NFT: Kids Sports - Late Night Weekday Practices

I'm not crazy about it but you aren't going to win that battle. As far as the fields go, I cannot talk about your specific situation but a big concern is the insurance. Are these other fields you are talking about covered by insurance? I know with football by us, there are only certain fields that are part of the insurance so we cannot just ise whatever. Liability rules everything nowadays.

Practices ending at those times for those ages seems pretty nutty to me.

My daughter is 9 and her soccer is 530-645, next year they jump to 9v9 and practice is from 7-815 but she’ll be 10 and I’m actually fine with it since rushing after work is wearing out its welcome.

945pm is just nuts in general regardless of age. Don’t even know how that’s justified.

I coached my kids for many sports and at 5 - 10 they were practicing at 4:30 or 5:30 which was impossible for me to get to consistently with my work schedule.

So, I preferred the later times when they were 10 - 14 even if it was a little later that I would like, compared to the early times when they were younger.

agree more. My wife and I have been discussing this all week. Our kids (7 and 9) don't get home until 830 from practices, it's crazy.

is based on ice availability and practice times can be all over the place from 7AM to 10PM

forget weeknights spent driving to some asshole town in Jersey--SUNDAYS have been torpedoed to hell.

Blame the idiotic or desperate parents and orchestrators that started and signed off on this madness years ago. It's ridiculous. Fall softball? WTF is that. 2-3 games on the weekend? Crazy.

is a job at this point. Rec leagues are basically dead in my area.

All it is is a money making scheme. Do the kids get better? Sure they do because they practice multiple times a week and compete against good competition.

But the people who organize it? They are just raking it in.

starts at 8. Practices and games end the night before at 9.

Great idea. Great logic. And we wonder why kids and parents are a mess.

The whole thing is absurd. Every shred of this construct we live in...from work to traffic to the scheduling is absurd.

I don't know how some parents do it. Working from home has saved my sanity at the very least. Maybe even more than that.

season. Last year we did 2 sports for my older boys in both the spring and fall - it was a nightmare and expensive (with travel fees being ridiculous). I coach or am on the board for all sports and the quality of life we were leading was so shitty - everything is a mad dash, tired after school and in the morning, it was miserable.

I made the executive decision to cut it all - we are in 1 activity, Rec Flag Football and Gymnastics which is a grand total of 3 days a week all at convenient times for our lives. It has been the best decision ever. My dont feel like theyre missing much, we have time for schoolwork, fun, and family time. And I saved a shit ton of money.

Kids just need to play outside more and knock on each other's doors again (mine included) this is just such a lost virtue and we supplement with sports.

in a NJ town but I work in NYC. Typically the later slots went to the older kids, 7th and 8th graders. But if I was going to be able to get to practices and games, I needed the last slot. Parents knew going in that if I was coach we'd be going until 9:00pm ... even in 3rd and 4th grade.

I'm sure some parents hated it. Well, then step up and volunteer so you can run it earlier.

because I couldn't make it and often nobody could get my sons to them. But, the late ending practices during the week were worse. At least we didn't have that often.

Last year, my son's HS team played mostly on Randall's Island. Between late starts due to traveling there and something about the games his team played, they were not ending until around 7.

Incidentally, he said he liked the fields on the island once you get past the travel there from his school. I wanted to see some games, but what a pain to get there. The one time I went instead of waiting in Harlem for him to get off the bus, it took me about 90 minutes to get there and I arrived just after the game ended. That, to me, is more annoying than the practice times.

I coach my sons rec baseball team in the spring and fall. Spring isnt so bad bc the games start at 6, one game a night. In fall we do a 515 window and 7. the 7 game usually doesnt start til 730. by the middle, theyre all pretty spent/over the day as a whole. We ask alot of our little people mon - fri.

and they have similar late practice schedules. They also travel a lot during season for various tournaments.

While I sometimes wish that my three kids (13, 10, 6) were interested in team sports or were athletic like their cousins, I'm always grateful that we don't have to rush them around to various practices late into the night or travel during the weekends for tournaments.

With that being said, my three do BJJ and Muay Thai, and because they're just far enough apart in age, they each have lessons with their respective age groups (teens, big kids, little kids) in three different time slots. And because I also do BJJ (and help coach my kids' lessons), I am at our dojo six days a week with my kids or at my own lessons (my wife doesn't really take the kids to the lessons since I'm there anyway to help coach). Then throw in the various tournaments that my kids are in, and it can be pretty hectic too, but at least our kids lessons are from 5-7 on weekdays and 8-11 on Saturdays.

These type of teams get insured to play on specific fields. So they just can’t go to any empty field and play. It can be annoying. Regardless though, that is late.

that practice on their own when its not a paid team or trainer... is so small... and nobody should pay for their kid doing a travel sport unless they are willing to practice on their own... so its a lot of money chasing social inclusion and fomo.

In comment 16624182 hitdog42 said:

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that practice on their own when its not a paid team or trainer... is so small... and nobody should pay for their kid doing a travel sport unless they are willing to practice on their own... so its a lot of money chasing social inclusion and fomo.

I agree in part. But there’s a big difference in coaching from my daughter’s Rec league and her Travel league. Pretty much night and day. Some towns are better than others and if ours ever got better I’d drop the travel league, but that usually isn’t the case.

then they deserve the better coaching.
but if they require a scheduled event to play the thing.... then they dont... is basically the view.

the destruction of intramurals is such a bummer in towns.

i say this all as someone with kids in travel and i coach it... but my kids practice on their onw... and if they didn't we would be out.

now that my oldest is a senior in high school and all the traveling, waking up early, dealing with small children to teenagers to young adults mood swings, growth spurts and behavioral changes, kids and parents anxiety from tryouts, hassles from parents wanting the best for their kids, and everything else that came with it is over....

I miss it. Not going to lie.

That period of time was one of the most fun and rewarding aspects of my life. I always feel like I have had good relationships with my kids, but sports allowed us to connect with a closeness that is really hard to duplicate otherwise. it allowed me to instill values and teach life lessons with relatable opportunities that is hard to have opportunities to teach otherwise. So many life lessons surface themselves in sports.

Dealing with the roller coaster of success, failure, setting goals, dealing with adversity, etc.

Whether you are a coach or simply a caring parent, cherish these times with your children.

In comment 16624222 hitdog42 said:

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then they deserve the better coaching. but if they require a scheduled event to play the thing.... then they dont... is basically the view. the destruction of intramurals is such a bummer in towns. i say this all as someone with kids in travel and i coach it... but my kids practice on their onw... and if they didn't we would be out.

Our Rec league is so bad, lol. They operate alongside of the premier team which most kids that have some skill or heightened interest gravitate towards, and the Rec league comes free with it. I had to notify them earlier today that we won’t be attending, didn’t want her playing 7 days a week or with too many younger kids (it’s u10 but seems like every kid is 7 or 8). Just a strange setup.

Long story short I agree, and the cost isn’t so large that it’s a deal breaker either way. For no practice days I’ll work with my daughter on various things which definitely helps as well and agree that it’s a must.

In comment 16624232 pjcas18 said:

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now that my oldest is a senior in high school and all the traveling, waking up early, dealing with small children to teenagers to young adults mood swings, growth spurts and behavioral changes, kids and parents anxiety from tryouts, hassles from parents wanting the best for their kids, and everything else that came with it is over.... I miss it. Not going to lie. That period of time was one of the most fun and rewarding aspects of my life. I always feel like I have had good relationships with my kids, but sports allowed us to connect with a closeness that is really hard to duplicate otherwise. it allowed me to instill values and teach life lessons with relatable opportunities that is hard to have opportunities to teach otherwise. So many life lessons surface themselves in sports. Dealing with the roller coaster of success, failure, setting goals, dealing with adversity, etc. Whether you are a coach or simply a caring parent, cherish these times with your children.

So true! My high school junior had his varsity homecoming football game this past weekend. Had to be one of my favorite sports experience to witness. All of the pomp and circumstance that goes along with and the pictures and the cheerleaders. My son was smiling all week and is still coming down from the excitement - me too!

In comment 16624232 pjcas18 said:

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now that my oldest is a senior in high school and all the traveling, waking up early, dealing with small children to teenagers to young adults mood swings, growth spurts and behavioral changes, kids and parents anxiety from tryouts, hassles from parents wanting the best for their kids, and everything else that came with it is over.... I miss it. Not going to lie. That period of time was one of the most fun and rewarding aspects of my life. I always feel like I have had good relationships with my kids, but sports allowed us to connect with a closeness that is really hard to duplicate otherwise. it allowed me to instill values and teach life lessons with relatable opportunities that is hard to have opportunities to teach otherwise. So many life lessons surface themselves in sports. Dealing with the roller coaster of success, failure, setting goals, dealing with adversity, etc. Whether you are a coach or simply a caring parent, cherish these times with your children.

Thank you and point well taken! I will definitely cherish my time coaching my youth soccer team, including my daughter. My older son has moved onto travel soccer this year, and he is currently dealing with the higher level of challenges and demands.

In comment 16624015 djm said:

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forget weeknights spent driving to some asshole town in Jersey--SUNDAYS have been torpedoed to hell. Blame the idiotic or desperate parents and orchestrators that started and signed off on this madness years ago. It's ridiculous. Fall softball? WTF is that. 2-3 games on the weekend? Crazy.

It’s completely fucking unhinged. The perfect mix of parents thinking they will be failures if they deprive their kids of any opportunity, plus thinking their kids will only get in to college if they play travel leagues all year long beginning at 8 years old, plus the people who run and travel leagues who feed off of the naive or insecure parents. I’ve found many of these league organizers are unqualified scammers.

If your kids are 8 and 12, you're just stepping into that meat grinder of years where there's just no time to come up for air.

Wait until High School sports gets into the mix in the club schedule truly doesn't settle down at all even though they say they try to.

I wouldn't change anything, but if you're asking is it quote on quote worth it? That might be a different question.....

Problem is: where in this schedule is academics?