The Best Sport for Children Under 12
Sport is a part of all of our lives and it’s an important step for your children too. Not only does their choice of sport help them grow into strong adults, but it also gives them career prospects in the sport too.
Choose a sport that will set your children up for success
Below I will list the most popular sports in the US, what that sport can do for your child and the prospects that can come with it too, ranking them from our favorite to our not so recommended.
So without further ado, check out our list from most recommended to least below:
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a sport that has blown its way through the leagues in recent years, and has become one of the most popular sports in the US and for good reason.
Lacrosse is the fastest sport on 2 feet, with the roll on roll off substitutes and brilliant 10 player set up it ensures that the fast pace stays throughout the whole game. Lacrosse has been around since the 1800’s, but it’s only in the last 10 years where it has really taken off, and is likely soon to be the US national sport.
Lacrosse is a sport that is easy to pick up, easy to adapt to and even easier to understand, unlike other sports where there are dozens of rules to follow and understand. Along with major investment across the US right now, Lacrosse may be one of the best sports to get into right now, because it is a relatively untapped market compared to what it could be. Watch this space, if your child becomes a Lacrosse star today, they could be earning 7 figures per month in 10 years time.
Our ratings:
Career prospect: High
Difficulty: Low
Athleticism required: High
Football
Football is usually everyone’s go to sport, it’s easy enough and there’s positions for players of all sizes and shapes, to the more athletic players or the brute strength players.
That is why it’s also rated high for career prospects, because you aren’t penalized for being weaker or smaller than someone else, there is something for everyone. Saying that though, unfortunately that also means that there is more competition, so to make it in Football you really do have to put the hours in to make yourself more appealing to scouters and show that dedicated spark.
Our ratings:
Career prospect: High
Difficulty: Mid
Athleticism required: High
Soccer
Soccer is another high career prospect sport, because it is worldwide not just across the US. Soccer requires years of dedicated practice, countless hours in the gym to provide the strength to shove off opponents and to avoid injury as it is a high injury sport.
One of the strongest points Soccer has to offer is the sheer number of clubs and players available at each club, so if you are sponsored or scouted and are open to travel, Soccer may be the sport for you as the average wage in Europe is over $4,000,000 per year.
The best part of Soccer is the transferable fitness, so if Soccer doesn’t work out for you, you can always pick up an easier sport as you already have footwork and fitness on your side.
Our ratings:
Career prospect: High
Difficulty: High
Athleticism required: High
Baseball
Baseball – the one for the angry dads and soccer moms that would rather sit in stands than on the sidelines. Little league is a great way to get your kids out and exercising, and get them focusing on hand eye coordination and teamwork.
Baseball has what other sports don’t, which is readily set out stadiums and pitches that aren’t shared with other sports, really showing how popular this standalone sport really is.
Baseball however unfortunately does not have nearly as many mid league well-paying teams as other sports, so unless you make it big it may turn out to be more of a hobby than anything else.
Our ratings:
Career prospect: Mid
Difficulty: Mid
Athleticism required: Low
Basketball
Basketball is another mid prospect sport, because you really do need to be at least 6’5” to have a chance at a career here unless you practice long shots for weeks upon weeks.
Basketball is another great sport for team building, footwork, fitness and learning a strong mentality, because games are often so close that you have to learn mental fortitude to keep your nerves calm in the last few minutes in order to win.
Basketball will always be one of the most popular sports, but unfortunately without the right physique your child could be wasting their time focusing on this sport when they could excel elsewhere.
Our ratings:
Career prospect: Mid
Difficulty: High
Athleticism required: High
Conclusion and Our Choice
Winner: Lacrosse
We couldn’t think of a better sport that is easier to pick up, cheap to start, and has as many prospects in the future as Lacrosse. Lacrosse is still up and coming, but recent deals struck between the NLL, PLL and TV and streaming stations such as Paul Rabil’s deal with Peacock show how interesting this sport really is becoming.
With Lacrosse, and the speed of the game comes high athleticism too, and with a great physique comes great sponsorship deals with footwear such as Adidas, Nike and New Balance. This is a sport where hard work pays off, and in 10 years we can see this sport (which is already a billion dollar sport) becoming a trillion dollar per year sport so now is the time to invest your children’s futures in it.
The best news too, the hand eye coordination, fitness and team working skills your child learns are transferable, so Lacrosse is a sport where you can take on multiple sports at the same time and become great at both, and there are many different seasons in Lacrosse too. You can play for one of the largest PLL teams in the world such a the Whipsnakes, taking a full wage, all sponsorships and benefits, and then go on to play indoor box lacrosse in the mid season, doubling up that income.
Finally, as a mom myself, I couldn’t think of a better sport to get my kids into, knowing how strong a future Lacrosse has here in the US, and even all over the world.
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