Recreational hobbies and other accomplishments

As a child,  my mother enrolled me in a lot of extracurricular activities.  I was also invited to lots of tryouts by friends and teachers.

I have a lot of keepsakes, not photos,  reminding me my participations to those events and activities.  For some reasons my parents tend to not take photos and miss my performances.  Case in point, I was in an invitational only band camp and they missed my performance because they were too busy eating at a restaurant.   I practiced the whole freaking summer. After that I stopped inviting them to all my performances.  It's unfortunate because I am not a musician so they missed one of my best performance.

If your child doesn't like popular sports, I suggest trying to find something less well known or established for them to try.  It's easier for them to get awards!   For example, back in the early 2000's, I managed to place first in one category of the Canadian Wushu-Kung Fu Challenge.  There were only three or four of us in that category so the chances of being placed first, second or third was quite high but look at the shiny medal I got!  I had to memorize a whole routine and perform it in front of judges!  When I got first place, I was pleasantly surprised.  Practicing the routine was so boring though.

Medals are harder to obtain as you get older.   More competition.  So yeah,  remember to encourage your child to at least participate, maybe they will find something they love.

Note encourage, not force.  Huge difference!