re: The Absurdities of Youth Baseball

It's all about the dad's living their sports dreams, or lack thereof, through their kids.

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Some of the kids just want to play ball and have fun in the summer while out of school.

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Yep, and all the other kids want to beat those kids' asses figuratively speaking on the field.

Its like anything else - the general idea is that it is either very good for kids or very bad for kids - too much of an opinion all the way in one direction or another. My thought is - who am I to say what is good for a group of kids other than its good to give them proper nutrition, shelter and clothing.

I know some folks that enjoy the travel ball deal as a family, the kid seems to really enjoy it, the parents enjoy the travel together and the social interaction.

And I know/have seen some folks where it does seem a little over the top - kid does not appear to be having fun and is pretty serious about it, parents hard on them, competing though their kids and so on.

So like anything else - it has its good and its bad - some of it I see as a positive and some as a negative, but I find it improper of me to view it as what is best for kids and more so to view what is best for the kid. And it is totally wrong of me to say what is best for a kid that aint mine.

My kid turned eight in September, and we were approached for him to play travel ball. The coach has a son that's on the team, and the coach was my old highschool baseball coach. So it's like I didn't know the guy.

The guy genuinely loves the sport, and isn't doing it for the money. He only collected enough fees for tournaments, insurance, and jerseys.

We are a travel team, but we shut it down for Rec ball (so all the other kids who don't have the option to play travel ball can have an opportunity to play)

All the rec ball coaches have an "understanding" that each team is allowed "x" amount of travel ball kids, that way no one team has an advantage.

We also shut it down for hunting season because the boys love going to the camp/hunting/fishing.

As father, academics is main priority. I will have no problem not bringing my kid to practice/missing games because his grades are slipping.

I feel bad for the kids whose parents' think they'll be the next Derek Jeter. Chances of my kid even making it to college are slim to none, but that's ok.

We'll continue to do travel ball, as well as football and golf until my kid decides to throw in the towel.


TLDR; not all travel ball parents/coaches are bad, don't let a few bad ones ruin it for the parents that put their kids in travel ball because the kid loves the sport.

A lot of kids doing it because "the other kids are doing it." Now that my kids are in high school and one about to finish it is interesting to think back about all the kids that played and where things stand. All of the kids that did other sports in addition to travel baseball played some sport in high school, most at a pretty high level. 2 of the kids that just played baseball growing up are done. On the other hand, some kids just loved playing baseball and they wanted to do it all the time. You can't fake that.

Baseball doesn't develop their athletic ability very much so I would encourage them to play something in addition to baseball and be on a team that accepts that. The vast majority turned out to be very competitive at what high school sport they play and a few will play something in college.Also tell your kid every year that they need to really enjoy it to continue doing travel ball.

You hit it on the head.

These psychotic parents who push their kid to one sport from the beginning and not allowing them to develop movement, spatial awareness, strength, balance, speed, and agility are doing their children a huge disservice.

I always got a kick out parents being dumbfounded why their child couldn't even make the high school team when they had invested 6-8 years in a single sport. Now what does the kid do?

Soccer and basketball aren't much better than baseball with their travel teams.


And the volume of games to the volume of practice is freaking insane. Yea lil Johnny playing right field is get a world of experience playing 7 games a week and practicing once.

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Soccer and basketball aren't much better than baseball with their travel teams.

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Except those two sports teach...

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movement, spatial awareness, strength, balance, speed, and agility h

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Just checking into this thread, and overall i feel organized sports are important to the development of children, and just like any other activity, they can be taken to extremes, and baseball seems to be the worst for this. And has anybody mentioned the increase in significant injuries with long lasting effects that are caused by overuse that is prevalent in baseball? Please stop the madness, play baseball in baseball season then get some rest play a different sport until next baseball season

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It's all about the dad's living their sports dreams, or lack thereof, through their kids.

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I played football in jr high and high school, I was never pushed to do it, but I did it because I knew it would make my dad happy. If asked at the time my dad would have said I enjoyed doing it and he would never have pushed me into something I didn't want to do. I didn't enjoy it, would have quit in a second, but not wanting to disappoint your dad is a powerful motivator for a kid.

Just got home from "Community Ball" practice, we are playing 10U and 3 new kids look like they've never thrown a ball.

One was adopted out of a drug infestation.

The excitement in their faces is tremendous.