[shari91]

Just finished watching Rudy for the 10th time and was crying my eyes out from the first 5 minutes. Finally clicked in that I was crying so much because he was a runty underdog - and most likely my son will be the same if he decides to play a sport(s).

I know there are a lot of guys here who were/are great athletes to whatever level in their sport. Were any of you considered small for your sport? If so, I'd love to hear about it - what you accomplished and how you overcame the 'runt' factor. I think that's more amazing than a genetic freak succeeding at a sport they were basically built for.

Thanks.

[Domestic]

Also just watched it, first time I had seen it.
Was a good sports film.

[lonesomeloser]

...

[stevek173]

I was very good at beach volleyball. 178th ranked on the Jersey shore in my peak. Great? No. Very good? Yes. We beat pro players. They got pissed those people were such hot heads then. Shari my jump serve and my high line hit? Sick.

They changed the ruled though and the sport passed me by though.

Was great, was just great, not much money in it but we all played so hard, it was more about the challenge and bettering yourself. We all had real life jobs.

[JMobile]

This guy was trying out for college baseball the year I played.
He was about 5'7 and kind of thin.
He always hit the ball pass the infield and get on base.
He would steal bases too.
He played 2nd base, my position, and I thought I was gonna get replaced.

in 3 weeks, he was cut. All of us were wondering why he got cut. But at least he made us college guys ask about him because he was good talent.

[jjgold]

Shari your a wimp

Rudy did not excel, he was a fukkin hamburger

Get tougher

[str]

Anyone can play any sport when they are young.As they get older,size chases many out.But for those that truly love what they do ,their heart and love of the game,brings on a drive and determination that larger,gifted players come to envy.
Those players have not had to deal with the obstacles that the less gifted or smaller players have learned to use as a means of motivation.
I had the pleasure of introducing a MLB player to a group of kids(100+) playing youth baseball(6-18) this fall to talk about high school,college ,the minors and playing and starting for the Detroit Tigers this past year.The guy is 5 ft. 9 in. and weighs 155 ringing wet.This player absolutely blew the parents and kids away with his knowledge,wit,humor,and class.The impact he made on all of us was greater than any large ,gifted,super player could have ever had.What he taught those kids is that you do not have to be the biggest and strongest person to be successful.What you do need to be is simply a person who has a cause;who at the best,knows in the end the triumph of high achievement;and who at worst,if he fails,at least fails while daring greatly.
Bottom line is this.Your kid or kids can do anything he or she wants to. All they have to do is want it and be willing to work for it.
Oh, and one more thing.Tell them to dream big!The sky is the limit.
Best of luck.
I hope this helps.

[Wulfman14]

mugsy bogues, olivier rochus, david eckstein, manny pacquiao, martin st louis, maurice jones drew , sachin tendulkar , lionel messi

just to name a few.

nuff said

[PDW]

Wrestling can be a good sport for a little guy to excel in mainly because he will be competing against guys his same size.

[brooks85]

^definitely wrestling

[pavyracer]

I'm pretty sure there are hundreds of jockeys that excelled in horse racing.

[jjgold]

Now mugsy is a success story, spud webb and of course others but do not come in here and Say Rudy

That clumsy fuk was a nobody, nice movie but thats all

[maersksealand]

small guys don't join sports teams...they will be embarrassed with their small package while taking a shower with the teammates. So they tend to become chefs, artists, writers...they tend to choose artistic solo careers.

[Wrecktangle]

5'10" 140 lbs in HS & college

Excelled at table tennis, soccer, and chess, so-so in track (lettered at mile), baskets, flag football.

Beat the Dutch National doubles champs in one game of three at Table Tennis.

Plenty of sports where "runts" can excel, BTW.

[PDW]

Bowling can be a good one too. Make sure you get him started throwing two handed like your boy Jason Belmonte.

[Jimmy0607]

I had scholarship offers to play soccer but I blew my knee my senior year and everything went downhill

[pavyracer]

Small soccer players are also excelling. Maradona, Pele and others were very small guys.

[shaggy3000]

try to get him into golf. i played it all the way to college. quit the college team after my freshmen year. its great for everything. plus he will always get nice connections in business work. Golf will never be a bad thing. plus i hear they have great junior programs in Aus.

and Steve if you really played volleyball thats awesome. one of the best sports i ever played. im pretty good myself but in college thats the go to sport here. always keeps the girls close. they love tanning by the court and always look good doing it.

[cant call it]

I was always the smallest person in our baseball league but dominated playing it, was usually the fastest regardless of how short I was, finished on the #1 team ever year in my short 10 year career, little league baseball that is

[thekid667]

I was able to excell at soccer despite being five four . I'm 32, love the game ,and still play for an adult league here in Tallahassee, Fl..If your looking for athletics for your child to play i would suggest soccer or wrestling.

[Jimmy Proffett]

there are a lot of asian dudes that are little and excel at ping-pong and badminton

[shaggy3000]

small guys don't join sports teams...they will be embarrassed with their small package while taking a shower with the teammates. So they tend to become chefs, artists, writers...they tend to choose artistic solo careers.

wow this most be gay. only way to determine package size is to see it. so i hes seen enough cocks in his life to determine the size by body build...

[eidolon]

size only matters when it cums to pizza and sandwiches.

[stealthyburrito]

shar, you've seen me on cam a few times, and others through my vids, and you know im not a particularly big guy. would you believe i played offensive line in HS?? true story, about 6 years and 80 lbs. ago.

i wasn't necessarily undersized in the girth of my waist department, but i wasn't tall, at the time around 5' 6.5". i started jv, but was a backup for the varsity squad. our team made the state playoffs so i was psyched, but i was one of the last cuts for the playoff rosters so that put a damper on my spirits. but every good little underdog story has a bit of luck thrown in, and i lucked out with an injury to a fellow lineman so i got to suit up. we made it to state finals in 04, i was super psyched to play and get a ring, it was our little superbowl. unfortunately a young stud WR who now plays pro bowl caliber WR and return man for the minnesota vikings gave our team a devastating beatdown that my HS's program has not entirely recovered from to this day.

but i enjoyed the experience of being there and playing in the game, despite the loss.

[eidolon]

also, don't put him into wrestling. Almost every wrestler I know looks back and hated the sport, no matter how good they were.

[big0mar]

give him hgh if you dont want him to be small

[mmike032]

excelled in basketball. 3 yr starter at point guard...
was about 5' 120LBs back then, used to get knocked around, pushed, thrown, etc... but I was quick as a cat and had Pete Maravich ball handling skills. once coaches taught me to throw elbows legally and not be flagrant about it ( broke a kids nose once) they backed off and gave me my space. lots of good memories and lessons learned.
never hit the weight room like the coaches told me to so once I got to the college level I couldn't make it. the size and quickness at the next level jumps exponentially.


but my 9 yr old son is built like me . this past yr in football he was the QB/ RB/ LB, and sometimes cornerback.
averaged over 240 YDs rushing and 2TDs a game on an 80 YD field. they would just run the spread offense and hike the ball to him and he's juke and jive his way to the endzone. on defense he would punish other kids even though he's smaller than most. he's just tuff as hell. goodtimes

got him signed up for youth arena league football which starts this month. I cant wait for it to start. they play all the games in the arena before our local team plays homegames...

[onetrickpony]

played #1 doubles first year i played and we won the hs championship, it didnt hurt having the top 5 hs prospect playing for us

[stealthyburrito]

give him hgh if you dont want him to be small

i know this is probably in jest, but it is a viable option for people with stunted growth.

my roommate my freshman year of college was 5'2" and started taking hgh halfway through the year. unfortunately, the doctors informed him it was more then likely to late to affect any height growth, but it would allow him to experience a decent rate in muscle growth. he told me he declined to take it when he was still in jr. high, which is obviously the time when growth spurts occur for the majority of people. if he had taken it during that time he could've experienced at least a few extra inches in height (nothing major, like 2-3 inches in height)

but of course, its all about how much value you put into physical appearance and height. in his younger years he wasn't overly concerned but he started to immerse himself into studies regarding height. he's been mistaken more then a few times for being a pre-teen, despite his facial features making him look 5 years older then myself, which bothers him immensely. occasionally, me and my friends have to deal with episodes of "short man's syndrome" but nothing too terrible. at the end of the day, height is just another numerical descriptor of physical apperance. perhaps its easier to say for someone such as myself who is avg. height.

[Wrecktangle]

Shari, thanks for the points.

One thing you should watch out for is to not allow your son to play American Football as it is a sport out of control. Almost all the people I grew up with who played have messed up knees, concussions, etc to the point where they must modify their lives when they get older. The coaches have always trained these kids to injure each other. Soccer headers can be a real issue, too.

Thankfully I have none of these issues, but I basically played non-impact sports.

[jgray]

5'10" 140 lbs in HS & college

Excelled at table tennis, soccer, and chess, so-so in track (lettered at mile), baskets, flag football.

Beat the Dutch National doubles champs in one game of three at Table Tennis.

Plenty of sports where "runts" can excel, BTW.

Chess? Really? Not a "sport" that traditionally comes to mind where size is an issue. Was it difficult to reach the pieces on the other side of the board?

[pavyracer]

Shari, thanks for the points.

One thing you should watch out for is to not allow your son to play American Football as it is a sport out of control. Almost all the people I grew up with who played have messed up knees, concussions, etc to the point where they must modify their lives when they get older. The coaches have always trained these kids to injure each other. Soccer headers can be a real issue, too.

Thankfully I have none of these issues, but I basically played non-impact sports.

Shari's son is going to be a pro in Aussie football. He won't be a wimp playing American football and wear helmets and pads.

[stevenash]

5 ' 7" did OK in scholastic wrestling and baseball

[FuzzyDunlop]

Was 5'8" with a D-II soccer scholarship. Walked on the basketball team as back up 2-guard sophomore year, started as a senior.

[bozeman]

i don't know if a lot of you guys would laugh a lot, but i was a chess-player. Ranked 2nd in Montana Grand Prix for Championship in 2003-2004. 2122 was my highest rating back then, which qualifies as a Candidate for Master of Sport(according to this rating system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified...em_of_the_USSR).
In the States in Montana I was the second best player of the State, cause only the champion Novak could beat me more than once. But in Ukraine, I was only 7th on youth tournaments - sincerely i didn't have to overcome that - i grew up and chess just weren't a moneymaker for me, though i love my Dad even more for his coaching - cause that develops thinking a GREAT DEAL. Teach your kids chess.