I cannot tell you how meaningless it is to be good at a sport before puberty. Do not compare. Do not care. Just learn to love the game.
It’s hard to be good at a sport during puberty. Once everyone has gone through puberty, then it starts to be meaningful to be “good”.
@tomhouse Fun fact: travel clubs have older physically mature kids play down from their grade level whenever possible, just to get dubs. This hinders development of less physically mature and/or grade level kids due to lack of opps. Then they sell themselves as "player development" orgs.
@tomhouse I have found those who are good before puberty tend to be pretty good after puberty. But the big factor is sticking with it. In many cases those who were good before puberty often quit for various reasons that range from burnout to laziness/sticktoitiveness (not really a word)
@tomhouse I agree Tom. It’s also partly why late puberty kids are at such a disadvantage. They wind up giving up.
@tomhouse As a parent, this is very sound advice.
@tomhouse If the 11-12 year olds that I coach don't love the game when they move on from me I have failed as a coach. It's the most important thing I can do.
@tomhouse Why I find “Youth National Championships” meaningless. Children mature at different timelines.