re: How do you know when your kid has "it" in sports?

Not from my kids, but from playing against guys when I was growing up...you could tell at an early age....5th-8th grade that certain guys were that much better than the rest of us. Bucky Richardson and Todd Kinchen are a couple of guys I played against at that age level and they had "it" during that timeframe.

When your kids is heads and tails above the competition the vast majority of the time he sets foot on the field, he may have it.

If that isn't the case, odds are that a paycheck will never be earned playing sports.

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but today there are so many more opportunities to continue playing the sport at a lower level while still getting some of your education paid for. My daughter is a great example of that.

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A lot easier for girls to do that. If a girl starts a varsity sport, is proactive, and willing to travel anywhere then she can find scholarship money out there.

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You don't want your kid to be a badass at 12.

You want them to be pretty athletic, mainly having good feet....and a large frame in which to grow into.

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so much this. Plus you need to see that they have a passion for competing and getting better. Without those two it's just a big athletic kid.

I've been knowing since he was 2. He's 9 now and Started gymnastics at 3 and now plays select baseball (since 7), soccer(did play academy but f that stuff), football, and basketball. There isn't anything he doesn't excel in. He's just naturally gifted athletically.

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Meh. I would say 99% of pro athletes were the best player on their team at 12.

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Football, maybe.

Baseball, no shot in hell. QBs...no shot in hell.

Sorry to revive an old thread, I just stumbled upon it while lurking and felt compelled to respond.

For a little bio to better understand my response, I had an opportunity to play basketball in college, my best friend from HS played football in college and was my roommate, and my uncle spent over a decade in professional baseball where he had over 700 innings pitched, 650 strikeouts, and a 3.5 era over that time. He’s now a college baseball coach and offers an invaluable perspective from a recruiting standpoint.

First off, understand that there is no one-size-fits-all answer, here. There are so many factors and so many different observations from so many different people and their individual experiences. Each sport also differs in who, how and when each kid excels. For example, I found that early bloomers tend to excel in basketball because they can take advantage of their superior size at the time, whereas in baseball I’ve found that those same players aren’t as good because they have a higher center of gravity, not as agile and their coordination tends to be off because of the sudden growth yet your smaller players who may struggle in other sports, can excel in youth baseball. Football has always been a mixed bag of certain types of players, small and big, fast and slow. My best friend that I referenced above, who went on to play college football, was the best on our team at 10 years old, 12 years old and high school. For me in basketball, at 13 I was cut from the middle school basketball team because I was an awkward body who didn’t really have a place then. I wrestled in middle school instead. By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I was 6’6 and would end up being a 3-year letterman in high school and by my senior year, out of those kids in my grade who made the middle school team over me, only 1 (yes ONE) of those players made our state title contending high school team. So here we both were, one who always excelled in his sport and myself who showed up to the party late, both in college doing our thing.

At the end of the day, none of this can be sorted out before puberty. You may begin to see the competitiveness and the mental fortitude of a good athlete at such a young age, but genetics are by and far the largest determining factor as to whether a child will play at the next level or not. If you want me to tell you whether or not a 10 year old child has the ability to play at the next level, show me his parents, not his youth sports accomplishments. It’s the old “I can teach you football/basketball/baseball, but I can’t teach size, speed, etc…..” saying.

I will also say this: No child is getting looked at seriously by colleges before the age of 14-15. Not happening and if you think it is, you’re lying to yourself and those around you. That’s coming from a college baseball coach and former pro, who does this for a living. Travel ball isn’t getting a child noticed by colleges before their mid-teens, and most kids are getting burnt out and parents spending their college savings, believing that what I said isn’t true. Let your kids play multiple sports, let them develop different muscle groups and uses for different muscles, but most of all, let them develop a love for the game and a drive to want to play. I see so many kids who just go through the motions because they’re burnt out, because their parent’s desire for the child to play, surpasses the child’s. If you want a kid to play with passion, they must learn to miss playing said sport otherwise it just becomes a job.

It has been over 5 years since this thread. Your boy called up by Yankees yet?

re: basketball, it's basically impossible to tell until after puberty

bryce james was like a 5'6 chubby kid in 2020 and now he's 6'6 and probably going to be a 4/5*, top player in his class. obviously lebron being his dad is a big factor but there are many similar cases.

also, i think athletes generally are what they are after puberty, especially for basketball. if you're 16 and not dunking and starting to play an above the riim game... good luck.