re: Travel Ball schedule, hard to breathe looking at it.

One thing I am looking forward to most as a dad is my kids playing sports. Seeing stuff like this is sad but that's today's world and you have to decide if that's what you want to put your kids and family through (nothing wrong with either).

I think its foolish to think your kid will become a pro even if they dedicate themselves to one sport. You only are born with so much talent and coordination and becoming a pro requires that and much more.

I think the best plan for a kid is expose them to as many sports as possible and the older they get you drop the ones that they 1) don't enjoy and 2) just simply aren't good at (which they most likely won't enjoy). By high school, you end up with a handful of sports and activities and you let them choose their path. At the end of the day sports for those not going "pro" is learning about being on a team, competition, enjoying the actual sport they are playing, etc. Being a well-rounded athlete also will help them out in any sport they pursue and all the "ODP" and "Elite" training will only help so much.

One thing to keep in mind to is that earning a scholarship to play a sport in college these days is not that hard. If your son or daughter enjoy something, regardless of their talent (unless it's just awful) they can most likely have their college paid for if they enjoy the sport and want to pursue it another four years. They may need some exposure but IDP and Elite training every weekend of the year isn't necessary for that. This applies to anything that a college will pay you to go there for really.

Source: Kid who played 9 sports starting at age 4, narrowed down to 3 by the start of high school, and played 1 in college.