. Grew into it. I think there ought to be room for that.

DeeDee

Joined yoga classes last month and found great to sooth stress, increase body flexibility and to reduce extra weight. Yoga helps in breathing better, increase strength and improve mood. Yoga reduce cholesterol level, lower high blood pressure and prevent us major health disease.

DD has always been poised and body aware but NOT sporty. She loves dance and yoga and want to try gymnastics. She wants activities she can imagine a story with, or really just have fun in her body. We found a sweet, really good dance teacher that suits her.

DS is two and is very good at a bunch if sports and knows all about them and in doomed to taking him to lots of practices and games, I know. DD thank goodness will do yoga and have performances to attend

Yoga! There is no wrong way to practice.

My oldest (almost 12) is not very coordinated and not at all interested in sports, especially anything that has to do with a ball. But because he's unusually tall (5'8") people are always asking if he plays basketball. In the past year, though, he's very much taken to swimming (he does a pre-swim team at our local YMCA that doesn't require any meets) and track/cross country. My kids participated in a local track team that was super fun and supportive of ALL kids, whether they were coming in first or last. It was a really amazing experience for all of us.

DS6 has only just started getting into a variety of sports, but he has been playing basketball for over two years- and it took him that long to play well! I tried to encourage him to play one sport in which he is a natural, but he wanted to perfect b-ball.

Other than that, he enjoys golf and tennis. Golf involves lots of walking, as well as the obvious swinging, and one-on-one tennis (with no audience) is good for learners. We don't take sports seriously, and we encourage sport for exercise rather than for competitive reasons.

He also occasionally jumps on the trampoline. We play games, such as me throwing a soft ball in that he has to hit out with certain body parts (head is 50 points, elbow is 20 points, etc). It's fun for both of us lol.

DS7 switched out of gymnastics a few months ago where he had pretty much hit a motivational and skill plateau to karate which has really engaged him. I think the kata sequences and defined progressions are highly appealing to his math/system oriented way of thinking. The other thing having a master of the art train the class rather than a random high school gymnast may be a key (also appealing to me that it is cheaper with higher quality instruction.)

A few other options our kids have been involved in:

Paintball
Ultimate Frisbee
Frisbee Golf
Archaeology / Rock Collection / Metal Detecting (hikes, combine learning, fun, & exercise)
Sand Volleyball

Other activities that aren't big workouts but get them a start:
Archery / Rifle
Bowling

The saving grace for my eldest was weight lifting / body shaping. He got tired of being on teams that didn't know how to be a team and decided such "teams" were pointless, so he started going to the gym with me. Now it's his stress release and the one thing he can completely control in his life (pretty important consideration in youth) The side benefit is that it's his form of self expression, he feels no need to modify his body or dress in an unusual manner to make a statement. (Not that there is anything wrong with doing so, however, I prefer he wait until an older age to make such decisions)

I would also add foraging to the list - there are just tons of cool things to see in the woods. In NJ right now the chanterelles have been popping for the past fortnight. DW and I took the DD to the woods to gather some and we also checked out a Southern Leopard Frog and found the skull of a young spike buck (an NJ eleven pointer - LOL) which we also brought home.