re: Do 90% of these kids really need to be on these competitive travel ball teams?

Been to a few tournaments to watch my 12 year old nephews travel ball team..

I will say that these teams may not be filled with Mike Trout Jr's, but they are doing some impressive stuff for 12U

Double steals, squeeze bunts, pitch out /pickoff plays, etc

They still drop routine fly balls, but some of the cerebral stuff these 12yr olds are doing (in real time) is pretty cool. Although as some have said, playing baseball for 90 hours a week might drill that in to them

Have you been introduced to cheer yet? Travel ball is a pimple on an elephant’s arse in cost compared to cheer, lol.

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Let me tell you a secret… travel sports are a cottage industry racket to extort $$$ from parents

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Some secret! That’s almost exactly what the previous dozen posts said.

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It ain’t about the kids.

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It is local revenue scheme to build larger and more advanced baseball and softball complexes. Then you have to staff them. The local recreation district then needs to hope that 2-4 tournaments a month year round is enough to bring in enough in gate tickets, concessions, and hotel taxes to cover the bond issue to build those parks and the full and part time labor that goes with it to maintenance the facilities and staff game day events.

I was amazed in Sulphur at what they have accomplished with their baseball and softball complexes. Some places will get bond issues to go big to build like Sulphur while others will be conservative and build without debt like Terrebonne (Bayou Country Sports Park), but it will take years if not decades to get on the same level as a place like Sulphur.

Broussard and Youngsville passed taxes to build theirs and now have huge surpluses

My ex wife's nephew graduated a few years ago but when he was a senior, he was a 6'5" PG for his high school team. They weren't doing so hot in their overall record but he was putting up 25 PPG and schools were interested. He was told by an AAU coach to quit and go play for him with guarantees of playing for a big school.

It was all a cash grab from these parents. I don't think he played much and the biggest school any of them went to was LSUE.

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overly obsessed parents.

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Theres the root of the problem.

Travel ball is to make cities that host games, coaches , businesses that run them , and large sport venues , hotels, and restaurants a lot of money. It also makes High School coaches money that is kicked backed to many for pushing their players to play.

It absolutely has nothing to do about the kids.

My wife’s a financial advisor and has had many clients whose kids played travel baseball, volley, and lacrosse. None of their children earned a scholarship and each spent on average $40,000 over the life of the child and could have saved that money for college.

She had one gentleman admit that he spent $80,000 on volleyball and what a huge mistake that was.

And yes you shouldn’t be allowed to play rec ball and travel at the same time. Causes enormous problems for coaches and teams.

I'm just glad that the kids are active in sports and not sitting in front of the TV.

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Do 90% of these kids really need to be on these competitive travel ball teams?

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Travel ball is watered down and is what Rec ball was 25yrs ago. The rec parks are filled with broken homes and kids whose parents are just looking for a babysitter.
Travel ball or sports in general if used correctly can teach kids a lot about life (hard work, teamwork, conflict resolution, grit)
As for making it to the bigs or even making D1 you either have it or you don’t, seen countless kids who were studs all through travel ball and were “committed” to d1 as sophomore or Jr in high school and now work construction.
Now if you want to see some wasted money go check out showcasing and collegiate camps.