Travel ball anecdote

He and his team are better off without him and his mom.

I have a co-worker who just placed their kid in travel ball. It is kind of comical because now travel ball is not only reserved for the elite kids it is for ALL kids. So parents are shelling out a ton of money for their kids to have the right to play "travel" ball when they would have same competition in many area leagues.

Yeah someone was explaining they have travel ball leagues set up for the competition level now. They have elite leagues which is what those kids playing for Ben Sheets play in and they have lower leagues which are closer to Parish play.
Main thing is the kids get to travel a bit which they believe is cool and they get custom jerseys their parents pay for.

Stick and ball parents don't even compare to minidads. These are the dads of kids who race motocross. There's nothing like a dad pushing an 8 year old on a 50cc dirt bike that does 60 mph to jump a 60 foot triple. They are all going to be the next Ricky Carmichael.

Here's a picture of one of the travel team's coaches truck I seen today. First off, he has a box trailer for team gear; next, his team is named the "assassins;" and finally, the truck and trailer matches each other, and matches the teams uniforms...Is there any doubt these parents have totally lost perspective with regards to this sport?

Been coaching youth baseball for over 20 years........

First off, travel ball is only a notch above Dixie Youth/Little League these days....and I've had several Dixie Youth teams that would beat the paint off most travel teams.

I will concede that the number of reps a kid gets directly impacts their ability to play the game. In other words, kids who play travel are getting more at bats, more time in the field, more time on the mound (not always good), which in turn makes them for the most part, better players. Most teams will play a minimum of 4 games in a weekend versus our Dixie Youth schedule which is 16 games before All Stars.

There's a place for it as long as the parents don't go crazy with it.

they also practice for several hours a day several times a week....
I've seen some local travel ball teams have 4 hour practice 3 times a week and then 2-5 games on Saturday if they advance.... that some point it is just too much.

Travel ball is 100% about the parents.