re: The case against Travel Ball by Dr. James Andrews

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He didn't complain when he did my surgeries.

They should be more concerned with teaching the kids proper mechanics instead of worrying about overuse.

Some other countries throw 500-600 balls a day, no issues. We get in a hoopla over 70+ from the mound?

Pussification, teach proper mechanics and you have no issues.

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As someone who has studied this extensively, mechanics cant save your shoulder from overuse. A proper dose of rest plus carefully planned resistance exercises can.

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Believe me, my father is absolutely is/was that type. He just didn't wanna push me AT ALL in sports.

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Mine did. After every game was the post game interrogation and degradation of my play. Throw a no-hitter and hit 2 HR to win the game? You fricking suck because you walked four. Whether it was football or baseball, it was a constant barrage of bullshite. The only reason I played summer ball after my senior year was that the coach of the team was obsessed with winning and paid me per game. Practices were extra. My dad almost disowned me when I turned down baseball scholarships to several SEC schools. And BTW, baseball scholarships are waaaaaaaay overrated. The academic scholarship I took was worth way more. I just told him that I was burned out, fricking hated baseball because of him, and would only get kicked off the team and lose the scholarship anyway. Basically, it all came down to the fact that he wanted to brag about his boy playing D1 ball. Never once mentioned to his pals my high academic achievements.
So, any dads out there making life hell on your sons....back the frick off!!! Let them choose. I LOVED sports until the bullshite became too much. I see it time and time again now. Plus, kids will only excel if THEY are passionate about what they are doing. It is not their responsibility to make up for your shortcomings. And the odds of making it to the bigs is slim to none, even for the best prospects. I played with or against no less than 25 players, maybe more, that were drafted in the 10th round or higher. Exactly one, Tori Hunter, made it. So, crawl out of your kids arse. Let them be kids and STFU. And summer ball doesn't give a kid great athletic skills. You either have it or you don't.

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A proper dose of rest plus carefully planned resistance exercises can

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Should be part of every pitchers routine.

Most super dad coaches don't understand that part.

Don't want to put the time in either to make sure that this is done correctly. That's why there is a boat load of money in baseball lessons.

I coached travel ball teams and did baseball lessons for around 4 years.

Up vote smack. Very familiar topic to me in many ways.

Bingo. Have an upvote sir.

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mechanics cant save your shoulder from overuse

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+1

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rest

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MUST be part of any formal training regimen and incorporated into athletic schedules - period - or overuse injuries, potentially severe and career-threatening are inevitable. For every athlete - in every sport - everywhere. And young pitchers who are "overpitched" and/or forced into directional pitching far, far too early are a very common casualty in folks overlooking/ignoring this very basic training and athletic principle.

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My kids aren't and I'm kind of grateful. 

Maybe I'm lazy, but honestly, that shite sounds/looks exhausting from my perspective as a parent. I have friends/coworkers who's social lives are their kids sports. Gone out of town every weekend for some tourny all year long. 

I know it pays off for some of them, but to hell with all that.

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I feel the same. Odds are much higher that all my son's reading will pay off in the future than any sport ever would. As far as teenagers go, he's really good. Lazy at times and tends to half arse chores and whatnot. So he can get back to reading.

That's fricked up. It sounds like State of Play: Trophy Kids, a sports documentary on HBO. One of the dads caddying for his like 8 year old daughter starts cursing Her, calling her a stupid bitch because she hit a drive into the left tough. It's a pretty good documentary. There are some delusional parents out there

Regarding cost of travel ball for parents...

I used to shoot the action photography for a hockey complex. We would have four or five major tournaments each year. These teams would come in from all over the southeast and east coast.

One weekend, one of the teams was in from Atlanta playing in the tournament (only certain age teams). It really strikes in my memory because Tom Glavine had a kid on the team and he was there. Anyway, was talking to one of the parents, and I was just asking about the travel hockey process.

He said that he had two boys of different ages. This week, he was in Alabama with one son, and his wife was in Tampa at a hockey tournament with the other son. He said they swap up every other weekend for tournaments, adn that two weeks later, he would be with the other son in Dallas and his wife would be with this son in Chicago.

I asked him how in the world he could afford it, and he just joked, "I have two boys and one daughter - the girl is an equestrian and jumps competitively in shows. Compared to housing, feeding, and driving around a horse for a year, travel hockey is pretty cheap." He said that he spent over $50K/yr on his kids sports and had done so for the last several years.

Jeez, that's insane.

sounds like you had a solid dad ...