re: The case against Travel Ball by Dr. James Andrews

I didn't say participation trophies were a good idea-you're missing the point.

If you think you're doing your kid a favor by letting some jackass who doesn't know anything yell at your kid rather than teach him fundamentals, focus, and the ability to move on to the next play as opposed to being scared out of his mind to screw up, then you're part of the problem.

I'd never yell at an umpire or another kid, but I'm not going to tolerate a bully.

Edit: We're not talking about grown up, mostly emotionally mature adults playing in college. We're talking about children.

You'd be surprised at how many prominent, wealthy business owners have their kids in travel ball.

quote:

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There's a reason the travel ball fad is big in the lower and lower-middle classes and hasn't crept into upper-middle and upper class circles. Most successful and secure parents don't have a need to live vicariously through their kids, so they don't assume the risk of pushing them to their physical limit for the sake of playground baseball.

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The upper classes are sending their kids away to tennis boarding schools or having them spend 6 hours a day swimming laps. Or trying to set them up to be the next violin virtuoso, or pressuring them in kindergarten so they'll stay on track to get into Yale. Or spending obscene amounts on deb parties to make up for the fact that Princess didn't get named Queen of Rex.

Stupid parents living out their inadequacies via their kids doesn't have much to do with economic status, other than the way in which it plays out.