re: If the travel baller in your life has a birthday coming up

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but jesus guys, you cant do every single sport under the sun. eventually got to choose, even at 8.

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Completely disagree. Kids should be encouraged to do many different sports if they show interest. When they get to be teenagers sure specialize. But specializing an 8 yr old?? Lawds have mercy.

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But specializing an 8 yr old??

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did i say that?

i said cant play every sport. 3 plus fall soccer is enough. 3 or 4 is plenty and absolutely should play other sports to see what you like.

sayign you eventually cant play every sport during every season is not sayign specialize. im saying might have to choose between football and fall soccer or baseball and spring soccer.

oh shite, you mean this ISN'T a parody??

Full disclosure: my son plays travel ball, but for a team out of Memorial (Houston, TX). Its more like, "William's dad can fly the team to a tournament in Cali on his private jet" and less Braxton, Jayden, and Gunner...

True story, I flew Southwest to Omaha last year with my son for the CWS. Husband couldn't make it because he had work until Saturday. Another dad offered to send the plane back for him. I flew Southwest because of their free baggage policy and struggled to act like people offer rides on their PJ's everyday.

Its a sight to behold, but in an entirely different way.

My son used to play because he wanted to and liked baseball. He decided he didn't want to play anymore last year, so he doesn't. He only plays for his school. The problem I have with it, is all the parents who continuously state that their kid "plays travel", like that automatically means they are really good. My son has never hit under .700 and is a better catcher and SS than any other player he has ever been on a team with and these parents act like their child is superior because they play on a travel team. It's really cringy.

if your kid never hit under 0.700 than he isnt playing very good competition.

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This has been my first year with "travel" ball as my son is playing 7U.

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7U travel ball is wild within itself.

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When I was a kid we got a participation trophy at the end of the year during rec ball....and that was STUPID.

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I dont think awarding the kids after a year of paricipating on a team is stupid. Hell, if a team wins a State Championship in football most that get patches to put on jackets did not contribute...but they were part of something, something that began in the spring, workouts in the summer, burtal heat and pracice in August, being a blocking dummy in practice, film sessions on weekends. A reminder of being a part of the team is fine by me.

Trophies that bring memories of times gone by, coaches, teammates and games played is not a bad thing. I never viewed trophies as some crowning achievement, I still have a bunch in my attic. Heck, I have some of my moms when she played basketball, and it was 6 on 6! When I look over em they bring good memories. What is wrong with that? Hell, I am 54. By many on this board was raised in the golden era of childhood, you got a trophy at the end of damn near every athletic season.

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OT care so much about what moms post on facebook?

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My wife has made about one baseball post a year, but not in the last year or so. My boy is mortified by them.

My safety man thinks like this.

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They didn't like that I could afford it and I chose not to. They thought we weren't committed because I'm wasn't wasting $600 on bullshite for my kid to keep up with the Joneses.

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That's too bad you found a shitty program with poor culture. In my experience, programs like that are run by dad coaches with limited experience to running organized baseball program dedicated to developing players. When drip overtakes fundamental baseball, you should look elsewhere.

My son is in his 5th year of select ball. Until this year, he was probably the smallest kid on the field every single game he played. He has always been extremely undersized for his age. His last season of rec-ball was 10U. The dad's in rec-leagues gave him zero coaching and treated him like a burden -- all because their DNA gifted sons were bigger, faster, stronger -- at 9 years old.

We found a program that doesn't care about size and forbids any player from saying, "I'm a pitcher" or "I'm a SS" or "I'm a (insert favorite position)" -- it is simply, "baseball player". Our program is character first, baseball second. Learn the game, learn how to work hard, be accountable, and become a baseball player -- the position specific player doesn't happen until 8th grade. Even then, he wants all players to be as versatile as possible -- so very rarely do you see a player buried in right field "because that's what you do with players that suck".

All of the people that post non-stop negative comments either (A) have zero experience with travel ball except what they see on social media or (B) tried it and had a terrible experience because the program's philosophy was built on 'building ring winning teams' instead of 'building men'.

My son has been on some gawd-awful teams, but we have stayed with the same program because of the positive culture. It took two years to get to a .500 season. He now has a box full of rings that he has no clue what tournaments they were from -- the wins have never been the focus. He wants to have fun and get good at the game that he loves more than anything. Yes, he still has the same "I want to be a MLB star." dream that he had when he was 8. But his goals are much simpler: leave the game on my terms, play as long as I can.

It is my experience that most of the people we encounter every other weekend are very similar to us and have the same values. The professionally run organizations tend to cultivate a more positive approach, whereas the dad-run teams are louder, arrogant, and scream at every pitch like their kid just won Game 7 of the WS against the Yankees.

I truly don't get bent out of shape when I see the hate toward select ball. Most of it is regurgitating social media hyperbole.

Except the travel ball names... braxton, paxton, jaxxon, easton, cutter, boomer, and plenty more are pretty spot on when you see a lot of these rosters.