Tina

I would like to have my children in a sports/athletic program because they enjoy playing soccer and doing gymnastics, but all the programs we have found/been in are really competitive to the point the whole class/practice/whatever is all about winning. The only way I can have them in a gymnastics class that isn't about preparing for competitions (which we aren't interested in) is if they are in the toddler class, which they are both too old for. I'm hoping when we move I can find a gymnastics class that is more activity/fun oriented instead of perfection for competition oriented, but does anyone else have this problem? When I tried to talk to the teacher about it, she said after 4 they train for competitions, no other choice. I told her we didn't want to compete (my kids love to do the tumbling and bars and everything, but when you get into the regimented one person at a time, do it over and over till it's perfect or sit out for punishment thing, they get frustrated and lose interest). The same with soccer, my son loved it when he was in a "beginner" team in Colorado which was mostly about fun (some structure, but they were good about letting the kids play and be active and not sit and wait). But then when he played here, they would have a lot of sit and wait and my son would get bored and lose his focus. I think team sports are pretty much out until he is ready to participate in that way, but something one on one like gymnastics would really suit him and he LOVED it.

It's frustrating sometimes to live in such a competitive world!! Why can't they just learn technique in a fun environment?

°Ü° Tina Rod. °Ü°

Dysfunctional Domestic Diva



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Tina

Pamela, Yes, we have a small gym, that's where we took our kids. And the owners were very competitive, we preferred the other teachers but they would even teach competitively, they just weren't as hardcore as the owners were. I've heard of a gym in the area we will be moving to that is supposed to be better, so I'm hoping to get them in there but I want to sit down and talk with the coach first.

I never liked competitive things growing up either. I think that's one reason why I liked Drama, we worked together, not against each other. I just hate for my kids to feel like they are bad just because they aren't as good as the others. I remember when Kyle was in soccer, the parents would yell at us on the sidelines to get our kid to focus and help them win. I'm thinking he's here to have fun and be active. We actually pulled him out of t-ball because the other parents would yell at him and he didn't like to play anymore. I guess we just aren't competitive people.

°Ü° Tina Rod. °Ü°

Dysfunctional Domestic Diva



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Tina

Sylvia, Yes!! I would like to start a sport league for non competitive play, just to have fun. The only problem is I'm not very sports minded so I couldn't be a coach, and we would have to find a place that would let us use their fields (right now that wouldn't be a problem because we could use the base, but after hubby gets out I'd have to find civilian places). I think it would be great to make up a homeschooling non-competitive group who plays during the day when the school kids are at school, since most city owned fields and such are used in the evenings and weekends when kids aren't in school. I don't know, maybe when my kids get a little bigger I'll check into that.

°Ü° Tina Rod. °Ü°

Dysfunctional Domestic Diva



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Tina

Melissa, I'll have to look into that then!! Thanks for the suggestion!! My husband was doing Kuk Sool Won on base with the kids. It was free and noncompetitive (you could test if you wanted to, but only those testing were allowed there when they tested, and it was individual testing, not against each other), and awesome for all three of them to do together. But then the kids kind of pooped out of it and hubby had to quit because work was keeping him later.

I know here we have a city sports league/club thing that runs all the basic sports in town that aren't school or individual business led, but they are competitive. Our base doesn't offer much for children, they say that the downtown league steals all the military people. The last base we were at offered soccer, football, basketball, etc, and the one experience we had they weren't too competitive, although older groups may have been. For now we just take our equipment to the fields on base and play just us.

°Ü° Tina Rod. °Ü°

Dysfunctional Domestic Diva



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queenpamedalah

Tina,
I'm not sure what area you are in, but there is an awesome gym near
me that my girfriend's daughter attends. Competition is an option.
They are a Christian based program, so it's all about making
yourself better; improving on your past achievements and not
comparing yourself to anyone else. Neither of us are overt Bible-
thumpers, but the atmosphere for the kids is great - it's about
helping each other and striving for balance. You can choose to keep
your kid out of the competition circuit and you are still welcomed.
You might check in your area for a private gym or maybe even the Y.
I don't know what your religious tendencies are (if any), but often
the bigger churches have non-competitive gymnastics, as well.

Also is there a Little Gym in your area? As in most situations,
it's the coach or instructor that makes it or breaks the
experience. My son is in a basketball program at a local church.
His Coach is all about the win and I don't particularly like his
attitude. The asst coach is about improving the kids' skills, and
we tend to gravitate to his practices and be "busy" on the weekends
when the main coach is the only one there.

HTH,
Pamela

--- In [email protected], "Tina" <poey@c...> wrote:
>
> I would like to have my children in a sports/athletic program
because they enjoy playing soccer and doing gymnastics, but all the
programs we have found/been in are really competitive to the point
the whole class/practice/whatever is all about winning. The only
way I can have them in a gymnastics class that isn't about preparing
for competitions (which we aren't interested in) is if they are in
the toddler class, which they are both too old for. I'm hoping when
we move I can find a gymnastics class that is more activity/fun
oriented instead of perfection for competition oriented, but does
anyone else have this problem? When I tried to talk to the teacher
about it, she said after 4 they train for competitions, no other
choice. I told her we didn't want to compete (my kids love to do
the tumbling and bars and everything, but when you get into the
regimented one person at a time, do it over and over till it's
perfect or sit out for punishment thing, they get frustrated and
lose interest). The same with soccer, my son loved it when he was
in a "beginner" team in Colorado which was mostly about fun (some
structure, but they were good about letting the kids play and be
active and not sit and wait). But then when he played here, they
would have a lot of sit and wait and my son would get bored and lose
his focus. I think team sports are pretty much out until he is
ready to participate in that way, but something one on one like
gymnastics would really suit him and he LOVED it.
>
> It's frustrating sometimes to live in such a competitive world!!
Why can't they just learn technique in a fun environment?
>
> °Ü° Tina Rod. °Ü°
>
> Dysfunctional Domestic Diva
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Sylvia Toyama

We've had the same problem here. Both boys would love to swim thru the winter. Paying each time we visit gets too expensive. The only other option is to sign up for a swim team, where we would have free access to swim as often as we wish, but the kids are expected to participate in competitions, something Andy refuses to do. Same with bowling, the only way to make it affordable is to join a league. He'd love to just bowl or swim without competing.

Dan would like to play soccer this spring, and I have to admit the very idea of becoming involved with a soccer league scares us -- I just so hate all the competitive sports leagues. Why does it have to be about which team wins the championship -- can't the kids just have fun with something?

Sylvia


Mom to Will (20) Andy (9) and Dan (4.5)



---------------------------------
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

multimomma

Tina,
We do Tae Kwon Do through the city rec, and it's awesome. They offer all kinds of dance,
gym and martial arts, most of the classes are very noncompetitive, and the prices are muy
cheapo! We pay as much for a semester as others do for a month of private classes, and the
fee for testing is about one seventh of what the private pay is.

Just an idea...we haven't really looked into private programs because they cost too much ;-)

Melissa
--- In [email protected], "Tina" <poey@c...> wrote:
>
> I would like to have my children in a sports/athletic program because they enjoy playing
soccer and doing gymnastics, but all the programs we have found/been in are really
competitive to the point the whole class/practice/whatever is all about winning.

beanmommy2

--- In [email protected], "multimomma"
<autismhelp@c...> wrote:

> Tina,
> We do Tae Kwon Do through the city rec, and it's awesome. They
offer all kinds of dance,
> gym and martial arts, most of the classes are very noncompetitive,
and the prices are muy
> cheapo! We pay as much for a semester as others do for a month of
private classes, and the
> fee for testing is about one seventh of what the private pay is.


We do stuff through the government facilities as well, and I haven't
found the quality to be lacking. My four year old takes gymnastics
through the county. It's approximately $45 for each quarter and we
love it. They have competitive programs for the slightly older kids,
or just regular classes.

We also go swimming at the county pool, which is about a 25 minute
walk for us. I forget the exact price, but I think it's roughly 8 or
10 dollars for the entire family to come in and swim one day. You
can get monthly passes that make it even cheaper.

Of course, we live in metro Atlanta, so we probably have access to
things that other people don't.

Jenny

[email protected]

>> I'm hoping when we move I can find a gymnastics class that is more activity/fun oriented instead of perfection for competition oriented, but does anyone else have this problem?>>

Casey did gymnastics on and off for 4 years and competed for 1 season. She had the same issues you are talking about. She actually liked to work hard and she really pushed herself and got pretty good. But, she only wanted to work as hard as she liked to work. (Does that make sense?) When she wanted a break, she wanted a break. We were able to find recreational gymnastics classes that are focussed more on skills and fun, without the competition. So keep looking, there are programs out there like that. You do have to understand though, that for safety's sake they do have to perform the moves in a certain way. Casey had to get over being corrected on form. It wasn't that they always wanted it perfect, but that they wanted it correct and therefore safe.


--
~Mary, unschooling mom to Conor (16) and Casey (11)

"Just today I'm going to be utterly present for my children, I'm going to be in their world (not just doing my own thing while they do theirs), I'm going to really hear them, I'm going to prepare myself to be present starting right now."
~Ren Allen




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nrskay

Jenny:

Wow what a deal, for TKD lessons here at a studio we paid $100 a
month. After 3 years and being a red belt my dd grew very tired of
the competiveness. They are in competitions and she has won several
metals, but she doesn't want to participate anymore. I told her that
was fine. I would have loved to see her get her black belt, but that
was my vision not hers.

What is important is she knows how to kick butt and in fact she did
when she was attacked in April and that is what is important - the
self defense and the confidence that it gave her.

Kay

[email protected]

We live in Texas which is famous for being nuts about competitive sports but we have options in almost every sport around. My dd is on the competitive gymnastics team but my son takes a non-competitive gym class. Baseball in the Spring is extremely competitive, but in the Fall, it is an instructional league. We have competitive bowling leagues but also "drop in" leagues for homeschoolers.

I would say look around, ask around. You may find more options than you think.

Julie S.

----- Original Message -----
From: Sylvia Toyama <sylgt04@...>
Date: Friday, January 13, 2006 11:35 am
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Do you have a problem with competitive sports?

> We've had the same problem here. Both boys would love to swim
> thru the winter. Paying each time we visit gets too expensive.
> The only other option is to sign up for a swim team, where we
> would have free access to swim as often as we wish, but the kids
> are expected to participate in competitions, something Andy
> refuses to do. Same with bowling, the only way to make it
> affordable is to join a league. He'd love to just bowl or swim
> without competing.
>
> Dan would like to play soccer this spring, and I have to admit
> the very idea of becoming involved with a soccer league scares us -
> - I just so hate all the competitive sports leagues. Why does it
> have to be about which team wins the championship -- can't the
> kids just have fun with something?
>
> Sylvia
>
>
> Mom to Will (20) Andy (9) and Dan (4.5)
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Yahoo! Photos
> Got holiday prints? See all the ways to get quality prints in
> your hands ASAP.
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