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re: The reality of travel baseball
Posted on 5/29/26 at 10:45 am to prostyleoffensetime
Posted on 5/29/26 at 10:45 am to prostyleoffensetime
quote:
My problem with travel ball is that money and time could be dispersed so much better into the small towns that all these teams are coming from.
If that money, time, and effort were to stay local
this makes no sense.
0
Posted on 5/29/26 at 11:02 am to Christopher Columbo
quote:
bicuriously
The Aggie board is <----- that way
Posted on 5/29/26 at 11:18 am to rockchlkjayhku11
quote:
im not a travel baseball baw, but i wonder how many travel sports haters are sending their kids to private school their whole life just to end up at lsu?
Are you familiar with South Louisiana at all? Parents aren't sending their kids to private school with the expectation it will translate into acceptance to an Ivy League school, or another comparable college. They are sending their kids to private school out of necessity because of how poor the public-schools are in places like Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Even if those kids "just want to end up at LSU", private school in this area is almost necessary given the lack of even an adequate education most public schools in the area will provide.
Posted on 5/29/26 at 11:35 am to jchamil
I think that was an example of people just making up shite to shite on travel ball
Like I said, it’s a strange thing
Like I said, it’s a strange thing
Posted on 5/29/26 at 11:37 am to TheRouxGuru
quote:
I think that was an example of people just making up shite to shite on travel ball
any insinuation of travel ball stating that the same type of lunatics aren't at a rec park either are completely ignorant on today's society.
Posted on 5/29/26 at 11:39 am to boosiebadazz
quote:
My wife and I are having to cross this bridge with our 6 year old daughter who just got asked to try out for the travel dance team
good luck my friend
Posted on 5/29/26 at 11:41 am to Hangover Haven
quote:
Takes a major dedication to advance that far, some parents just don't get it...
Parents overlook how "love/obsession of the game" trumps talent/ability when a player hits high school and **especially** college.
Posted on 5/29/26 at 11:42 am to Hangover Haven
quote:
Takes a major dedication to advance that far, some parents just don't get it...
Parents overlook how "love/obsession of the game" trumps talent/ability when a player hits high school and **especially** college.
Posted on 5/29/26 at 11:43 am to supatigah
quote:
Roughly 7% of high schoolers play in college.
About 1.5% of those get drafted.
Less than half of draftees ever play one day in the big leagues.
The odds of our kids going pro are somewhere between “struck by lightning” and “find a $100 in old shorts.”
I love youth sports (all my kids play a bunch of them) just keep a good perspective my friends. ??
Ceratinly agree with all of this. I remember my 7th grade teacher was previously a minor league pitcher who told us just how rare it was to make it to that type of level. I don't think I ever had dreams of that but that conversation sticks with me and probably erased any illusions I had. Barely had thoughts of small time college baseball when I did well my Senior year, but would never dream of wasting that time vs. getting my degree.
But will say for my son's generation, it's no longer playing travel ball to make it to D1 (or pro's eventually). It's just to make the high school team. The little league that we still play in is just not all that competitive. Any kid with some talent leaves for travel ball. My son just isn't that driven with baseball (and admittedly not up to that speed due to that). We did travel one year so he could play with some friends. It sucks that you have to make that level of commitment to one sport at 11-14 years old just to make the high school team around here.
Posted on 5/29/26 at 12:35 pm to R11
quote:
Dude stfu It’s not my fault or anyone else’s fault here that your kids sucks at sports. I have two that play ball One has been travel ball for 10 years And it paid off tremendously for not only her but our HS team (most them play travel too for years) She has no desire to play college ball and he been approached 2 diff times this past season about it from college coaches . It’s about better competition and playing with and against higher level. I wouldn’t trade past ten years of travel ball for anything
it’s ironic there are people like this posting in this thread, getting very defensive
if you dont exhibit this behavior, then perhaps this X post isnt about you?
keep in mind all I said was youth sports is supposed to be fun, not a job or a lifestyle
my perspective: I played varsity basketball in HS, then I was involved in HS basketball for 20 years as a coach and as a reff
so my view on youth sports and parents behavior is pretty well informed
there is a funny story that floated around the Acadiana area high school coaches circles for years. A very prominent and highly decorated high school varsity baseball coach in the Acadiana area had just taken over a new job, and the program was in a state of disarray with a bunch of daddy ball types with their very opinionated wives wreaking havoc. He walked into a room full of 8th grade parents of boys trying out for the freshman team and said “you have two jobs. Love and support your kids and don’t frick them up before they get to us.”
Posted on 5/29/26 at 5:08 pm to Chad504boy
I’m just glad they don’t make me coach anymore. Not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. I can impart my wisdom at home if I know any about the sport.
Posted on 5/29/26 at 5:24 pm to prostyleoffensetime
quote:
My problem with travel ball is that money and time could be dispersed so much better into the small towns that all these teams are coming from
This shows you have no idea what 90% of travel ball consist of
All the tournaments every weekend in the spring are being played in these small towns between 2D and PG and those tournaments are paying for the investment of making these parks state of the art
You know who benefits the rest of the year from these nice parks? Rec leagues in just about every sport
Posted on 5/29/26 at 6:28 pm to Midtiger farm
quote:if they're like St. Bernard the rec leagues barely get to use them
You know who benefits the rest of the year from these nice parks? Rec leagues in just about every sport
Posted on 5/29/26 at 6:52 pm to chalmetteowl
The travel ball post on this board are among the most ignorant takes here. At this point, most of the people have no clue what they are talking about, but they are repeating the same tired lines over and over just to fit in on an anonymous message board.
There are different levels of all of this.
Rec ball- I watched parts of a 14U rec softball game. It was walk after walk after walk. I legit saw a kid taking a lead off of second base, and not a single coach, umpire, anybody said anything. This was a softball game between two rec teams in legitimate high school softball areas.
FASSA/USSSA- its mainly just a notch above rec ball. People call it travel ball, think they are playing travel ball, but the vast majority are staying within 50 miles of where they are from. The travel ball stigma typically comes from this group, because you have a handful of parents who love to talk about travel ball, and a lot of them have no clue about the sport.
At the highest levels, is legit travel ball. You have some absolutely great softball/baseball being played. Most kids are well coached, and those kids bust their arse. Very few last playing if they don't truly want to be there. The stigma that people apply to travel ball rarely applies to the actual travel ball kids, parents, or coaches.
There are different levels of all of this.
Rec ball- I watched parts of a 14U rec softball game. It was walk after walk after walk. I legit saw a kid taking a lead off of second base, and not a single coach, umpire, anybody said anything. This was a softball game between two rec teams in legitimate high school softball areas.
FASSA/USSSA- its mainly just a notch above rec ball. People call it travel ball, think they are playing travel ball, but the vast majority are staying within 50 miles of where they are from. The travel ball stigma typically comes from this group, because you have a handful of parents who love to talk about travel ball, and a lot of them have no clue about the sport.
At the highest levels, is legit travel ball. You have some absolutely great softball/baseball being played. Most kids are well coached, and those kids bust their arse. Very few last playing if they don't truly want to be there. The stigma that people apply to travel ball rarely applies to the actual travel ball kids, parents, or coaches.
Posted on 5/29/26 at 7:25 pm to andwesway
quote:
Holding your kid back in school for sports reasons is nuts.
A small private school in the MS Delta, Strider Academy, was doing this in the 70s.
Posted on 5/29/26 at 7:32 pm to supatigah
Travel baseball was a nightmare. Zero ragerts being done with it. Baked in the sun all day, moving tents, watching shite between games so it doesn’t get stolen, dealing with shitty umps, beating down big mouth dads in the parking lot. It’s exhausting. Sure, Xaxston crushed it and went 9-15 against that cross-county trash, but at the end of the day, I show up to work exhausted with other dudes blood all over my undershirt. Blood is hard to get out!
Posted on 5/29/26 at 7:36 pm to supatigah
I mean if you want to be a high level D1 basketball player you almost have to play AAU basketball.
For baseball though, I’ve never thought that travel ball is going to return the investment. Either your kid can throw 90mph, or he can’t. And a bunch of swings in the cage is going to give you more skill development than travel ball games.
For football you can camp everywhere in the summer but if you don’t have the size or 40 time, it doesn’t matter what your tape shows.
To me travel baseball and travel volleyball (and volleyball is worse) is just a cash grab by the coaches running it.
For baseball though, I’ve never thought that travel ball is going to return the investment. Either your kid can throw 90mph, or he can’t. And a bunch of swings in the cage is going to give you more skill development than travel ball games.
For football you can camp everywhere in the summer but if you don’t have the size or 40 time, it doesn’t matter what your tape shows.
To me travel baseball and travel volleyball (and volleyball is worse) is just a cash grab by the coaches running it.
Posted on 5/29/26 at 7:44 pm to JoeyP239
Iron sharpens iron
Posted on 5/29/26 at 7:53 pm to Sun God
quote:
Iron sharpens iron
Basketball and tennis it does. To get better you have to play against other top competition,
I don’t think football or baseball is true. Football is 90% making yourself as athletic as possible and having the measurables. Baseball is a skill game. You develop skills by skill training far more so than playing the game. That’s one of the reasons why college coaches don’t care about your high school stats. They need to see your swing, and radar gun before any game play.
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