re: Can we talk about AAU prices

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It’s the kids who have no chance, which is 90% of them, whose parents make a fun game a nightmare for a kid who just wants to have fun.

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And I’ll go one step further, those same parents aren’t spending afternoons working with their children to improve their skills. They’re relying on 1, maybe 2 hours a week of practice with their coaches who have anywhere between 12-15 players to coach. And nothing is happening on the weekends except games, which is no small matter, but really makes up very little of what makes a successful ballplayer.

And most importantly, are these kids WILLINGLY working on their game in the off-season? Not being pushed by parents? If not, just send more of your money to the government so they can at least waste it in creative ways.

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What’s wrong with watching your kid run around sucking at baseball? I have no kids but that seems fun. This shite is about building relationships, figuring out that your actions and skills can add to others, and working hard to find what you enjoy. It kills me that some parents bypass all of that and make their kids feel like shite if they aren’t shining on some stupid 11u sports team.

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My kids play travel ball because the local leagues have gone to shite (I’m talking kids that don't know how to put on a glove at age 10).

In our travel ball group (which extends with teams from ages 8-13), we play a handful of tourneys every year and you can clearly see progression from the first few years where we’re getting killed to older when we’re competing with everyone and winning some tourneys. It’s all about the kids learning as a team and getting better as a team. We pay strictly what our equipment and entry fees cost. Dads coach, most with high level high school/college experience.

But in all age groups you see after year 1 or 2 kids that leave because their parents believe their kids are better than our teams so they pull them to play on these academy teams that cost thousands of dollars. Teams that are cash cows and just throw kids together, sometimes differently teams weekly, and unless you’re on the top teams, some meh coaching. And let me tell you his delicious it is when our “bad teams” beat up on those academy teams as we get older and better.