Hi, It’s Megan, the Office Manager at Desired Health Chiropractic, Spring is here, and summer is fast approaching. You might be thinking it’s time to get your child involved in some type of sporting activity.
Helping your child choose if sports are a good fit for them, or even which sport to play can be a daunting task; I know when my son was younger, I wanted him to play sports, but he never really seemed that interested. So, I started trying to introduce him to a variety of sports. Some tips I learned are to expose them to a variety of sporting events, watching on tv is ok but taking them to an event is a great way to watch for any enthusiasm they might have for that sport. We went to baseball games, lacrosse games, and a variety of other events. By listening to your child about hints and preferences, you can pick up clues about what they find interesting.
Once you find out what peaks their interest, spend a little time one-on-one learning a variety of skills. You can play catch, field grounders, practice dribbling the basketball or kicking a soccer ball. Not only is this a great way to teach sports skills, it’s great parent child bonding time!
Some kids are more suited to team sports while others excel at individual sports, I found that trying multiple sports was what worked best to narrow down what he was interested in, as a preschooler the YMCA had many opportunities to try out a sport for minimal cost and time. As he got a bit older the Youth Enrichment League was a great way to try new activities. Through trial and error, we learned that he navigated towards individual sports his 2 favorites are fencing and archery.
I’ve put together a list of Youth Sports programs in the metro area that you can check out to help on your journey!
https://www.bgca.org/programs/sports-recreation
https://www.arsports.org/page/show/721627-summer-rec-program
https://www.ymcamn.org/locations/andover_ymca_community_center/kid__teen_activities/sports
https://www.ymcamn.org/child_care__preschool/summer_programs/andover/summer_youth_sports