Competitive Sports Too Soon

Children nowadays start competitive sports at a young age, sometimes as young as 3 or 4 years old. How do these children know that they want to do dance or soccer when they are so young? The truth is that they don't. Parents in today's society have the power to choose what sport their child grows up competing in. I think that children start competing when they are too young, they are not old enough to decide what they want to do. I think that they should be able to try a few different sports before they choose one that they want to play competitively. Unfortunately, it can't work this way. If you wait too long to put your child into sports, the other children have already been at this sport for 4 or 5 year, making your child struggle to keep up with the rest of the kids.
Not only are children forced into sports that they may not even like at a young age, but they are also forced to do it competitively. Competitive, year-round sports start about as soon as kids can begin walking. I believe that this pressure is unnecessary and too much for kids. Their days should be spent playing outside and watching TV or reading a book that they enjoy. Not going to 2 hour long practices 3 nights a week.
Long practices also interfere with kids' sleep schedules. Coaches often can't reserve gyms or practice fields until later in the night during the school week, kids therefore don't get home until later and after eating and finishing school work they miss out on valuable hours of sleep.
Lastly, starting kids too young can cause them to get burnt out on the sport that they once loved. My brother, for example, started playing baseball when he was 5 years-old. He loved the sport and started playing it year-round when he was 9 years-old. By the time he made it to high school, he was tired of the pressure and the politics involved with the sport and quit. He loved the sport but he just got burnt out.
However, there are some benefits to getting your kids into sports young. On a team, they can learn how to make new friends and be respectable. They also learn how to be dependable to your team and others as well as learning teamwork and being a good sport, even when they lose. Also, some kids really love the sports that they do their whole childhood. It is great for them to be able to participate in the sport they love for as long as possible.
Still, I believe that kids are rushed into sports too young. They should be able to wait until they have tried different intramural sports or noncompetitive sports before they have to decide what sport they want to continue playing competitively.