Am I too Late?

[DannyHeep]

So my son, who up to now has had no interest in playing sports has told me he wants to try baseball and hockey.
 
He's 9, going on 10 in a few months, and has not enjoyed any of the sports we have put him in. I refuse to force him, and he's decided he wants to play all of a sudden.
 
My guess is that he sees some of his friends play  and wants to join them.
 
I'm worried that he is 4-5 years behind most of the kids and will be frustrated that he isn't at their level.
 
So am I too late here? Is there something I can do to have him catch up? Are there some sports better than others to start late for a child? Looking for other parents stories...

 

[MakMan44]

I don't have a parent story but personally, I quit baseball right around high school. I still give my dad shit for not making me stick with it. If I was in your shoes I'd sit him down and be honest about your concerns. If he still wants to go for it after, why not let him? 

 

[Buckner's Boots]

It is a sign of a sick society when we're worried that our kid is too old to learn to play a game at age 9 or 10. If he shows interest, let him try it. If he sucks, he sucks. That's part of learning. At least he will have learned that for sure, rather than having a whole life of regretting not having tried, or believing he would have been a major leaguer if he'd played.. Does he play ball at recess? Lord knows there's probably no vacant lot where neighborhood kids play pickup games...that ended about the time the Beaver Cleaver got hit by a foul ball and Ward sued Eddie Haskell's dad for damages and lost future income.

 

[EvilEmpire]

For baseball, certainly not.  Especially if you have the time to put some work in with him.  I don't know much about youth hockey; it might depend on if he can skate or how well. 

 

[czar]

Speaking about baseball...
 
I posted this in another thread, but I didn't start playing baseball until I was like 12 or 13 and managed fine as a SP through HS and college.
 
He'll be fine. If he is frustrated, work with him on the side. At 9-10, stuff comes easy.

 

[sonofgodcf]

It's definitely not too late for ice hockey either.  Outside of pond hockey, I never had an formal coaching/experience with hockey until I played in high school  Played all four years and loved it, even if I wasn't close to the most skilled player on a very bad team (which didn't prevent me from trying to walk on to a D-1 college team...).

 

[Just a bit outside]

Let him play.  If he loves it he will work hard and catch up quickly.

 

[SumnerH]

Let him play. Even if he's never starting varsity quality, he could have a ton of fun and learn a lot. Don't project any standards of success.

 

[Sausage in Section 17]

My kid started hockey this year at 9, and is about to start baseball too, after only ever playing soccer until this year. He's got a nose for the bench for all things sports, but as you describe he wants to be doing want his friends are doing.
 
He'll need basic skating to be able to play hockey, but as long as he's got that he should be able to learn as he goes. One caveat would be to check on the league or facility to see if they have levels or more than one option. We were lucky here that there was an entry level "fun" hockey program, because the competition and commitment of the regular leagues wouldn't have been a fit. He had a blast, ad is asking to move up to the regular league next year, but we'll see.
 
We've been playing catch pretty frequently to prepare for the season, and he's coming along, though still somewhat afraid of the ball. Based on his personality I doubt there's much chance he'll ever do more than youth leagues, but I'm just glad he's willing to give new stuff a try and enjoys himself.
 
Good luck!

 

[AlNipper49]

I'd rather have a kid have the balls yo play a sport that he sucks at and the fortitude to stick it out on the bench than having him crush it out of the gate. The first option , to me, presents more opportunities for the child to find ways to grow up into a good adult. Not that crushing it would be a negative thing.

 

[RIFan]

Let him play. Set his expectations that some kids have been playing a while and he will have to catch up. Hockey in a lot of ways lends itself to late starters better than baseball. The players are all grouped on teams by ability. The C level teams at 9 and 10 are mostly kids just starting and who can barely skate. Most organizations also have house leagues where they can get a start and won't turn anyone away based on ability. Baseball, however, is something that where he can catch up very quickly. It's easier to learn at his age and he won't have some bad habits from starting at 5 years old.

If you haven't tried lacrosse yet, you may want to look at that too. There are a lot of kids that don't get into lacrosse until 5th or 6th grade.

My son started hockey at 8 and plays at a fairly high level. I know other kids that started at 9 and compete at the highest levels. I'm not sure where you live, but there are usually a lot of summer programs / camps that feature learn to play.

I actually wish that organized sports didn't start until kids were 8. I'm convinced that starting at 4 or 5 has no impact on how they ultimately turn out. Those with natural talent will reach their potential even if they start at 10. I'm probably in the minority with that opinion. I've seen too many kids done with sports by 8 because they burn out, get frustrated, or never learn to simply enjoy playing. 95% of 6 YO's just flat out suck at baseball and lack the patience the sport demands. Start them when they've developed a little more maturity and maybe they would have fallen in love with the sport.

 

[Heinie Wagner]

Definitely not too late for baseball or basketball.  On the bright side, he doesn't have any bad habits.  Lots of kids pick up bad habits from starting a sport before they are strong enough to do things correctly.
 
He'll definitely be behind the kids who are considered good, but at 9-10, nobody is really all that good.  He'll have to work hard to catch up but that could be a good thing.

 

[Fred not Lynn]

For hockey, just make sure he learns to skate, and spends lots of non-structured time on the ice.

Also, think more about helping him develop general athleticism, not just skills for one or two sports. A generally athletic kid will pick up anything pretty easily.

 

[DJnVa]

My kid started his sport of choice (soccer) a few years after most of the kids--he was 9, they all started a few years earlier. He plied the rec leagues for a year or two while they were on the club teams, eventually joining them. After a few years, if your son has any aptitude he'll catch up enough in skill level. My kid now plays on the travel teams and school teams with all the kids that were 2 or 3 years ahead of him.

 

[Laser Show]

Let him play. I got into baseball when I was 11, but didn't want to play because I thought I was too far behind everyone else. My mom signed me up anyways for my age 12 season and it was one of the best things she's ever done for me.
 
Was I behind? You betcha. I played one year of little league and put the ball in play just once. But I used that as motivation and two years later I made the middle school team and hit .300. I played through legion eligibility and pitched for my high school's varsity team.
 
Nothing but good can come from it. There's plenty of opportunity for him to get better if he loves playing.

 

[DannyHeep]

Thanks. I was always going to let him play, I just needed to hear that it wasn't too late. I'm pretty honest about my kid's abilities and he's not built (although you never know) to be a top athlete. He surprisingly showed some acumen at baseball (at least I thought he did pretty good for somebody who showed little interest prior) so I think he'll be fine.
 
Lacrosse was something I thought about as well. As for hockey I'll try to get him skating over the summer and we'll see from there. That is the one sport I played at a higher level and I'll be able to coach him. I'll need to find some help for baseball to accelerate him a bit. (I played, but wasn't very good).

 

[Freddy Linn]

Thanks. I was always going to let him play, I just needed to hear that it wasn't too late. I'm pretty honest about my kid's abilities and he's not built (although you never know) to be a top athlete. He surprisingly showed some acumen at baseball (at least I thought he did pretty good for somebody who showed little interest prior) so I think he'll be fine.
 
Lacrosse was something I thought about as well. As for hockey I'll try to get him skating over the summer and we'll see from there. That is the one sport I played at a higher level and I'll be able to coach him. I'll need to find some help for baseball to accelerate him a bit. (I played, but wasn't very good).

 
My 10 year-old started lacrosse as a third-grader and is absolutely obsessed with it.  It was his first organized sport (I was decidedly hands-off when it came to prodding him), and it is amazing how quickly his athleticism and conditioning have come along.  I couldn't encourage youth lacrosse enough.

 

[PaulinMyrBch]

Ditto on the baseball advice. I had that exact thing happen with a friends kid. When the other kids were playing t-ball and baseball at ages 5-8, this parent just didn't want to put the kid in those leagues. He's my neighbor and I have a cage in the backyard. So when he asked how far behind he'd be if he didn't play till 9, I told him no problem, we could get him up to speed in about 2 weeks.
 
Years later that's exactly what happened. He came over we worked him hitting, fielding grounders, and throwing for two weeks. I helped on the initial sessions, but he pretty much did 80% of it, and sure enough the kid had the second highest average on a rec league 9-10 team. At first the kid didn't have confidence, but we kept encouraging him and his progress was noticeable nearly every night. So many kids at that age play zero baseball from season end to season begin, so he's not as behind as you think.
 
Edit: At that age, find a cage, spin an L-screen around backwards and sit on a bucket and toss him underhand from about 15 feet away. That's the most repeatable good pitch (velocity and arc) that you can throw a kid learning.

 

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

Just to chime in here, I have coached youth baseball for the past seven years  - LL farm up through Juniors and four plus seasons of travel ball.  Nine or even ten is definitely not too old to learn the sport.  The kid may be behind his peers who have been playing for the past three years but he will also be in a better position to judge where he stands vis-a-vis the guys he is playing with and against (unlike their parents, kids are often good judges of where they really rank within a cohort).    I saw a number of instances where 10, 11 and in some cases 12 year olds saw that they needed to put in work if they wanted to catch up to the competition and they actually did it.  Many of these kids are still playing some form of ball, even into high school.