re: Kirk Herbstreit slams Travel Ball culture

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It’s hard to make a team and get playing time at a 6A school.

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Not if they’re good. And dropping half a milli ain’t going to make them good


Not saying that’s you specifically, but that’s a lot of travel ball culture. It’s completely broken. Your post makes you appear like a well adjusted dad. Sports are incredibly important, but this travel ball shite is retarded for a million reasons and as that well adjusted dad, you really have no choice to be sucked into it.

I truly believe the compete dismantling of youth sports has a good deal to do why kids and young adults act the way they do today

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It’s hard to make a team and get playing time at a 6A school.

Not if they’re good. And dropping half a milli ain’t going to make them good

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My son’s high school has 1,250 boys. There are plenty of “good” baseball players who won’t see the field, unless your standard for good means getting a college scholarship.

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you really have no choice to be sucked into

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You have no choice if you want to give your kid a chance at playing high school ball, and it freaking sucks. Playing high school sports is an important component of the educational experience, and you shouldn’t have to eat up every spare moment of your family’s time to give your kid a chance. The system is indeed broken. I’d love to see if the explosion in travel ball has any sort correlation with the increase of high school sizes over the last 30 years.

I’m just getting exposed to this shite with my now 7yr old. We actually had a pretty good 6U REC program this year with 17 teams in the league. We played May-June then put two all-star teams together from the 17 rosters and had a little showcase game right before July 4th. Everyone had fun with it. At that showcase we had over a dozen travel ball coaches, two from Mississippi, there to watch and offer invitations to kids. Again, they’re fricking 6U!

One of my kids went to a team called Diamond Sportsplex. His dad told me the initial fee was over $2000 and that was for uniforms and equipment and tourney fees. That doesn’t include hotels, food, etc. Again, 6yr olds. And it’s a 12 kid roster so that operation is getting almost $30k for a 6yr old baseball team.

It’s wild man. I took my kid to the beach and Disney world. Our director tried to get me to coach our park affiliated travel team but it’s something I’m strongly against. Travel ball shouldn’t exist for coach pitch. It’s silly.

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two from Mississippi, there to watch and offer invitations to kids. Again, they’re fricking 6U!

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lol….absolutely absurd

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His dad told me the initial fee was over $2000 and that was for uniforms and equipment and tourney fees. That doesn’t include hotels, food, etc. Again, 6yr olds

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Yea, frick that, no way in hell for 6yr olds. Maybe a 10+yr old that’s serious…..

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Yea, frick that, no way in hell for 6yr olds. Maybe a 10+yr old that’s serious…..

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That’s where I stand. None of this shite until kids are pitching and I can tell my son really wants to do it. Right now he’s not one of these kids that eats baseball up 24/7 and I like it that way. He also likes to draw, play drums and build shite. Put him in the backyard with some basic supplies and he’ll build you the best damn backyard rollercoaster you ever saw.

What does Kirk know about what it takes for a marginal kid to develop and work him/her self into a collegiate athlete?? Not everyone hit the genetic lottery or has the pedigree/bloodlines of nepotism for them to succeed.

Some people have to work their arse off to achieve their dream. To some people, that achievement is their vacation.

This is the same guy that just got his kid a gig on TV.

Kirk is a jerk off. You think he lives in the same world that we common people do? Get real.

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It’s hard to make a team and get playing time at a 6A school.

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Finally hit the nail with a hammer.

Going to school you use to know everyone's name, you could play multiple sports, and you still had time to fish, hunt, or play music. Massive schools are not about developing better more rounded people, they're a blight on diversity of experience, because good luck playing ball* in high school if it's the size of a good Junior College. We all played at my 2A and oh my God some kids were barley able... but I'm thinking it made everyone better people.

*(or multiple endeavors)

Chipper Jones thoughts

LINK

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Chipper Jones thoughts

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Why is every argument seem to be “my kid isn’t going to play year round”

Great, don’t. That has nothing to do with travel ball You can easily play travel ball and play multiple sports and have the entire summer off

I promise you chipper and even Kirk didn’t put their sons in the local rec ball baseball in the spring outside of tee ball …

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What does Kirk know about what it takes for a marginal kid to develop and work him/her self into a collegiate athlete??

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Ya, being a father of three college walk-ons. He knows nothing of the process.

Travel ball families will defend because they believe in it and it It doesn't matter how many people point out the pitfalls and negatives that outweigh the positives for many many people. They will point to the exceptions, not the general premise and overwhelming common experience.