How to Choose the Right Sport for Your Child

Find out the key factors to consider when choosing a sport or after school activity for your kids.

With a seemingly endless number of options for sports and after school activities, it can be overwhelming trying to decide what the right class is for your child.

It can be frustrating trying to predict what your child might enjoy and depending on their age, they may not have been exposed to many sports or activities so they may not understand what each one is like.

Overall, we do say – don’t stress! Any activity is good and will have physical and emotional benefits for your child. It’s all about keeping it fun and giving them positive experiences with moving their bodies and enjoying physical exercise.

That being said, we also know what it’s like when you sign up to one class after the other and your child just hasn’t found their thing yet.

In this case, you may want to think about what is most likely to tick all the boxes for you and your child and try to get them to stick to it for at least a term. That way they can give things a good try and get over the jitters of the first few weeks.

When looking for a new sport or class, the main areas you will be weighing up are the cost, schedule, health benefits, and enjoyment your child will get from different activities.

There are plenty of factors to think about, so let’s take a look at each one in turn to help you decide what is right for your child and what sport would fit into your family.

Consider the costs of the class or term fees

Cost is always a factor in deciding whether your family can choose a sport or activity.

While it can be easy to compare the cost per lesson or term, don’t forget to consider the added costs of uniforms, drive time, team camps, away games, and competition or performance tickets.

Consider looking into classes run by local community centers as they can offer similar classes at lower rates than private providers. Also, your school may have a relationship with some sports organizations, ask if they provide a discount or payment plan.

Does the class fit into your family’s schedule?

However hard we try as parents, we can’t be in two places at once! If you have more than one child wanting to do multiple sports, take the time to consider if you can transport them to all the places they want to go. Be realistic about the time it takes to have dinner, getting your kid changed into their team gear, and the traffic on the way to and from the venue. Your kids don’t want you stressed out each week trying to get them to practice and if it just won’t work for you family, it’s better to admit this up front.

The good news is, there are loads of sports and classes to choose from, and it’s likely that you’ll find at least one thing for each child that they can join. Even better, get them to join with a friend and share the load!

Soccer Buddies classes have a wide range of ages on the field at each time, making it easy to have siblings in one class and getting it all over and done with at once.

Bonus, if all your kids join one class, you’ll have some child-free time to do what you need to do!

Are there specific things you want your child to learn or grow in as part of their sport?

All sports are wonderful for the physical and emotional growth of kids of all ages, so you really can’t go wrong. Being involved in a sport will give your child the opportunity to grow in flexibility, strength, balance, agility, coordination, and memory.

If you’re looking for your child to have the opportunity to practice more teamwork, you may want to consider a team sport over something like tennis or swimming.

If you think your child will benefit from a discipline, or if they thrive on structure, you could consider martial arts or dance.

We may be a little biased (!) but we love that soccer is such an all-rounder sport. Your child will learn to work as a team, have opportunities for leadership and building self-esteem, work both fine and gross motor skills and memory, and practice self-control and discipline.

Coaches make all the difference

While we encourage you to try any sport with your child, we know that coaches can make a world of difference to your child’s self-esteem and long-term commitment to the sport.

Take the time to meet the coaches and get a feel for how they talk to the kids. Are they encouraging, do they foster good relationships among the team, do they choose positivity and fun? We encourage you to choose an organization that sits right with you and is the right fit for your child.

We put a lot of effort into fostering the very best coaches around as we know how important it is to each and every child. Come and meet our team and see what makes Soccer Buddies such an encouraging, inclusive and positive environment.

Join a sports club or a trial lesson and give it a go!

For young kids it’s all about exposure. Let them try something, whatever they will happily turn up to and enjoy moving their body is great.

For older children you may want to encourage them towards the types of sports you think they could enjoy and excel at, so they can continue on with the sport into their teenage years. Are they better suited for swimming, athletics, dance or ball sports?

There really is no right sport and any sport has a myriad of benefits beyond just the learning the rules of the game. Whatever you and your child decide, they will be learning positive associations towards a healthy, moving body – and that’s a great skill to have for life!

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