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

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That is simply not true. The lowest level travel ball tournament is still going to have much better competition than rec leagues 99% of the time. That's reality.

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Well I'm an umpire and have seen some really bad travel teams and some pretty good rec teams. The true elite teams are few and far between these days. What drives me nuts is the lack of coaching in travel ball, and coaches don't even know the rules. No emphasis on defense, base running or situations. Just calling pitches and focusing on hitting. Way too many errors and stupid mental mistakes. The art of the pick off move, bunting, hitting a cut off and even executing a simple run down have been lost.

I used to coach and even though we were considered a rec team by many we could compete with, and consistently beat, many travel teams. The travel teams we did play threw their aces at us because they didn't want to lose to us. We used it as an opportunity to get our pitchers reps and threw multiple kids. Even then, we still won more than we lost. We practiced more than we played, rarely made errors or mental mistakes, and picked off at least 1 runner every game. When we lost, we didn't beat ourselves.

My point is, it all depends on what you want. Some parents feel that travel ball is a way to get their kid noticed by a college or scout. However, most parents are unrealistic about their kid's ability and potential. Some feel they need to play travel ball just to make the HS team (or may be told that by their HS coach). Others just enjoy the competition, going out of town on weekends, and the overall experience. Myself, I felt that teaching the game and getting the kids prepared for HS was the most important. It seemed to work as every kid I coached who tried out for the HS team made it, and every one of them started on varsity for their high schools.