I am planning to introduce my young kid (kindy next year) to an organised sport activities. The common one seems to be soccer, taekwondo or swimming.
I am hoping ozb parents can give me some idea on sports that your kids are involved in and how much does it cost you (how much per session and how many sessions per year).
Do kid normally excited to come for first few sessions, as it is new to them, and then we need to drag them to the soccer field/swimming pool for the rest of the year?
+1 for swimming. Can't be stressed enough, kids need to learn to swim.
Agreed
Ours were both in the pool when babies
Thanks for the inputs everyone. It seems that there are consensus on where to start.
How about actually give the child a chance to be a child and then see where their interests are?
I disagree with this. Getting kids involved in sport and activities is important as the default otherwise leads to tv or phones.
I don’t agree on over scheduling kids, but all of ours played a sport through primary school, all learned to swim through the whole programme, and all learned an instrument for at least a year or two.
How would you discover you like trombone unless somebody signs you up for it, or that you are good at shotput unless you do some little athletics.
It isn’t onerous to learn an instrument for an hour after school once a week and play a couple of hours of sport on a Saturday morning.
In high school we have been encouraging, but not demanding. So we had a district swimmer, a hopeless basketballer who loves her teammates, a drummer who found his best friends via music and a kid joining the RFS because he isn’t much into sport and that was an option offered by his school instead, that he is very interested in.
Also, please volunteer to help out.
I now know something about basketball from scoring kids games, had a really fun time coaching little kids soccer, and made a good friend chatting on either end of a high jump bar.
Your kids will be secretly proud of you too, that you aren’t just sitting chatting or just dropping them off.
As Willco88 says, give the child a chance to try different things and see what they like.
My older son has tried swimming, theatre, keyboard, we sent him to ready steady go to see what sports he would enjoy. In the end, he decided cricket was his favourite organised sport; but he also enjoys playing backsetball and soccer socially as well. Last season, he also decided to play baseball competitively and this season he wants to try boxing. On cricket, we spend nearly $2-3k a year in club fees and professional coaching because he is interested in pursuing that long term.
Similarly, the younger son tried swimming and tennis and guitar before he also decided to pursue cricket (atleast for now)
The way I see it; encourage them to try as many different things as possible and as financially feasible for you. This is the age where there can try and fail with no consequences. Give them the confidence to try without pressure and knowing that you will always be there supporting them. Don't go down the path of trying to live your childhood or forcing them down a path and saying things like you must go because we spent $$$ on it. They need to try things to find what they enjoy.
Thanks for the input. Yes that is our plan to get him try as many as possible. For now he enjoy soccer, swimming, riding bike, table tennis and building lego. He saw me played badminton once and he want to try them as well. We also sign him up with sport toddlers at his preschool and when he was in daycare. So far he excited with any outdoor activities.
I was just wasnt sure where to start and the cost associated to it, but this thread has been helpful.
I will google about ready steady go program. Sounds like a good way to start. Thanks!
Most kids sports at club level would be around $150 - $300 per season in membership fees. Then the cost of any equipment that might be required. For eg: Cricket season for Juniors is $275 where we are. Baseball was $90 for the season. Cricket/Baseball equipment can get expensive with pads, helmets, bats, uniforms, etc. Factor in $50-$100 per new equipment and then they grow quickly so need to new sizes every year. Look at gumtree and FB marketplace for second hand.
Coaching would be around average $50 per week and really only maybe needed if they are very serious about the sport.
check what the school offers
some do swimming classes in the summer
some might have after school care and offer sports there
much easier for them to go to sports after school then u driving them around
usually u do swimming from babies up. depends if ur kid likes water. could be tough
Thanks for the tips. He is starting his kindy next year.
Where are you located? If in Sydney and we are still in lockdown, dunno if they do swimming lessons via zoom. 😔
Yeah in Sydney. Hope the lockdown ceased just before end of the year!
Swimming is about $150 per quarter, 10 lessons.
Soccer was approx $300 a year, as was little athletics, a season lasts 6 or 7 months.
If you are in NSW the gov will give you a $100 “active kids” voucher towards fees.
Thats not bad at all, especially with the active kids voucher. I just learned about the voucher yesterday and applied for two x $100. But i assume none of the sport activity is open until the (nsw) lockdown is lifted.
Thanks for the guidance on the approx cost.
This year we started kindy soccer for our little guy at the local club.
Kindy soccer was $250 including uniform for a 20 week season.
Swimming lessons are usually around $18-$22 each, depending on swim school. This is in Brisbane anyway.
Thanks. I am in nsw where i assume the cost might be slighly higher.
In OZ swimming is at the top of the list as kids need to be able to swim as they will encounter water allot.
After swimming ask them what they like and go from there. Soccer I would see if there are any social games he/she can play in as it is relatively expensive for kids to play for a club for a year and they will not play until April next year when the season starts.