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re: Can someone explain travel ball to me
Posted on 2/19/25 at 2:48 pm to chRxis
Posted on 2/19/25 at 2:48 pm to chRxis
quote:
so in your opinion, the ONLY way someone can make a HS team is if they specifically play travel ball? is that your position?
At a good program yes that is the case for 99/100 kids. Now at a small school that isn't good, obviously that math changes.
I guess your opinion is that kids should play rec ball so they have a 1/100 chance of playing at a good HS? I'm trying to understand your logic.
And I don't think any parent involved in travel baseball feels this is an ideal model, but as I mentioned the reality of the situation is if you want your kid to play baseball in 2025 and actually be good at it then they will need to be in travel (primarily because that's where the competition is).
2
Posted on 2/19/25 at 4:22 pm to chRxis
quote:if you leave rec at 12 and can barely catch a fly ball like most of them, yes you will have a large amount of ground to make up to make a decent HS squad..(not a small town A school or a HS with barely enough kids trying out to field a team). There is no other way to make that ground up than to join a team, whether you travel or not....hell, lets just call it weekend ball instead of travel. Heck you could live in any metro area in Louisiana and play in town if you are an average team. If you are on a competitive squad you are going to be on the road a bit. But to answer your question, the player better do something to improve from the time he leaves the rec league till he trys out for HS.
so in your opinion, the ONLY way someone can make a HS team is if they specifically play travel ball? is that your position?
Posted on 2/19/25 at 4:36 pm to RoosterCogburn585
This post was edited on 2/19/25 at 4:37 pm
Posted on 2/19/25 at 4:42 pm to RoosterCogburn585
College is pricey.
D2 school scholarship is a goal. For parents.
D2 school scholarship is a goal. For parents.
Posted on 2/20/25 at 9:50 am to RoscoeHarper
quote:
I guess your opinion is that kids should play rec ball so they have a 1/100 chance of playing at a good HS? I'm trying to understand your logic.
i'm just saying that travel ball is not the "be all, end all" that some of y'all make it out to be...
and fwiw, i don't have a problem with "travel ball", as far as the kids go, as far as the increase competition, etc....
my grievance is with travel ball parents, who think this shite is the fricking World Series or NBA Finals or World Cup, etc... simmer the frick down, just enjoy that your kid is into something vs. just hanging out on an iPad all day... but the ones that fricking think little Johnny is a lot better than he actually is and they get way, way too into the shite, THAT is the problem that a lot of us have with travel ball... hope that clears it up for you
Posted on 2/20/25 at 9:58 am to chRxis
My issue with Travel Ball is the obvious money pit it becomes. Somewhere along the way, somebody got the idea that if you up the price to play a sport most people grew up playing in their backyards, but tell them you “have to play TB and you’ll get to the pros/college”, you can become quite wealthy off these families. And also, somewhere along the way, parents stopped questioning this and just said “shut up and take my money”
Kids baseball doesn’t have to be like this. But because everyone wanted to “keep up with the jones” then somewhere along the way, the idea behind the grift became factual. And now, for the most part, if your kid hasn’t been in the TB wormhole since age 5, then his chances of playing JV or Varsity ball are diminished.
It didn’t have to be this way. But now it is.
Kids baseball doesn’t have to be like this. But because everyone wanted to “keep up with the jones” then somewhere along the way, the idea behind the grift became factual. And now, for the most part, if your kid hasn’t been in the TB wormhole since age 5, then his chances of playing JV or Varsity ball are diminished.
It didn’t have to be this way. But now it is.
This post was edited on 2/20/25 at 10:00 am
Posted on 2/20/25 at 10:57 am to chRxis
quote:
i'm just saying that travel ball is not the "be all, end all" that some of y'all make it out to be.
I don't think there's one person saying this. Genie is not going back in the bottle is really the message. It is just kinda how it is at this point. And is like that for almost every sport at this point except probably football and track.
Posted on 2/20/25 at 2:46 pm to RoscoeHarper
quote:
Genie is not going back in the bottle is really the message. It is just kinda how it is at this point.
agree to disagree, but all good... good to have a decent, intelligent conversation here, which is becoming increasingly rare
Posted on 2/20/25 at 3:42 pm to chRxis
quote:
does it help, to play better competition? of course... but acting like its either travel ball or nothing for these kids is stupid...
Youth sports today looks absolutely NOTHING like it did 30-40 years ago. The wheat is separated from the chaff very very early. The more naturally athletic kids are literally recruited in tee-ball to go to special batting/throwing classes where parents will start their own group classes with a specialist or have extra practices with just that group.
So what happens here, is you have good little athletes, relatively speaking, that get great instruction very early. These kids get exponentially better than the other kids who just bumble along playing rec. So these good kids start playing even better kids, and so on and so forth. Separate them, move some up a level, rinse, repeat.
Can other kids catch up over time? In theory, yes. But it's going to be really hard for them to gain the skills necessary to catch up if they haven't had the same level of competition the whole time.
So a kid just "having fun" with baseball and then competing with travel ball kids for a competitive high school spot is the equivalent of playing 2.5 tennis for years and then trying to join a 5.0 team. It just isn't going to work.
Posted on 2/20/25 at 3:50 pm to HouseMom
quote:
So a kid just "having fun" with baseball and then competing with travel ball kids for a competitive high school spot
Good thing there are more high schools than just the “competitive” ones
Posted on 2/20/25 at 3:55 pm to RoscoeHarper
quote:is it even that much different than any sport other than football?
And I don't think any parent involved in travel baseball feels this is an ideal model, but as I mentioned the reality of the situation is if you want your kid to play baseball in 2025 and actually be good at it then they will need to be in travel (primarily because that's where the competition is).
kids that are good at volleyball, soccer, basketball, lax, and i'm sure a few other sports usually do travel ball, it's just called something else.
it's not as ubiquitous as baseball, but most legit varsity basketball players play/played AAU.
Posted on 2/20/25 at 4:03 pm to GreatLakesTiger24
quote:
is it even that much different than any sport other than football?
Not one bit. It just an OT group think mentality. Random people want to fit in, and seem like one of the cool kids, to other random people, so they join in with the same tired phrases.
Posted on 2/20/25 at 4:56 pm to BugAC
quote:Ive sat around many, many baseball tournaments. There is plenty of bullshite but I have never heard parents stare the above. Now, get to 14-15 and real baseball starts being played, yes, some talk about college programs. But the everyday weekend teams, no. Not at all. In the lower levels you see a lot of small town kids that don’t have enough participants for a local league.
have to play TB and you’ll get to the pros/college”,
Posted on 2/20/25 at 5:51 pm to chRxis
quote:
agree to disagree, but all good... good to have a decent, intelligent conversation here, which is becoming increasingly rare
My understanding through this thread is that you didn't play and don't have a kid in it so respectfully how in the world could you even know enough to agree OR disagree?
Posted on 2/20/25 at 5:57 pm to RoosterCogburn585
It's all a freaking scam
Posted on 2/20/25 at 6:02 pm to Kid Ray
Played a lot of travel ball and son ended up playing D3 baseball. I'm thrilled that he is playing, but no athletic scholarships at that level. He's a 4.0 student so he gets a nice academic scholarship.
Posted on 2/20/25 at 6:07 pm to VandyBoysWhistler
You go see most of his games?
Posted on 2/20/25 at 6:11 pm to Gaston
Home games for sure as school about 45 miles away. We do selective road games. They were in California last weekend but we didn't make that trip.
Posted on 2/20/25 at 6:19 pm to VandyBoysWhistler
quote:
Kid Ray
Played a lot of travel ball and son ended up playing D3 baseball.
Very nice. Which school does he play for? I watched so D3 baseball at Cal Luthern 2 years ago.
Posted on 2/20/25 at 6:23 pm to Stevo
Piedmont University. We played Chapman University in Orange, CA last week.
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