I have so many thoughts that swirl about this. And for me, I like to disambiguate between elite individual sports and elite team sports. My brother was an elite team sportsman (baseball)- a pitcher; he blew out his elbow freshman year in college and frankly never recovered. He lost a major part of his self-identity, a major part of his social life and a serious organizational structure for his college experience. He wound up dropping out of college after 4 aimless years. And then the slide really began. There are MANY other factors to us losing him at 40 to opioids and alcohol but this was certainly part of it. I worry for children that have spent their lives chasing elite athletic endeavors when the train invariably STOPS sometime in young adulthood (there is no next level, school is over, a major injury). At least with something like running or tennis or martial arts or golf, one can imagine a lifetime of enjoyment even when elite success ends. It also allows for continued lifelong care for one's physical body. I know too many ex football, baseball and soccer players who let their bodies go bigtime when the structure of the team sport was gone.

TL;DR: I have two sons- currently 4. I want them to be amazing physical stewards of their bodies their whole lives, I want them to enjoy pushing themselves physically, and I do want them to be a part of a team. But I am so scared to ever get on the elite train with them. Frankly, I kinda hope they are mediocre athletes- will make life so much easier!