PSA Travel Ball

[DesotoCountyDawg]

I think a lot of people that are frustrated by travel ball (any sport) and don't participate are angry because they feel left out.... Not as in they are missing something, just out in the cold with no option. It's not unreasonable to think that you'd like to have your kid participate in a sport and not have to give up the rest of your (and your family's) life to facilitate it. So many folks don't have their kid play baseball/basketball/soccer after the youngest ages because of the time commitment. Which is sad. Almost everyone has to choose now .. multi sport athletes at a low, often brutally poor quality or give in to early specialization.

Thats pretty spot on from what I see. It’s not so much the money burden and more of a time burden. It really sucks if you do travel ball and have other kids too. You spend all this time traveling and the rest just have to tag along. And don’t get me wrong there are a lot of families who enjoy it but I know someone who has two daughters with the younger one playing softball and they are gone every weekend. The older daughter got to where she really hated it because she couldn’t ever do anything on the weekends.

 

[johnson86-1]

Generally agree. But also generally, guys with a small wood working shop in the corner of the garage aren't pressuring and screaming at their 8 year old to "hold it straight when you put in the planer" because Dad would have been on "This Old House" if not for that elbow tweek he got in 10th grade shop class.

Damn, I felt pretty seen reading through the bolded part. Glad you finished up with the rest of it that isn't applicable to me so I don't have to feel bad about how i act.**

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Generally agree. But also generally, guys with a small wood working shop in the corner of the garage aren't pressuring and screaming at their 8 year old to "hold it straight when you put in the planer" because Dad would have been on "This Old House" if not for that elbow tweek he got in 10th grade shop class.

Speak for yourself pal. I went D-1 in woodworking at the finest Forest Products school and upholstered furniture laboratory in the country. I placed 7th in the country as a sophomore in wood identification and the other 6 fellers were all upperclassmen. I know what it takes to turn a boy into a true craftsman.

I don't cut my boys any slack in the shop... If you can't make an acceptable dovetailed drawer with nothing but a Japanese dozuki, a plank of kiln dried maple, and a block plane by middle school... How in the hell do you ever expect to get accepted into the preservation carpentry program at the North Bennett Street School in Boston?

 

[Villagedawg]

Speak for yourself pal. I went D-1 in woodworking at the finest Forest Products school and upholstered furniture laboratory in the country. I placed 7th in the country as a sophomore in wood identification and the other 6 fellers were all upperclassmen. I know what it takes to turn a boy into a true craftsman.

I don't cut my boys any slack in the shop... If you can't make an acceptable dovetailed drawer with nothing but a Japanese dozuki, a plank of kiln dried maple, and a block plane by middle school... How in the hell do you ever expect to get accepted into the preservation carpentry program at the North Bennett Street School in Boston?

Admittedly, Winona Rec League Woodworking ain't gonna get you there!

 

[johnson86-1]

Thats pretty spot on from what I see. It’s not so much the money burden and more of a time burden. It really sucks if you do travel ball and have other kids too. You spend all this time traveling and the rest just have to tag along. And don’t get me wrong there are a lot of families who enjoy it but I know someone who has two daughters with the younger one playing softball and they are gone every weekend. The older daughter got to where she really hated it because she couldn’t ever do anything on the weekends.

I have seen the other dynamic a few times. Younger kid that is a good athlete still hates it not because he or she hates the sport, but because there is so much resentment from having to spend every weekend and lots of weeknights stuck in the car or watching practice and games. I've also seen a couple of younger siblings that are not as good where I'm pretty sure a big part of it is that while the older sibling got to play after school and on the weekends and developed their coordination and athleticism, the younger sibling spent all their free time in a car or in the stands.

I get there are tradeoffs to be made when there are multiple children, but it's still amazing to me to see parents basically decide that the activities of one child just dictates everything for other children. We make our children support their siblings sometimes and cheer for them and when it works out, we let them do other things rather than watching whatever activity of their sibling. We really, really try to not make one sit in a car during or watch the practice of a sibling. If it's unavoidable, it's unavoidable, but that just seems like a recipe to breed resentment between siblings.

I have a relative that put two younger siblings in the car one day a week for three hours (1.5 hours each way) to watch a 2 hour long practice. So one day a week, every week, they had 5 straight hours just sucked up into being stationary and generally inactive for three or maybe four years plus weekend tournaments. Neither of the younger two played any sports. I have no clue if they just hated them after all that travel or if they just couldn't feasibly play because of the schedule they kept for the oldest. To top it all off the oldest one kept a scholarship for all of one year.

 

[HRMSU]

One issue with travel ball that’s always going to be an issue- no matter how elite a team is top to bottom, some kid has to play right field, some kid has to bat last, and some kids will have to sit the bench some. So with the tournament formats, there will always be kids who may be really solid players, but they get kind of lost in the shuffle on their specific team and don’t get to develop as much as they could if they were a lead player on a lesser team.

My son is an example. He’s in the second year of 8u. We turned down a few bottom level travel teams. Our rec league team is weaker than the last few years, with half the team being clueless. So I told him before the season he needed to be a good example for the other kids, and he’s stepped it up and become an alpha in the infield. On a travel team, he might have been a bottom feeder that just got stuck somewhere. So now if we do eventually go to travel ball, he’ll be more confident and better prepared.
It does help that I know what the crap I’m doing as far as teaching him, and I’m willing to put in the time with him on the side. Kids without involved dads are going to struggle without the lessons and extra practices.

Good stuff and having gone through it and made it out on the other side I think there is enormous life benefits for your kid having to be the Dude at least one season. So, if little Johnny is on the cusp to making the jump from rec ball to select/travel have him play one more season in rec where he has to be the alpha, the team leader, the guy everyone looks to make a play and carry the load. It's amazing what it will do for their confidence.

 

[JamesStark]

Good stuff and having gone through it and made it out on the other side I think there is enormous life benefits for your kid having to be the Dude at least one season. So, if little Johnny is on the cusp to making the jump from rec ball to select/travel have him play one more season in rec where he has to be the alpha, the team leader, the guy everyone looks to make a play and carry the load. It's amazing what it will do for their confidence.

This is pretty much my take after years of both travel and rec.

Travel ball has lots of negatives but hurting the rec league isn't really one of them. Kids in rec are getting opportunities that they never would have gotten if travel ball was abolished. Johnny allstar and his buddies aren't taking reps from benchwarmer Billy, so he gets to play in meaningful situations every game. He has a chance to develop at his own pace and possibly be at the same level as the good players in high school. It probably won't happen but at least now has the reps and experience.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Travel ball has lots of negatives but hurting the rec league isn't really one of them. Kids in rec are getting opportunities that they never would have gotten if travel ball was abolished. Johnny allstar and his buddies aren't taking reps from benchwarmer Billy, so he gets to play in meaningful situations every game. He has a chance to develop at his own pace and possibly be at the same level as the good players in high school. It probably won't happen but at least now has the reps and experience.

Where do you live? The rec leagues in the Jackson area suck. NWRAA is hanging on by a thread, because they are volunteers. The city-run ones are a joke. They play like 10 games, never make them up, and have like a 4-run limit per inning and a 50-minute time limit. Pitching sucks. May as well not be out there until All-Stars. I'm talking 12 and under here, but mainly 10 and under. Halfway coherent rec ends after 10U pretty much everywhere.

 

[JamesStark]

Where do you live? The rec leagues in the Jackson area suck. NWRAA is hanging on by a thread, because they are volunteers. The city-run ones are a joke. They play like 10 games, never make them up, and have like a 4-run limit per inning and a 50-minute time limit. Pitching sucks. May as well not be out there until All-Stars. I'm talking 12 and under here, but mainly 10 and under. Halfway coherent rec ends after 10U pretty much everywhere.

Desoto county. My point though isn't that the competition in rec league's is good, it's that it is bad enough in the ages above 9-10U, that even kids that are poor athletes get meaningful reps at desirable positions. Ideally they develop a love for the game that they wouldn't have gotten sitting on the bench, watching others play.

Once kids hit the big field (60/90) most quit if they don't love the game, regardless of the league that they played in.

 

[TimberBeast]

I can't speak for baseball but when my daughter was 6 her tennis coach told me you have to put her in a tournament, probably in Jackson. I was like there is no way I'm putting my 6 year old daughter in a tennis tournament. He said none of the other kids here (at our club) can even hit the ball back to her. We drove over to Jackson and just watched a tournament and there wasn't much to it at all so we put her in one the next month. After that it was at least once a month for the next 6 years. She was playing two sports at that time so we were traveling all over the South for both of those. She plays on an SEC team now in the other sport.

Point being, sometimes you are going to have to travel to play better competition. It's just the nature of the beast.

 

[dogmatic001]

I know a guy that puts tournaments on. It's a tax free cash grab. I guess everyone wins, right?

He's the clearest winner for sure.

 

[dogmatic001]

Lost some good friends to travel ball.
My kids average at most sports and got asked to do one of the three travel ball clubs in our small town and we declined.
He likes to play soccer, fish, and read probably in that order.
He enjoys baseball but not passionate about it so we do rec and he has fun.
We’ll probably do a soccer club before jr high because that’s his favorite and one he’s doing best at.

My son's story is similar - he liked and still likes to fish, hunt, shoot, play yard blitz ball/football/basketball, do lots of things besides baseball and the amount of individual practice time required to participate effectively. When I make this argument, it feels like I'm asking everyone else to be less prepared to better match my son's intensity - but to have any reasonable baseball experience at all we had to go the "travel" route because rec ball was an un-funny joke - there was no in between we could find.

We joined travel teams that didn't necessarily practice and play 18 months a year, but that was about the only compromise we could find. He wound up playing travel-ball-light, Cotton States junior high and then high school in New Albany, school ball from seventh grade through graduation, and continued yard ball throughout. Performance-wise he was on the low side of average on his school ball teams, average or better on his Cotton States teams, mid to high average on the travel ball teams. That amount of commitment was the minimum acceptable to get to have any reasonable baseball experience and it was a whole lot.

He never was a strong hitter until the very end of his high school senior season and, by then, it was too late to make much difference. So much of a baseball kid's baseball standing is determined by his bat.

He's 19 now and this February marked the first since he was 4 years old that we weren't practicing and playing some form of baseball all the time. It hasn't left as large a hole in our lives as I'd imagined it would because he has so many other interests, but there's a hole nonetheless.

Coming out of coach pitch at about 7 or 8, most of his friends tried out for/joined the city-sponsored select travel team - he was burned out at the moment and I didn't push him to take part, which left him out of that opportunity permanently - that lapse on my part has been pointed to continuously ever since, but I'm not at all sure I was wrong. Not sure at all.

 

[johnson86-1]

Coming out of coach pitch at about 7 or 8, most of his friends tried out for/joined the city-sponsored select travel team - he was burned out at the moment and I didn't push him to take part, which left him out of that opportunity permanently - that lapse on my part has been pointed to continuously ever since, but I'm not at all sure I was wrong. Not sure at all.

I think that is a really underrated driver of the travel ball phenomenon. Lots of affluent people that know they aren't great athletes see it as a way to limit a lot of competition early. Our rec baseball league is terrible, and it's still got a lot of athletes that if all the kids were part of a program looking at development to make the best high school program, those athletes would be selected for development over the the vast majority of the players that have been playing travel ball since 7 or 8 years old. I think a lot of these parents without really acknowledging it, maybe even to themselves, see baseball as a sport you can stack the deck in a way you can't for football or basketball. It's basically golf and baseball, and then tennis, where most good athletes can't pick it up in Jr. high or even early high school and their athleticism trump the fact that other people have been training for years. Soccer is sort of in between. Athleticism still matters more than baseball, but its sort of hit or miss whether a good athlete can quickly catch his ball skills up.

 

[dogmatic001]

I think that is a really underrated driver of the travel ball phenomenon. Lots of affluent people that know they aren't great athletes see it as a way to limit a lot of competition early. Our rec baseball league is terrible, and it's still got a lot of athletes that if all the kids were part of a program looking at development to make the best high school program, those athletes would be selected for development over the the vast majority of the players that have been playing travel ball since 7 or 8 years old. I think a lot of these parents without really acknowledging it, maybe even to themselves, see baseball as a sport you can stack the deck in a way you can't for football or basketball. It's basically golf and baseball, and then tennis, where most good athletes can't pick it up in Jr. high or even early high school and their athleticism trump the fact that other people have been training for years. Soccer is sort of in between. Athleticism still matters more than baseball, but its sort of hit or miss whether a good athlete can quickly catch his ball skills up.

Oh that's 100% the case in our case here. No matter how good the raw athlete, there's technical proficiency necessary that's impossible to just pick up in organized practices. If you don't learn it on your own, you don't learn it.

In my son's case, there were plenty of baseball availabilities everywhere you looked, but the step to the first rung of the city's city-sponsored travel ball team program wasn't taken when it was our opportunity to take it and, once the moment had passed, there was little to zero opportunity to get onto the ladder, even though there were tryouts each summer. The fraternity pledge class was set in elementary school and it would have been a prohibitively-awkward maneuver to join it in motion years down the line.

I sincerely doubt it would have been the happy experience it's been insisted I caused us to miss. My son didn't want to work out at the batting cages on his own time 100 days a year for one thing, so it would have been unfair to the rest of the team to hold a spot through political connection, which I am confident we could have done. He fought his way into school ball at the seventh grade level, and it would be foolish for me to pretend at least some of that didn't play a role then.

FWIW, several of those boys are playing non-Division I college baseball now. You haven't heard of any of them. There's one you may hear of, but probably not. That's a goal only gently talked about along the way, in much the way everyone who buys a lottery ticket says it's just for fun but, have no doubt, that secret, core motivation is there.

Tim Green, who played tight end in the NFL and has written some books, points out there's nothing wrong with dreaming big and dedicating a life to the dreams, and I don't disagree. It's a good life, and fine, but it's not the life my son wanted. He's good friends with several of them and they hang out to hunt and do other things now though, so it's not like they're excluded from his life. He just didn't live in baseball-land with them 250 days a year for several years. Plus, he's very social and makes friends easily - that was more than 50% of his enjoyment of baseball too - so he has no dearth of friends.

 

[johnson86-1]

Tim Green, who played tight end in the NFL and has written some books, points out there's nothing wrong with dreaming big and dedicating a life to the dreams, and I don't disagree. It's a good life, and fine, but it's not the life my son wanted.

That's all true, but one thing I've noticed, is almost without exception, the parents I know that were actually high level athletes are the least sucked up into the travel ball insanity. Granted that's easier to do if you know your kid is a high level athlete, but i know some who have kids with their athleticism coming from the non-athlete spouse, and they aren't out there shuttling their kid around at 8, I assume because they saw enough real athletes to know it's just not going to be the determining factor for the vast majority of kids. The most insane ones seem to be a mix of people that didn't get to play high school ball because they went to a big school and really view high school baseball as an accomplishment, or parents that were at that borderline JUCO/DIII level and I guess think they were right on the threshold of something bigger and think that the "high level" coaching they are paying for at 8 to 11 years old is going to be the difference.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Lots of affluent people that know they aren't great athletes see it as a way to limit a lot of competition early.

This is not true. This sounds like a made-up fear that's coming from a disdain of the system. It's bad, but it ain't THAT bad. Being a good player is the first step in any of it.

That's all true, but one thing I've noticed, is almost without exception, the parents I know that were actually high level athletes are the least sucked up into the travel ball insanity. Granted that's easier to do if you know your kid is a high level athlete, but i know some who have kids with their athleticism coming from the non-athlete spouse, and they aren't out there shuttling their kid around at 8, I assume because they saw enough real athletes to know it's just not going to be the determining factor for the vast majority of kids. The most insane ones seem to be a mix of people that didn't get to play high school ball because they went to a big school and really view high school baseball as an accomplishment, or parents that were at that borderline JUCO/DIII level and I guess think they were right on the threshold of something bigger and think that the "high level" coaching they are paying for at 8 to 11 years old is going to be the difference.

They complain about it but eventually do it anyway.

 

[johnson86-1]

This is not true. This sounds like a made-up fear that's coming from a disdain of the system. It's bad, but it ain't THAT bad. Being a good player is the first step in any of it.

Maybe where we live is particularly bad, but that's not the case here. But they're also starting in coach pitch or even forming teams in teeball in some instances. It's basically parents willing to spend some money and working with their kid enough that they at least pay attention during the game and can catch a ball thrown to them. Certainly they end up grabbing most of the good players, but they still have to be affluent enough to pay. Oddly enough soccer is where you see more kids from non-affluent backgrounds that are good where I live. I mean, it makes sense as it is more about athleticism, but it's just different from when we grew up when baseball was for everybody and soccer was still very much a niche sport in the grand scheme of things, and some decent sized towns didn't even have rec leagues.

They complain about it but eventually do it anyway.

Eventually at like 6th grade, which to me is not really a problem for rec leagues. If I was king of the world, I'd prefer travel be generally for elite players at or right after puberty, or for non elite players, something they do at that time in addition to rec, but you're basically a year away from most jr high sports at that point, which are going to generally kill rec anyway (which also seems somewhat crazy to me; drunk college kids get all the rec they want through intramurals no matter how bad they are, but we don't really provide similar options for drunk or even sober high school kids?).

The ones I have known with good athletes might let their kids add on for a tournament here or there, which teams are always pretty much happy to take them on whatever terms they dictate, but they don't go all in. I mean, this is a small sample, so maybe it's not generally the case, but just what I have noticed.

 

[ronpolk]

Maybe where we live is particularly bad, but that's not the case here. But they're also starting in coach pitch or even forming teams in teeball in some instances. It's basically parents willing to spend some money and working with their kid enough that they at least pay attention during the game and can catch a ball thrown to them. Certainly they end up grabbing most of the good players, but they still have to be affluent enough to pay. Oddly enough soccer is where you see more kids from non-affluent backgrounds that are good where I live. I mean, it makes sense as it is more about athleticism, but it's just different from when we grew up when baseball was for everybody and soccer was still very much a niche sport in the grand scheme of things, and some decent sized towns didn't even have rec leagues.


Eventually at like 6th grade, which to me is not really a problem for rec leagues. If I was king of the world, I'd prefer travel be generally for elite players at or right after puberty, or for non elite players, something they do at that time in addition to rec, but you're basically a year away from most jr high sports at that point, which are going to generally kill rec anyway (which also seems somewhat crazy to me; drunk college kids get all the rec they want through intramurals no matter how bad they are, but we don't really provide similar options for drunk or even sober high school kids?).

The ones I have known with good athletes might let their kids add on for a tournament here or there, which teams are always pretty much happy to take them on whatever terms they dictate, but they don't go all in. I mean, this is a small sample, so maybe it's not generally the case, but just what I have noticed.

You definitely seem to be the most opposed to travel ball I’ve ever seen.

 

[johnson86-1]

You definitely seem to be the most opposed to travel ball I’ve ever seen.

Outside of people making documentaries about the money grab, I don't know of anybody that hates it more.

 

[turkish]

I've never seen a subject get people riled up like travel baseball. I never see many people that were involved with travel get all upset, in fact, its quite the opposite. Most people involved say they made great memories and those were some of the best times of their life. The argument from the naysayers tend to be why are y'all spending all that money to drive 2 hours to play the same teams you just played to win a plastic ring or the like.

I don't see long threads bashing the fisherman for spending thousands of dollars and hours of travel to... fish. Or the crazy amount of money spent for all the gear required and securing land to duck hunt. How about that home down payment to go to Colorado and have some one guide you to a deer. Let's see some threads about how ridiculous it is to pay up front and monthly fees in order to hit some golf balls. Don't you think it is just crazy to spend 50k on a tractor and implements to maintain the 5 acres of land just purchased.

I could go on and on. The point is people have extra money to spend somewhere and nobody cares what other people do with their money, except travel ball. 'Tis funny to me, but, ultimately I think it is because all those other activities can be done by anyone no matter how bad you suck. But if your kid is not good at the travel ball sport, he/she won't find the field. And nothing pisses off parents/grandparents more than telling their offspring they just ain't good enough, hence travel ball is the devil.

PSA: Don't let what other people do with their time and money get you upset if it is not directly affecting you. Ultimately, people seek out a hobby that brings them pleasure. And more times than not the hobby is not very productive toward anything of substance as it is designed for personal pleasure and relief from everyday real world problems. Have a nice day and find yourself a hobby!

That’s a long post to say “I ain’t mad. You’re, mad.”

I've never seen a subject get people riled up like travel baseball. I never see many people that were involved with travel get all upset, in fact, its quite the opposite. Most people involved say they made great memories and those were some of the best times of their life. The argument from the naysayers tend to be why are y'all spending all that money to drive 2 hours to play the same teams you just played to win a plastic ring or the like.

I don't see long threads bashing the fisherman for spending thousands of dollars and hours of travel to... fish. Or the crazy amount of money spent for all the gear required and securing land to duck hunt. How about that home down payment to go to Colorado and have some one guide you to a deer. Let's see some threads about how ridiculous it is to pay up front and monthly fees in order to hit some golf balls. Don't you think it is just crazy to spend 50k on a tractor and implements to maintain the 5 acres of land just purchased.

I could go on and on. The point is people have extra money to spend somewhere and nobody cares what other people do with their money, except travel ball. 'Tis funny to me, but, ultimately I think it is because all those other activities can be done by anyone no matter how bad you suck. But if your kid is not good at the travel ball sport, he/she won't find the field. And nothing pisses off parents/grandparents more than telling their offspring they just ain't good enough, hence travel ball is the devil.

PSA: Don't let what other people do with their time and money get you upset if it is not directly affecting you. Ultimately, people seek out a hobby that brings them pleasure. And more times than not the hobby is not very productive toward anything of substance as it is designed for personal pleasure and relief from everyday real world problems. Have a nice day and find yourself a hobby!

You sound really insecure.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

You definitely seem to be the most opposed to travel ball I’ve ever seen.

Haha. I remember talking to @johnson86-1 back when I was in the throes of it a few years ago. I understand it. I eventually just accepted the reality. As I get older I have to do that regarding a lot of shltty things (like college sports).

 

[ronpolk]

Outside of people making documentaries about the money grab, I don't know of anybody that hates it more.

I definitely don’t like it. And luckily I’m not in it yet. But I got a young boy that right now definitely is on the right trajectory for it. I’m going to fight it off as long as I can but I’m at a point where I’ve accepted the inevitable. We do both fall and spring rec ball and each season the competition seems to get worse. You think you’d see improvement but there is none with 90% of the players. And slowly you’ll see a few kids getting siphoned off.

Trust me, I recognize it as a money grab too but I also know there is virtually no chance of even making high school teams around here without getting swept up in this.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

They play like 10 games, never make them up, and have like a 4-run limit per inning and a 50-minute time limit.

That wounds perfect.

 

[Bulldog45]

Serious question, I see all the comments about cost and I realize you can spend as much as you want on just about anything, but how much are the average travel ballers spending every year for this? Would like some fairly solid numbers and not just a bunch of speculation if it’s available.

 

[paindonthurt]

Ask an orthopedist.

You are more of an expert than goat aren’t you.

 

[paindonthurt]

Don’t care what you spend your money on, but the current get-in cost for youth sports is a problem. Travel ball generally hurts local recreational leagues which used to be the place everyone in a community could go and compete in. It’s a loss when the local little league park is no longer a community connection point.

Deal with it.

I don’t love travel ball but people can do whatever the 17 they want with their money.

you can still have rec leagues and they can be successful.

People complain about everything.

 

[paindonthurt]

I dunno - I have hobbies and don't feel the need to defend them when folks shiit on them. If anything, it makes me a little glad more folks don't participate since that helps keep crowds and prices down.

Do people publicly attack your hobbies and you for doing them?

 

[paindonthurt]

I think what gets some folks riled up is the fact that it involves kids.
It’s one thing for an adult to choose an expensive or time consuming hobby for themself. It’s another when there’s a developing child involved, who may or may not enjoy or benefit from the activity as much as the adult.

There are some folks who do seem to feel that travel ball is just this evil entity, and that’s unfortunate because it’s a great option an experience for some kids. But I just don’t accept the narrative that travel ball is required to be athletic or successful in a sport. So as with most things in life, there’s a balance to be had.

It’s no different than adults with their kids before travel ball.

some are perfectly normal and some are over the top.

I have several buddies whose kids do travel ball. If the kids wanted to stop, they’d most likely let them immediately and be happy about it.

 

[L4Dawg]

You are more of an expert than goat aren’t you.

You are a fine one to talk.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Serious question, I see all the comments about cost and I realize you can spend as much as you want on just about anything, but how much are the average travel ballers spending every year for this? Would like some fairly solid numbers and not just a bunch of speculation if it’s available.

It's not as bad as most say, depending on what you want to do.

I ran a team all the way through 12U. Paid field rental, insurance, 2 basic uniforms, equipment and tournament fees. 11 man team, split everything uniformly, stayed local around Jackson. Sometimes we would go to Magee or Brookhaven or Winona. Only overnight travel was the state tournament and honestly that was kinda fun, even in small town MS. Was around $700-$800 outside of the travel expense, gate fees, eating out, etc. That's for about 40 games. So when you consider rec is $150 for about 10 games, it's basically like you're paying for more games.

It's still a rip-off, because they squeeze them all into a weekend. And gate fees add up.

All that said......I'm an honest guy. I have attended a lot of tryouts and heard people who run things talk about what they are charging and acting like it's all transparent. It's not. They are absolutely putting in profit for themselves. This one group was basically going at the way I was and was charging $2,000. And then obviously sometimes you have a paid coach, who may couple in a membership to D-Bat or whatever. And some places have their own facility. It's all about what you want out of it. My team understood that one on one work had to be done at home or elsewhere, as our 1-2 team practices per week were for team activities only. Just didn't have the time to pound out drills constantly and things like that.

Then you also can do fundraising or sponsorships, which are kinda bullshlt too but hey if you can convince suckers to pay for your stuff for you, good for you.

This is all kid ball though, remember. Once you get to 7th/8th grade you have to be a little more strategic, and it's not quite as 'fun'. I quit coaching at that level.

 

[turkish]

Serious question, I see all the comments about cost and I realize you can spend as much as you want on just about anything, but how much are the average travel ballers spending every year for this? Would like some fairly solid numbers and not just a bunch of speculation if it’s available.

You assume the travel ballers actually want to know. If they were responsible enough with their money to carefully track this data, well…

And I support their right to do with their money what they want.

 

[paindonthurt]

You are a fine one to talk.

So you are an expert or you aren't?

 

[L4Dawg]

So you are an expert or you aren't?

I said to ask an expert. Evidently that is a foreign concept to you.

 

[paindonthurt]

I said to ask an expert. Evidently that is a foreign concept to you.

So you think all ortho surgeons are gonna say travel ball is bad?

Really?

 

[L4Dawg]

So you think all ortho surgeons are gonna say travel ball is bad?

Really?

You seem determined to argue with yourself here. Have at it.

 

[paindonthurt]

You seem determined to argue with yourself here. Have at it.

I'm just pointing out you are wrong. Thanks for admitting it.

 

[3-2 Dawg]

Deal with it.

I don’t love travel ball but people can do whatever the 17 they want with their money.

you can still have rec leagues and they can be successful.

People complain about everything.

Thanks for your contribution. Always such a ray of sunshine.

 

[paindonthurt]

Thanks for your contribution. Always such a ray of sunshine.

Funny coming from someone worrying about what other people do with their time and money.

real ray of sunshine!

 

[Trazom]

If travel ball yields the ******** you see in the orange SEC dugouts, then just nuke it from orbit.

 

[Duggar Hall Desk]

This is pretty much my take after years of both travel and rec.

Travel ball has lots of negatives but hurting the rec league isn't really one of them. Kids in rec are getting opportunities that they never would have gotten if travel ball was abolished. Johnny allstar and his buddies aren't taking reps from benchwarmer Billy, so he gets to play in meaningful situations every game. He has a chance to develop at his own pace and possibly be at the same level as the good players in high school. It probably won't happen but at least now has the reps and experience.

I agree that the better players going to travel ball gives kids of lesser talent an opportunity to play in rec leagues, but there aren't enough of those players to sustain a league. The competition level decreasing leads the players who really want to play to find somewhere else to play, and the interest in rec league dwindles. Rec leagues need kids to stay in the system as long as possible, but as travel leagues keep developing for younger and younger kids, rec leagues are definitely hurting for players.

In NC, travel leagues are growing and Little League is generally an afterthought for kids (and parents), and is struggling to stay afloat in a lot of places. The kids that are being helped by being able to get playing time in rec ball are also the kids (and parents) who generally aren't passionate about baseball and would be fine with finding something else to do if baseball weren't an option. I realize that I'm probably got some bias since I'm on staff with my Little League District, but travel ball is absolutely hurting Little League and other rec programs from a sustainability aspect.