re: My Non-travel ball playing nephew just made the HS baseball team

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Mainly because travel ball has become so watered down the competition is much like what they would find at their local parks. You still have teams that require tryouts and only select the best but many travel ball teams is just a coach who found a few parents willing to pay out the arse so their kids can have a custom jersey.

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This. "Travel ball" has become "Daddy ball," especially over the last decade. Regardless of sport, it's not the team you play for, it's what you invest in it and get out of it, and it starts with coaching. Many of the kids playing travel ball or elite baseball get burned out and end up quitting in HS. Also, some kids develop later than others and pass up the ones that were once the dominant players for that age. This hold true for any sport really.