re: The reality of travel baseball

quote:

---

I’m NOT saying college scholarships are or should be the goal of 14u and younger sports, but what if playing this sport allows his son (or daughter) to go to college debt free?

---

Travel ball didn't do it. College athletes aren't grinders who squeezed the most out of their mediocre bodies. College athletes are winners of the genetic lottery. Kind of like STEM majors. You can't take a stock boy and turn him into an engineer unless he was born to be an engineer.

quote:

---

Growing up in South Louisiana I used to play baseball, but quit and changed sports because one of the other kid’s Mom cussed me out saying I was ruining their son’s chances of playing for Skip Bertman at LSU And I was 8.

---

Both parents are short.

Their kid hits puberty and peaks at 5’7”. He doesn’t even play high school ball.

Or the kid rebels and doesn’t play in high school because his parents burnt him out.

The above happens all the time.

Travel ball was in its infancy when I was growing up. It was toxic then. It’s 100x that now. Sad.

quote:

---

Their kid hits puberty and peaks at 5’7”.

---

you think being short means you don't have a chance to play HS ball in LA

quote:

---

Do you think it would be better for your kid to choose a college based upon where he can play baseball or what school fits his academic aspirations, with the assumption that he’s only getting looks from lower end D1 schools like Nicholls?

---

i think he would be better off doing what he wants and me not running his life for him other than setting academic and behavioral standards.

but let me ask....if he can get in Nicholes and has a 4.0 then why would he choose nicholes instead of using basbeall to get into a school he normally wouldnt?

i know a kid that is going to and got into MIT strictly because he can also play ball.

but also let me ask you this...if the plan is to live in LA after graduation...what do you think the difference in salary is for say an engineer that went to a McNeese vs say one that went to LSU? you also realize that the southland conference produces pro players right?

but would a kid be better off taking a full scholarship between tops and baseball and going to a McNeese or a Nichols or similar school vs getting the same degree and a lot of debt at a better school? Also you understand there are lots of small colleges that are D3 that are academic powerhouses right?

but in the end who cares if he does or doesnt play baseball in college? That has nothing to do with why mine play travel baseball. they play because they really really like the sport and would play every single day if i would let them. 10 games plus 3-5 practices in little league was not enough for them and they wanted more. They play other sports but love baseball. The goal was never to play at a certain level.....it was, allow them to chase their dream at the level they wanted and we could afford. period.


no different than a kid that wants to play piano and gets private lessons rather than his grandma teaching him. No different than dance class for girls or cheer or any of the other BS that the OT thinks is fine but not baseball because it looks different in structure than when they were a kid and are too poor to afford it so they lash out.

also yall do realize kids can be high academic kids on top of being good at sports right?

OK half the really good ones.

quote:

---

Because it’s easy to find those examples.

---

No it’s really not

quote:

---

On one hand, a lot of the anti-travel ball talking points seem pretty dumb and not aligned with reality. On the other, the fervent supporters say things like no one thinks their kid is going to college/the pros, and that is simply not true.

---

I just think if you’re going to pour energy into making your kid good at a sport it would benefit them more if you chose a country club sport that will still be relevant after they graduate high school. How many of these kids pick up a baseball after they graduate high school?

quote:

---

On one hand, a lot of the anti-travel ball talking points seem pretty dumb and not aligned with reality

---

Agree. And extremely exaggerated

Like the one guy who said he quit baseball at 8 because someone’s mom said that he was ruining her sons chance of playing for skip bertman at LSU - there’s about a 5% chance that story is true… and if it is even close to being true, I think it says more about him and his family than that woman. Good riddance

quote:

---

On the other, the fervent supporters say things like no one thinks their kid is going to college/the pros, and that is simply not true.

---

I agree with this too. There are parents who take this shite way too far and way too serious, but at least from my experience, they’re the extreme minority out there..

But if you were to ask the average TD poster, it’s everyone who plays. Crazy




The truth is, ‘travel ball’ probably needs to be renamed for the most part. I’d estimate that 80-90% of teams only play locally, or within an hour from their homes. We live around New Orleans and only play in Hammond, Baton Rouge, Kenner, Chalmette, Westwego (nice new park by the way), etc… only the ‘elite’ teams are traveling coast to coast playing all over the place.

quote:

---

if the plan is to live in LA after graduation

---

This is a legendary level of parenting fail, if this is where a kid's aspirations end up.

quote:

---

but not baseball because it looks different in structure than when they were a kid and are too poor to afford it so they lash out.

---

Nah, it's more that their kids can barely read, but spend 20 hours a week at the ballpark. Less of a problem with girls in dance, in my experience.

quote:

---

would play every single day if i would let them.

---

Boys will also eat an entire family sized container of Oreos if you let them.

quote:

---

Why do you pathetic losers obsess over what other people and their kids do?

---

It’s quite natural to be curious about being drawn to trends, mass compliance in response to social forces, and mass gullibility to marketing schemes
- whichever wording is really at play.

Discussing this aspect of human behavior will always be fascinating.

It’s also fascinating that there’s no shortage of people who are aware of these oddities of human behavior and think that discussing it is simply a result of those people being pathetic losers who are obsessing over what people do.

You are an oddity with strange coping skills that result in lashing out at other people rather than internalizing the need to develop better coping skills.