After I had my son in 2020, I remember feeling so powerful, like, oh, I never have to win a gold medal because I have pushed my body to its limits. I wanted that feeling to last forever. A few months later when I felt ready to exercise again, I asked my husband to teach me the fundamentals of basketball because I never played team sports as a child (I ran cross country). Learning how to play the game and eventually playing 3 on 3 at the park with teenagers made me so happy.
I know that rec leagues are big for single people and there are work softball teams, but I do wish that adults had more time and opportunity to try new sports! It is so invigorating and fun. Thank you for quoting & linking the AHP piece. Beautifully articulated something I've been thinking.
Appreciate your thoughts on sports! It's something my friends and I talk a lot about regarding the aim of kids' sports. In addition to the aspirations of athletics that you listed - another major one is that it's FUN! I also just read this great memoir by a woman who started a school for refugee kids based around soccer (Learning America: One Woman's Fight for Educational Justice for Refugee Children by Luma Mufleh). It was refreshing to see someone writing about sports being a vehicle for fun, learning, teamwork, growth, etc..
Reading the third wild robot out loud with my 11 yo son in anticipation of the movie - something we haven’t done in a long time and couldn’t be happier about it!
I also love longform podcasts, or ones that have a beginning, middle and end. My current favorites are "In Trust" and "Moonrise". I am eagerly awaiting the first episode of "We Live Here Now" which is about two Atlantic journalists befriending their neighbor who moved into their neighborhood to avenge her daughter's death on January 6th.
Also as a re-emergent tennis player, nice work!! I love playing as an adult and loved this essay.
One other podcast recommendation - "What Now? with Trevor Noah" has been so excellent lately. Especially his interview with Tressie McMillan Cottom about VP Harris. AND worth going into the archive for the interview with Kerry Washington.
I am also looking for new podcasts! A few I’m enjoying: Cruel Summer Book Club (some interviews, a lot about freelancing/creativity). Also going through the archives of Start with This from the team behind Night Vale. Haven’t listened to Night Vale, but I love hearing their approach to creative projects. They also do some interview episodes
I'm not a parent but am finding so much of this useful for my niece and nephew. It is sort of hard to put the perfectionism of these sports they're seeing on TV into perspective for them — and then how much do you really want them to want that when you aren't even sure it's the best, most viable, or happiest path? Thank you so much for sharing. I also love Hetty's recipes so much.
And can't help but recommend listening to the Quinn app. It's not for everyone but might be fun if you need an escape! (It's NSFW!)
Ugh my kids are 7 and 9 and sports are something my husband and I really struggle with. I want them to love or at least like moving and appreciating their bodies and feel the accountability and joy of being part of a team. But already, especially by 4th grade, the joy is really being sucked out of sports by some many kids/their families emphasizing the high achieving nature of it — being on multiple teams of the same sport, playing year round, etc. it feels already discouraging if the sport isn’t a kids favorite hobby and doesn’t leave a lot of space to like it as an age appropriate amateur.
Yes- my kids are 7 and 10 and I definitely see the difference in how kids sports are now compared to when I was younger. Linking to an interesting article that mentions how 70% of children are dropping out of organized sports by the age of 13. I wish there was less professionalization and more encouraging kids to engage as age appropriate amateurs :) This is the article: https://changingthegameproject.com/why-kids-quit-sports/
My son plays 3 sports competitively and has since he was 5 years old. We have had our fair share of bumps with sports organizations. It’s so important to find leagues and groups that have values that align with what you are looking for in youth sports. It’s really terrible what we’ve heard come out of coaches or even league director’s mouths when talking about kids. We have also had wonderful coaches who nurtured and had fun with the kids. It’s such a hit or miss.
Great coaches, like great teachers, are everything! Julian plays on a chess team and so much of it is the coaches encouraging participation at every level.
Love this! I found this adult-life-fitness shift came from a change in outlook/goals, where I was raised to do sport things to have a Big Glorious Story to tell (at least for my parents who pushed for that), but at my age now, do it just for me, to feel healthy, to plod along and get my enjoyment, to get myself ready to be a little old lady who will one day carry my Groceries home.
Also yesss love Sarah Manguso, totally on my must read list
After I had my son in 2020, I remember feeling so powerful, like, oh, I never have to win a gold medal because I have pushed my body to its limits. I wanted that feeling to last forever. A few months later when I felt ready to exercise again, I asked my husband to teach me the fundamentals of basketball because I never played team sports as a child (I ran cross country). Learning how to play the game and eventually playing 3 on 3 at the park with teenagers made me so happy.
I know that rec leagues are big for single people and there are work softball teams, but I do wish that adults had more time and opportunity to try new sports! It is so invigorating and fun. Thank you for quoting & linking the AHP piece. Beautifully articulated something I've been thinking.
I feel similarly! I started playing tennis after having a child and generally feel so much more eager to try out new things than I did ten years ago
Appreciate your thoughts on sports! It's something my friends and I talk a lot about regarding the aim of kids' sports. In addition to the aspirations of athletics that you listed - another major one is that it's FUN! I also just read this great memoir by a woman who started a school for refugee kids based around soccer (Learning America: One Woman's Fight for Educational Justice for Refugee Children by Luma Mufleh). It was refreshing to see someone writing about sports being a vehicle for fun, learning, teamwork, growth, etc..
Reading the third wild robot out loud with my 11 yo son in anticipation of the movie - something we haven’t done in a long time and couldn’t be happier about it!
We are racing through the first one, but hoping we can also read 2 and 3 before we head to the movie!
Serialized reported podcast rec: Hysterical
I just started the podcast Something Was Wrong. It’s bananas.
I also love longform podcasts, or ones that have a beginning, middle and end. My current favorites are "In Trust" and "Moonrise". I am eagerly awaiting the first episode of "We Live Here Now" which is about two Atlantic journalists befriending their neighbor who moved into their neighborhood to avenge her daughter's death on January 6th.
Also as a re-emergent tennis player, nice work!! I love playing as an adult and loved this essay.
One other podcast recommendation - "What Now? with Trevor Noah" has been so excellent lately. Especially his interview with Tressie McMillan Cottom about VP Harris. AND worth going into the archive for the interview with Kerry Washington.
I am also looking for new podcasts! A few I’m enjoying: Cruel Summer Book Club (some interviews, a lot about freelancing/creativity). Also going through the archives of Start with This from the team behind Night Vale. Haven’t listened to Night Vale, but I love hearing their approach to creative projects. They also do some interview episodes
I'm not a parent but am finding so much of this useful for my niece and nephew. It is sort of hard to put the perfectionism of these sports they're seeing on TV into perspective for them — and then how much do you really want them to want that when you aren't even sure it's the best, most viable, or happiest path? Thank you so much for sharing. I also love Hetty's recipes so much.
And can't help but recommend listening to the Quinn app. It's not for everyone but might be fun if you need an escape! (It's NSFW!)
Ugh my kids are 7 and 9 and sports are something my husband and I really struggle with. I want them to love or at least like moving and appreciating their bodies and feel the accountability and joy of being part of a team. But already, especially by 4th grade, the joy is really being sucked out of sports by some many kids/their families emphasizing the high achieving nature of it — being on multiple teams of the same sport, playing year round, etc. it feels already discouraging if the sport isn’t a kids favorite hobby and doesn’t leave a lot of space to like it as an age appropriate amateur.
Yes- my kids are 7 and 10 and I definitely see the difference in how kids sports are now compared to when I was younger. Linking to an interesting article that mentions how 70% of children are dropping out of organized sports by the age of 13. I wish there was less professionalization and more encouraging kids to engage as age appropriate amateurs :) This is the article: https://changingthegameproject.com/why-kids-quit-sports/
My son plays 3 sports competitively and has since he was 5 years old. We have had our fair share of bumps with sports organizations. It’s so important to find leagues and groups that have values that align with what you are looking for in youth sports. It’s really terrible what we’ve heard come out of coaches or even league director’s mouths when talking about kids. We have also had wonderful coaches who nurtured and had fun with the kids. It’s such a hit or miss.
Great coaches, like great teachers, are everything! Julian plays on a chess team and so much of it is the coaches encouraging participation at every level.
Love this! I found this adult-life-fitness shift came from a change in outlook/goals, where I was raised to do sport things to have a Big Glorious Story to tell (at least for my parents who pushed for that), but at my age now, do it just for me, to feel healthy, to plod along and get my enjoyment, to get myself ready to be a little old lady who will one day carry my Groceries home.
Also yesss love Sarah Manguso, totally on my must read list