How to help your child be better at sports

zatopek wrote:

I have a six year old daughter who was born severely premature an is physically developmentally behind other six year olds. She is a smart, personable kid but her lack of coordination is hurting her socially. Is there any way to accelerate or help her with basic abilities like running etc.?

Most honest answer. Plan so they're born is September or October and start them late in school. huge advantage over the April and later children.

Given that you are looking at coordination issues apparently related to her premature birth and associated problems, I'd highly recommend consulting a child developmental psychologist who should be able to evaluate her fine and gross motor skills and suggest a physical or occupational therapist or other clinician who can help. That professional may very well assign specific drills and have advice on sport-specific things that can be done. In example, if your daughter is more interested in soccer than tennis, the therapist probably can recommend soccer-specify drills which also will help with overall coordination.

I've not read the other responses since I'm in a hurry right now, but wish you the best with this. I stress seeking a pro's help because even as a coach, given what you've laid out here, I'd want someone with great clinical child dev knowledge than myself offering advice on this type of situation. I think there is very good prospects for your daughter though.

I was listening to two pro 'ball players talk about this very same topic a short while ago. One was in the NFL for 10 years the other played in the NBA. Both agreed that the best foundation for sports was a bicycle, vacant lot, bat, baseball bat and glove.

Cheers!

OP,

Three things:

1. Have her tested to be sure her eyes are "working." That means they track, in tandem, and communicate with the rest of her body. I don't know what it's called, but few optometrists do this kind of testing.

2. She can sense your worry about "falling behind" and won't know how to deal with it. And she isn't really capable, so, you need to deal with your own worries.

3. Per another post, do stuff. Become a pro regarding her developmental situation and try to fit as many "therapeutic" tasks as possible. Dance might work.

Pre841 wrote:

Coordination can be gained from simple activities such as wall ball (by herself or with another).

Hand to eye, feet, movement etc are easily gained from something so simple. All she needs is a rubber ball and a wall.

Great suggestion! Having good eye-hand coordination is essential in most sports. Too many kids can't throw and catch, but their thumbs are in great shape from texting and video games.

Playing catch or simple wall ball will develop eye-hand coordination. That skill will carry over to basketball, baseball, softball, tennis, ping pong, racquetball, lacrosse, etc.

In PE classes they no longer have a team captain pick teams in the potentially humiliating way that they did in the 60s when I was in grade school. However, it is still done that way out on the sandlot or park bball court. Everybody knows who can't throw or catch, so you better be pretty good at it. Sadly, pick-up games are becoming a thing of the past because of all the organized sports that they start so young. Kids think they only do sports at official practices or games.

Totally agree with the OT/PT route so that they can give her specific guidelines and exercises to improve her fine and gross motor skills. Although you certainly don't need to make your goal for her to excel in sports, you do want to cultivate a love of physical activity that she can take with her through life.. I'd introduce her to a wide variety of sports- swimming, running, tennis, gymnastics, whatever she likes to do!

Spike Li wrote:

The best thing to do is to avoid all organized and formal sports until AT LEAST age 10. 12 even. Seriously, let your kid be a kid without competition when they are little. Take them to the park, play with them, play catch, tag, hide and seek, etc. You spending time with them in active play is the best thing for them both physically & emotionally.

This

As usual, the 1st reply in the thread is the best answer.

If your daughter is behind physically, putting her in an organized sport may not help her out. Get outside and play with her. Teach her to ride a bike, go to the park and climb on the equipment with her to help her get stronger. Play catch, teach her to rollerblade or rollerskate or skateboard.....there are tons of things that you can do to help her development. Does she like to be active? Teach her to swim as well so even if she never plays a sport, she will have the confidence to get out there and do things with other kids.

Check out the Canadian Long-Term Development info at Sports4life.ca

It has tons of good information.

I have children around the same age. My advice for the OP is to get your child involved in recreational gymnastics. I think that's a great way to learn body control that transfers well into other activities. Maybe dance or ballet would be another good option.

That said my kids were never really involved in gymnastics. My oldest did it for 1 year as a toddler and she picked up the basic movement stuff quickly. She had a preference for ballet and we have to pick one or the other and she chose that. Ballet is good for coordination too, but I think gymnastics would be better.

I would personally also recommend signing your child up for multiple recreational sports, unless she is over matched to the point that it discourages her. Being out there and playing with others is the most important thing. But it totally depends on your situation. When I was young I lived in a small town with a lot of neighbor kids. We played outside every day. I wasn't really involved in official sports leagues until middle school. But my kids don't have the same life I did. We live in a large city and there are no neighborhood games. So they are in sports leagues from a young age. They will never be great athletes and that isn't the plan, but we think it's important to have them active and sending them outside isn't an option.

My kids also play on "competitive" soccer teams. Say what you want about them, most of it is probably true, but if you find a good program there are a lot of positive benefits. Having a large program with kids at every level and an organizational plan towards development is nothing you would ever see in recreational leagues. The coaching is well coordinated and builds from level to level. In our program the kids are not placed by age until they are 8. So there might be advanced 4 year olds playing against 7 year olds who are out there for the first time, which is great for learning. It's a large city so they don't ever travel more than 15 miles for games until they are teenagers.They don't emphasize winning. It's not at all what I expected as an outsider coming in. I expect when it gets to the point of traveling a lot we'll give it up. But for now it is working well for us.

pop_pop!_v2.2.1 wrote:

OP,

Three things:

Most importantly, she isn't "falling behind." That's you applying some standard you have in your head that has nothing to do with her. Don't overload her with your anxiety about something she's not.

Help her find active things that engage her that are at a level so she can experience some mastery. Try a bunch of stuff.

She is who she is. Get involved and be a good parent.