How to Help Little Kids Develop Basic Sports Skills … Without Pushing Too Hard

The Youngest Athletes

Parents of very young children (especially kids under 5) may wonder how to give kids the basics they need to do well in a sport - basics that come before a child actually becomes part of a team.  Running, jumping, throwing and catching are basic elements of sports - and basic elements of play. Any parent can engage his or her child in these building blocks of athleticism; the key is to make it fun, not demanding or stressful.

By Deirdre Wilson

Youth sports

The very words can conjure up excitement in parents who excelled at "the game" when they were kids, and dread in parents who didn't. Most parents agree that sports can teach valuable life skills: teamwork, responsibility, coordination, self-esteem, confidence and more. And, with the climbing rates of child obesity nationwide, parents are understandably concerned about ensuring that their children get enough physical activity. Playing sports is a great way to do that.

But parents of very young children (especially kids under 5) may wonder how to give kids the basics they need to do well in a sport - basics that come before a child actually becomes part of a team. Are kids born with these skills? Sports experts say no. In fact, Sport For All, an educational program of the National Association for Sport & Physical Education (NASPE), maintains that children "do not automatically develop the motor and physical skills they need to successfully participate in physical activities." Running, jumping, throwing and catching are basic elements of sports - and basic elements of play, as well. Any parent can engage his or her child in these building blocks of athleticism; the key is to make it fun, not demanding or stressful.

Join the Team … Later

The youngest kids can learn skills essential to sports, but pediatricians and athletic experts agree that this should occur through fun games with short, encouraging instructions - not in organized, competitive team sports.

Rae Pica, a movement education consultant and author of Your Active Child, echoes numerous child-development experts in her argument that kids under 11 or 12 years old shouldn't even be in organized, competitive team sports because their bodies aren't developed enough to safely accomplish certain athletic tasks. Furthermore, she and other experts say, kids in their primary years "simply aren't mentally equipped" to understand the complex rules and strategies of the game.

Watch a group of preschoolers play an organized game of soccer and you'll soon agree. Even if the game is carefully structured with the age group in mind, you'll still witness plenty of tears of frustration, children wandering off the playing field, kids distracted by something in the grass and more.