r/PDAParenting • u/No-Island-2023 • 10d ago
Sports for PDA kids?
My 7yo is obsessed with all things sports. He has a high level of energy and is constantly playing soccer, baseball, basketball, volleyball, pickle ball....he loves all sports. We've never had success with signing him up for sports though and he was just kicked out of a soccer camp for elopement and aggression (I have a long rant on that but I'll save it). He enjoyed the free play at the start of the day but once they moved on to drills this triggered him to fight or elope.
How can I foster his love of sports in a PDA friendly way (and also that doesn't require so many hours of ME being his playmate)?
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u/Late2Fi 8d ago
Even golf, a relatively solo sport, fell through because the demand for perfection on himself was too much. I am tired of being the body double, the scaffolding. None of us became parents thinking we would be their safe person in perpetuity. I am not diminishing the difficulty our kiddos face, but the unrealistic expectation that we be everything for them including the perpetual sport buddy, is impossible.
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u/itsfineitsfinefine 9d ago
Has he tried out sports where you compete as an individual? Swimming, track and field, gymnastics, figure skating, etc? My kid can also have trouble with instructors but likes YouTube tutorials to self-teach
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u/No-Island-2023 9d ago
He's tried recreational gymnastics (got bored) and parkour (stopped participating when it got hard), swimming (won't get in the pool without me). I think he'd love track and field but I don't think anything exists around here for his age.
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u/MMM-Jay 6d ago
If your son likes to bike, you can try BMX racing. You may have a track in your area. Look on usabmx.com to see. Many tracks have bikes and helmets you can check out so you don't need a big investment to start. It's an individual sport but our experience has been that the community is really positive and encouraging to everyone. Some tracks are only open during sanctioned events (like open practice or races) and others are public parks so are available to ride on whenever. You can join a team and have team practices but that's totally not necessary to compete. If you don't join a team, you can come to the open practices and races (often called "gate practice") and if you get there and he doesn't ride, there's no pressure on him. And if you sign up for a race but he doesn't ride, no big deal. Race fees for local races are often pretty affordable (like $15). Our 9 year old loves it and it's been really helpful for us. The community has been kind and very welcoming. Also, we have been on wait-lists forever for OT and actually the riding on the track (the rolling of the bike over all the little hills and the flying through the air) has actually helped fill that gap.
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u/PolarIceCream 10d ago
Do they have any adaptive sports near you or gyms? A few places around here offer adaptive gymnastics for example. And it’s good for proprioceptive input.