Do you kids like waterbottles, t-shirts, sports bags and stickers? Buy one of our newly launched I'm Happy branded line of products. Over 60 products to choose from in 30 sports plus our Be Sport Happy logo. Find our shop at: http://www.cafepress.com/besporthappy
Camp starts tomorrow. For my kids, it's a time for them to forget about school and homework and get outside to enjoy some good old fun with their friends. For me, it's a chance to re-live all of the amazing sports camps that I attended over the summer as a kid. Golf, tennis, speedskating, cycling, basketball, gymnastics - you name the sport and there is a summer camp out there for your kids.
Sports camps come in all shapes and sizes. There are all day camps with targeted sports, plus meals and swimming. There are sleep away elite camps for the more serious athlete, and active sleep away camps for the kids who want to get away and experience something new, maybe learn a new sport or two. There are 3-4 hour day camps that give kids just enough time to master a sport and tire out before heading home for the rest of the day. There are even summer evening camps for those kids who are busy all day but still want to get some sports instruction and play in before bed. Tonight we'll be packing up the sports gear and other camp gear in anticipation of the first day of camp tomorrow. As my six year old daughter said to me this morning, "tomorrow, Mom, I won't have any trouble getting out of bed. It's a camp day!" This is why summer is my favorite time of year! Visit our site for a list of local Saratoga Springs sports camps and nearby sleep away camps. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/besporthappy or join our Be Sport Happy Saratoga Equipment Exchange group on Facebook and exchange used sports equipment with other Saratoga families: www.facebook.com/groups/besporthappy. As school comes to a close, kids all over the United States take to the local fields for Field Day. Teachers either love this day or dread it. Kids, overly excited already about the end of the school year, put on colored shirts, typically by class, lather up in sunscreen, grab a water bottle, put on sneakers, and race to the fields in mass! If you are not familiar with Field Day, kids play games such as the water balloon toss, the three-legged race, and relay races with water in a cup. Traditional games may be played too, like the long jump, basketball hoop shoot, and a variation of tennis or lacrosse where the balls all end up in a bucket. So, what does Field Day teach our kids? It definitely teaches kids that sports are fun. And it teaches kids that teamwork among classmates is critical to keep positive energy in the air. But, the most important thing it teaches our kids is that anything that moves your body can be called a sport. Just as with Field Day, sports can be played with all different rules using all sorts of miscellaneous objects. The first sports were just that – made up games using sticks and pebbles, spears, human movements, and horses. Here is an interesting page talking about the origins of some of the earliest sports. http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/tp/History-Of-Sports.htm.
So, the next time you hear the words Field Day, and you think that this is an event that can only occur at school once a year, remember what Field Day teaches our kids: that anything that moves your body can be called a sport. Make your kids into entrepreneurs…ask them to invent a new sport. Give them free rein to find objects inside and outside the house and then set up a playing field and let them go to it. Who knows, maybe next year’s field day will include your child’s new invention! Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/besporthappy or join our Be Sport Happy Saratoga Equipment Exchange group on Facebook and exchange used sports equipment with other Saratoga families: www.facebook.com/groups/besporthappy. Check out this interesting article from The New York Times on June 10, 2014, "Sports Should be Child's Play." The author, David Epstein, notes that "the sports science data supports a 'sampling period' through at least age 12". This empha...sizes our Be Sport Happy philosophy of trying out different sports and creating a culture of happy kids, and avoids hyperspecialization, serious injuries, burn-out, and a lower level of athletic success.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/opinion/sports-should-be-childs-play.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0&referrer Visit us online at www.besporthappy.com to read about the 30 sports that Saratoga Springs, NY has to offer for kids ages 3-13. This is a question many parents ask when they have boys, girls, or both boys and girls close in age (many sports are co-ed in the earlier years). With two girls 18 months apart, ages 5-6, we faced this question at registration for tennis, golf, alpine skiing, tball, indoor soccer and summer sports camp this year. And each of the six times, we answered this question with a resounding yes.
Sure, the rivalry is increased (which also means the fighting can intensify after too much time together). The individuality and the individual attention by either the coach or the parents may be lessened. And the kids might just want some space away from each other to form new friendships outside of each other's inner circle. However, it only makes sense to request that they play on the same team, take lessons together and go to summer camp together if these are sports they both like to do. Easier for mom and dad. Fewer nights and weekends juggling our schedule to attend games. Only one coach to communicate with throughout the season of that particular sport. Similar gear to buy (even if the colors are different!). And maybe, just maybe, our kids would even grow in their sibling relationships with one another, where fighting actually subsided and they started to work together as a team, knowing that their bond and their competitive drive was and should be greater than anyone else on that team or playing surface. With all that said, however, kids do need their own time and own sports and own individuality. We found that out when our girls asked to play sports like ballet, ice hockey, swimming, and lacrosse that the other sibling didn't want to play. And so we signed each girl up without the other, and we watched them grow into their own selves with their own sports interests and identities. The other time when it may be good to sign kids up on different teams in the same sports league is if you do have time to nurture them and attend separate games, and you do want to experience a sport to the fullest. There is nothing like watching your kids compete against each other. That builds character too (and not just character of the kids)...a friendly competition within the family! Be prepared for tears and jealousy and frustration (all kids experience it), but also know what the handshake after the game means to two siblings. Again, a bond like none other. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/besporthappy or join our Be Sport Happy Saratoga Equipment Exchange group on Facebook and exchange used sports equipment with other Saratoga families: www.facebook.com/groups/besporthappy. Our general rule is one sport at a time and we switch sports every two months, with breaks in between for free play, giving us up to five different sports a year (Jan/Feb, Apr/May, Jul/Aug, Sep/Oct, and Nov/Dec). Sports overlap so it doesn't mean we don't have sports in March or June but those are nice down times to not have such structure in our schedules. For kids ages 3-13, it has been proven that specialization at such an early age is not recommended. So it's best to keep changing sports and sports muscles throughout the year.
In the early years, I would encourage parents to put together annual plans for their child's sports schedule. It's helpful to research the sports early enough to not miss registration deadlines and it's also nice to see when a child may be participating in too much at once. I put together a bi-monthly plan for each of my kids and then look week by week to see where the seasons overlap. Certain sports like tennis, ballet, equestrian and swimming that don't need to occur in particular times of the year (there is some flexibility as to when you do them) serve as nice offseason sports to other sports like football, baseball, lacrosse, hockey, and skiing which have very defined seasons. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/besporthappy or join our Be Sport Happy Saratoga Equipment Exchange group on Facebook and exchange used sports equipment with other Saratoga families: www.facebook.com/groups/besporthappy. Many parents ask me how we choose which sports to get our kids involved in. My first answer is that we try just about anything and everything. At least once. Maybe twice. And then we down select. It may be a sport my husband and I grew up playing and we want to see if our kids like it. It may be a new sport we think looks fun. Our kids may ask us to play, or maybe they have friends in the sport and want to join along. Saratoga has so many sports to offer.
Let the kids decide. If they like a sport, you will see it in their energy level. Running over to you, smiling, concentration when it is usually something your kid tends to struggle with, carefree happiness...you will know. Some encouragement goes a long way, but if a child really doesn't like a sport, even if you were co-captain of a championship team in that sport (such as the case with my girls not taking an immediate liking to soccer), it is best to pull out of that sport for a while, try some other sports, and maybe return to the original sport in another season or another year when attitudes or experiences have changed. As part of our Be Sport Happy community you have access to our website which details all of the sports in Saratoga that are age appropriate for children ages 3-13. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/besporthappy or join our Be Sport Happy Saratoga Equipment Exchange group on Facebook and exchange used sports equipment with other Saratoga families: www.facebook.com/groups/besporthappy. My kids and I have a fun game we made up called "Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, or Mas o Menos." Whenever we feel like playing, I call out a sport that they play or have played or even a new one...and they show me thumbs up, thumbs down or shake their hands back and forth as if to say "so-so." In playing this game, I get a good indication of which sports they like to play and which sports maybe we should take a break from or stop playing altogether.
It's fun to see changes in the responses over time too. Maybe after a hard practice or a tough game, the thumbs up turns to a Mas o Menos. Or after an invigorating session with friends, the Mas o Menos or even the thumbs down turns to a thumbs up. That's when I get most satisfaction as a parent -- seeing my child able to express him or herself in a fun way and to keep communication open with me as a parent. Not all sports are right for all kids and the sooner parents accept that concept, the better it is for the kids. Try the game sometime. Your kids will love it. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/besporthappy or join our Be Sport Happy Saratoga Equipment Exchange group on Facebook and exchange used sports equipment with other Saratoga families: www.facebook.com/groups/besporthappy. When my daughter was two, I saw a beautiful pink set of golf clubs for sale at Dick's. I couldn't resist and I bought them on the spot. For a year, the clubs sat in my garage as we waited for our daughter to get old enough to go to the driving range. The day arrived and my husband and I dressed her in a cute skirt and grabbed the pink clubs in excitement. We got to the range, gave her a club and waited to watch that perfect first swing! I even had the camera set. My daughter walked up to the tee, turned around and tried to hit the club the other way. Backwards. The WRONG way. We turned her around. She turned again. Oops. "She's a lefty," my husband said, and walked to the pro shop to see if they had a lefty driver she could use. Sure enough that worked and she hit some good ones. But the poor pink, brand new clubs went home with us unused. I bought a lefty driver and placed it in her righty club bag. Luckily her sister was a righty!
Lesson learned...try out used sports equipment first with your kids before making a big purchase if you think your child might be a lefty. Most of the equipment is sold in righty (golf clubs, baseball gloves, etc) so you have to hunt for lefty things. But always encourage your kids to try out both sides because you never know if you have a righty or a lefty. And sometimes your child could be both!! Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/besporthappy or join our Be Sport Happy Saratoga Equipment Exchange group on Facebook and exchange used sports equipment with other Saratoga families: www.facebook.com/groups/besporthappy. |
Be Sport
|