Youth Sports

KF - My daughter is a part of two competitive sports teams at school. She chose her sports herself and plays with passion.
From our end, we started young. It was a bargain, if you want me to go for bharatanatyam you better enroll me for sports. Bharatanatyam got lost in the years that followed but she did make it into teams at the local rec centers and then into the school team. Getting into school teams isn't easy. The competition is intense and even if they make it in, they still have to keep up their skills by continuing in local teams outside of school. It takes the fun out of the activity. I suggest you do activities for fun until the middle school years and then if the child really wants to, find local teams at the Y or similar places and start from there. Maybe you can do sports clinics over the summer to hone the skills and correct posture etc. The summer sports focused camps are excellent.
Btw, the sports teams outside of school are all very expensive. And they require a lot of parent commitment in terms of time and volunteering(since I don't, I pay for the volunteering I'm supposed to do). And the coaches drive them hard. Especially the seniors. There is no room for fun in there anymore.

 

As far as I see, when kids are in elementary school, they are exposed to various sports like soccer, basketball, baseball (and its variations) and tennis. All the parents I know have their kids in swimming because it is a life skill. Indian kids are big on chess (Will the next Vishy step up, please?) and martial arts. Sometimes kids get into sports because their parents are into it. One kid I know does sailing because his parents are into it.

Your local park district might be the cheapest and best resource to start with. Also please do not worry about your son being too big and hitting someone in soccer, the coaches are pretty good in ensuring that kids do not get hurt. Still sometimes they do get hurt which is not a big deal. Do not close this avenue just because you think he is big.

Also do not skip out traditional kid's games such as Tag, Blind man buff or Hopscotch. Elementary schools do a great job of introducing kids to many games.