Basketball...worried ds will miss out

[Karen in Eastern WA]

My ds 7 loves watching and playing basketball. He is competitive and appears to be a natural athelete like his father... not great or anything, but has some natural ability.

I know that many kids play on teams starting when they are very young and are also part of a school, whether it be public or private, so they can play on those teams when they are high school or younger.

I am wondering what the solution is a for a homeschooled child. There are many options where we live: join the homeschool program at a private school (attend one school) one day per week, YMCA league, join homeschool program at public school.

I really like homeschooling independently without enrolling in a private school program, and I suspect that the YMCA leage wouldn't be satisfying for my son or my husband who played for all of the teams at his small school from day one.

What has worked for your kids? Any suggestions?

[WTMindy]

check to see if there are any youth organizations in town. I know in our town they have great city-leagues and there are different levels of competitiveness.

[momofkhm]

Basketball program near you. Around here they are all winding down now. Our awards thing is tonight. It's great program! My kids have played for the last 3 years.

[Greta Lea]

I say check all your options.

I have a friend whose son plays basketball for one of the local Christian school middle school teams *and* he play Y-ball at the YMCA. He MUCH prefers Y-ball.

[ccm]

check to see if there are any youth organizations in town. I know in our town they have great city-leagues and there are different levels of competitiveness.

My son played basketball competitively starting with YMCA teams. He also played on a Boys' Club team, our city's boys travel team (through the City Recreation Dept.), and then AAU (sponsored by a private athletic club). He did go to public high school and played on their varsity team.

I would check into the city leagues as Mindy mentioned. The cost was reasonable and he didn't have to travel more that 30 minutes or so to games, whereas AAU was costlier and we did a lot of traveling (still worth it, though, because it was a great experience for my son).

[mcconnellboys]

We've found some very competitive teams here through play with area churches, some of the leagues include I Am Third, and Upward (which has been excellent for us in past). These have been much more competitive than any of our Y leagues.....

Regena

[Sasharowan]

Around here we have Upwards, the YMCA, and the PAL(Police Athletic League) for the younger kids and both the Y and PAL get more competitive as they get older.

[fishnoises]

My 8yo ds started Upward this season. We are very impressed with it!
Except I think my son is not huge fan of basketball. He is looking forward to Little Leagues. (That is his passion...)