I have been blogging a lot lately about kids in sports from my perspective as a parent. But what about my kids? Why do they play? Why do they want to participate in competitive sports? Why do they push themselves so hard? Is there a downside?
So, I decided to interview my kids. It’s funny because we have never really talked about competitive sports in general. We never planned to be here either. It just kind of happened. My younger one, my girl, is just now starting to follow in her brother’s footsteps and venturing into the competitive side of sports. How does she see all of this? Read on to find out.
Why do you participate in competitive sports?
My son (10+ y/o): Because it’s fun! I love sports plus I get to meet a lot of friends and hang out with them and we get to go on tournaments.
My daughter (7.5 y/o): The playing. I like sports. I like running really hard.
What don’t you like about competitive sports?
My son: Sometimes it gets really intense and I get nervous. I feel like, if it is a tie or something, that I am going to let our team down. Even when I am running competitively I feel a lot of pressure.
My daughter: I don’t like practicing as much as the games.
What is your best memory of playing sports?
My son: Coming in second in the city of Toronto at cross country. I also loved going to the hockey tournament in Ottawa when we got Beaver Tails and had so much fun at New Years.
My daughter: At the soccer tryouts when I scored 6 goals.
What do you think of the parents while you’re playing?
My son: There are some parents that go too far but most of the time it is good. I like it when the parents cheer.
My daughter: I like how they cheer me on. It helps me to make more powerful shots {in soccer}.
Do you ever wish you didn’t play competitive sports?
My son: Sometimes before a race {cross country/track} because I get really nervous. But I get really bored when I don’t have some sports and I don’t see my friends.
My daughter: Once I didn’t want to leave my friend’s house early to go to a practice. But I would NEVER want to give up sports!
Would you ever want to play just recreationally?
My son: I already do play some sports recreationally. You can’t play everything competitively. There isn’t enough time. I just love all sports so I like to play pretty much everything.
My daughter: I do already but I am excited about playing really hard like I have to on a rep team.
Do you think that one day you might be a professional athlete or compete at something like the Olympics?
My son: I would like to but you have to be really good and really dedicated. I will just play and see what happens. I may work in sports in some other way.
My daughter: Yes!
Do you ever feel that Mommy and Daddy put pressure on you in sports?
My son: No. You guys make me feel better when I am nervous.
My daughter: What does that mean? {I explain} No. Why would you do that?
As you can imagine, this conversation opened up a whole bunch of other things from being a good sport to competing in other areas of life to how fortunate my kids are. From this, I believe, my kids have a healthy perspective and are getting mostly good things from their experience in sports.
But I’d like to hear from you. What do your kids think? Why would you pull them out or why would they want to stop? I know lots of kids (including myself as a child) who are not athletes or not into competitive sports. Do you think there is value in encouraging this even if they are not keen? I would love to hear from you!
The Your Biggest Fan Blog Series is sponsored by Chevrolet. All content is true, based on Jen’s personal experience.