I'm asked this question more than any other, I hope you find this post helpful. There are several factors to consider.
The Sport: Most sports are very difficult for small children to play on a competitive level. Check your league to see if they modify the given sport based on age level. In basketball look for the goal to be lowered(to at least 9 ft lower if we are talking five year olds) If your child is younger than six the best sports to start out with are T-Ball and Soccer(not a fan of soccer but it is an easy sport to play) Even still you will still have issues with attention span but in my experience those sports are they easiest for young children to play competitively.
The League: This is probably the most important component, see if you can find a parent that has had a child in that league in the past. Some leagues are great and others not so much. Check the rules on their website if available. You should also be able to find the accommodations they make for younger children there as well. Look for organization, if they don't have organized sign ups rest assured that the league itself will not be organized.
Your child: Everyone likes to believe that there child is great at everything and is super mature, but in reality we all know that children develop at different paces. Let your child develop at their own pace. Attention span is a big deal, sports take a great deal of concentration, your'e going to be frustrated with your child if they are picking flowers in the outfield or not running to one end of the court. What I do with your children is very different from an organized sport. I change games every five minutes and the games are built to have fun. The average coach in a youth league doesn't have experience with children other than their own. So they probably aren't going to tailor the way they coach to an age appropriate level. In the case of my own kids. We've waited on basketball and football, despite the fact that those are the sports that we want to play most.
For Basketball I don't like the way most leagues are structured for kids under 7. And football was too big a time commitment. You have to find the right fit for you family as well. We plan on playing both sports next year. We have enjoyed T-Ball because the time commitment is not as great and both boys were able to excel because of the nature of the sport.
You: To be honest, a lot of us(almost all of us) try to do too much. If your child has natural ability for a sport, one year won't make a bit of difference. Each parent has to look at there schedule and family life and see if the given sport is a good fit for them. I'll give you a couple examples. My son tried flag football at the age of 4(too young), practice was four nights a week and he actually complained about not being able to play outside and spend time with the family it was just too much.
My youngest son tried T ball at age 4 and it was too much. He cried all the time and didn't really understand why the game was so slow and the ball wasn't coming to him. We had to pull him out. Last year he played and did very well, he never cried and made a huge contribution to his team.
My oldest son also played T-ball, he really stood out. He was one of the best players in the league and subsequently made the All Star team. I was a very proud daddy. However the practices were every night of the week for a month. It was a huge commitment for our family and in the end my son didn't want to do it. I tried to convince him, his mom tried to convince him, parents from our team and coaches even tried to convince him. In the end I realized that as much as I wanted him to play, he didn't want to. So I told him that it was his decision.
I hope this has been helpful. As always contact me with any questions you have.
Ryder
