re: The Absurdities of Youth Baseball

As long as it's like the flute or triangle, he should be set for life. LOL

quote:

---

There are many travel teams that practice only two times a week and do OK in tournaments. I hope your child has a blast if you are the one who said he is excited about the tournament this weekend . Good luck. Seriously . By the way, which tournament is it? I ask because my nephew is playing in a tournament in Gonzales this weekend. His team sucks.

---

A. playing travel or tournament ball doesnt mean your team is good. Plenty terrible teams playing every weekend, but if done right these kids have some real fun and make great memories and friends!
B. You dont have to practice 4-5x's a week to be good. My son is a HS junior and no team he played on practiced more than 2x's a week. Plenty tournament championships in his past including a USSSA Louisiana 12Major State Championship. But more than anything he remembers the great times he had and he plays HS baseball and loves competiting against friends and guys he played against in travel ball.
C. We played in 3 Orange Beach WS and Cooperstown tourney and had a blast at all of them! Play ball, get back to Caribe and swim, drink, fish and cook team/family meal! Rinse, repeat! Great times w/ great peeps!

Yeah he played basketball, little bit of football and LOVES to fish! But he LIVED for travel ball weekends! He loves playing the game!

My daughter did competitive dance and loved it also, took us all over the southeast US watching her compete! She made lifelong friends and great memories also! I hate dance but love my girl, still managed to have a blast following and supporting her!

To each his own but I'm not judging others for their family extracurricular activities and I don't regret my families decisions! Great times!

quote:

---

I'd much rather parents be obsessed with their kids playing baseball than ignoring them while their kids play video games all day

---

Gen X represent.

It was cool though. Our parents didn't watch our every move. "Go play in the street" with a Marlboro hanging out their mouth.

there are alot of good points in this thread. For the most part (I read the first 3 pages), the OP's point went way over alot of you guys head. Travel ball has ruined Little League baseball. Its not for the kids, its mostly for the parents. Its an excuse to go out of town and stay in a hotel and eat out. We participated in it for 2 years, then called it quits. Played league ball and that was it after that. My kid was the 4A defensive player of the year last year. So, it might be good for some people, but not for others. Like someone said earlier in the thread, if your kid has got it, hes got it. Playing 200 games a year isnt gonna make him/her a major league player. I am fortunate enough to have a good job and make decent money. Reason I brought that up, I know how much it cost us to do this per year, I dont see how alot of people afford it. Thats my .02 on the subject, alot of you might disagree.

My kid played travel ball from 8yrs old until the present. He just turned 15. All the hard work and money spent is paying off. He's the first freshman to make the varsity team at his 6A high school in Texas. Also, he earned the #1 pitcher role after his first few prep games with the team.
Their first district game was today. He pitched 5 innings giving up 2 hits and zero runs with 8 Ks in a rout. He's been to several camps and each school has told us that they will be recruiting him. My son wants to play at LSU of course.
He's a big kid, 6'2 225lbs and his FB is 88-90. Some kids who play travel ball have the talent to get a D1 scholarship. I'm confident that my son is one of them. Granted, I'm not the parent that you were referring to in your post, but I do push him to succeed. ??
But...I have spent a ton of money to help him reach his goals. But I feel that's my job as his dad.

Did everyone not comprehend what he was saying? He didn't say sports are bad or that they wont get anything out of sports. He was talking about the obsession by the parents, coaches, and whoever makes the game not fun by said obsession. My son played pee wee football and they practiced 4 days per week for 1.5 hours plus games on Saturday morning (5-day per week commitment at 6 years old). All of the kids complained and it really did take the fun out of it. Summary: Sports are great and do teach kids life skills, but berating your kid to tears, driving them nuts with criticism, and living through them is counterproductive. Like the OP said, 99% of kids wont play Division 1 and even less will ever make a strong career out of sports. Let them have fun and enjoy whatever it is that they try.

quote:

---

Did everyone not comprehend what he was saying? He didn't say sports are bad or that they wont get anything out of sports.

---

That's basically exactly what he said. You should try reading the OP again.

I will grant you that the monetary investment for travel baseball is ridiculous and we did it on the cheap.

I coached travel ball for years and we made some great friends and memories. Our sons didn't play with the thought they would be college all Americans or MLB All Stars.

Compared to youth baseball, I would say that high school sports is way worse than travel baseball. Once you sign on for a high school sport, e.g., baseball, football, etc., you are practicing or playing games six (6) days a week in many cases.

In our experience with high school sports, the coaching is not always the greatest, the politicking by parents is endless and coaches don't always make decisions based upon demonstrated skill level. Even if a kid gets to play a lot, they quite often weigh whether it is worth the investment of their time or are they better off benefiting from other high school experiences.

The best thing to come out of the experience is that this is quite often how the real world works, so it helps prepare a kid for it.

And without travel ball your 6'-2" son with an 89 mph FB would not have the same talents if he would have played in a good lesgue and with good coaches?

I have seen kids play youth ball in leagues and then all stars when they become teens and they manage to make it to the major leagues.

Good leagues, and good coaching especially early on is better than traveling every weekend with a 10 year old to some distant tournament each weekend.

But if it's fun for the kid, fun for the family, and you can afford all the expenses then fine, but to think that travel ball is the reason your son is a very good player doesn't add up.