re: This guy gets it, re Travel ball

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You're really no better. As with every thread on here, you spout off with "everyone is lying about travel ball" but when confronted with people's anecdotal experiences you will eventually say, "well that's not how my kids travel ball team is".

Maybe, it can be both? Maybe, some of the good things you say are true, and some of the bad things they say are true? Maybe, travel ball has a reputation for a reason and it's not because a bunch of people on the internet decided to pick on travel ball parents.


sure but most of it is "I heard" or I read on social media BS

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Are you clocking 10 year olds?'


unless you are blessed with a rapsodo embedded in your eye the radar gun is the best way to monitor fatigue. Pitch counts are good but many kids are not capable of throwing that many pitches and become fatigued before hand and will not say a word about it. At that age its very hard to tell the difference between say 56 and a drop to 51(10%). but a continuous drop like that over 5-6 pitches means they are fatigued and should be pulled, throwing strikes or not for the health of the kid. Injury risk sky rockets when the forearm muscles become fatigued. should be clocking every pitch for no other reason than that, at least spot checking.

not even goign to get into improving velo requires tracking velo part of it.

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This generally decreases as they get older. Not just baseball but any travel sport. I attended a coaches meeting for basketball at our school league and listened to the local gym owner tell parents that "when your kids are in junior high, they need to start focusing on 1 sport".


it does. most kids quit baseball after 12 with the move to the bigger field, always have. I dont agree that they should specialize, at least until high school. also dont believe that you should force a kid to play multiple sports if they dont want to either and have atleast tried the sport...once they get to middle school anyways. younger then that, force them, they wont know if they like it or not unless they try it.

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Again, with age i find this to be less true, at least locally.


in the state of LA every team is pretty much off july-septemeber. there are a few events like PG all state in july and a couple world series at start of july but unless its a tournament out of state like cooperstown, cal ripken or PGI...its over by july 4th.

very few teams play more than 2 tournaments in the fall. Some play a sunday league. most play 1-2 tournaments and practice mid sept- November
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Maybe, but it's a self fulfilling prophecy. A few years back, a shrewd park owner convinced some parents that "if you just pay x amount, you can have access to this park year round and your kid will definitely play in college". So word of mouth spread, and more people started to pay more for "better results". Well, now it has morphed to "if you don't play travel ball your kid will never play JV sports at school", and "if we don't cut the 7 year olds who aren't out of the womb athletic, then we'll never get priority at practice fields or seeding at tournaments." I state this all the time, it didn't HAVE to be this way, but now it is. Now, for most cases, you do HAVE to be on a travel/tournament team or your kid will fall behind. There are exceptions, but in the end, if he wants to play high school ball (and even that is considered inferior to true travel teams) then we, the parents, must pony up $2-3k every year and say goodbye to weekends for 6+ months out of the year.


not really..... its more the kids that practice more and play more are better 99% of the time. so when it comes nut cutting time and you have to perform for the HS coach...they are taking the better kids period

they arent asking where the kids played, what travel team they played on...but the more skilled players are going to be the travel kids 99% of the time and most of the time its going to be the ones playing higher level travel.

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Where is the outrage for tryouts and competition in basketball, cheer, dance, music?

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Cheer, dance, and music have to travel to find competition.

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I've had three boys play baseball

Oldest - played rec through 12U and did "All Stars" after the rec season for 3-4 tournaments. Played rec only in 12U, before quitting baseball. Just time for him to move on. That's an age where lots move on from baseball.

Middle - played rec through 12 U and did "All Stars" in 7 and 8U. In 9U, a dad formed a tournament team that was comprised of kids that still played rec. So, we played in tournaments throughout the year, but also all broke up and played rec. He did this through 12U before quitting baseball to focus on soccer and football.

Youngest - played rec through 8U and joined a baseball "organization" and plays strictly tournament baseball. (He also plays soccer, football and school basketball). I originally wanted this kid to follow a path more like my middle son. A mix between laid back but serious. But we didn't have the right dads to do this. To my surprise, our experience at an organization has been great. I realize that's not everyone's experience.



If we are being completely honest, playing just rec baseball isn't enough. I've had two kids play rec though 12U. Its like 10 games and the pitching is horrible and they probably have less than 10 real at bats where they get to swing a bat and probably about 10 balls that they have a chance to field.

That's just not enough. Those aren't real reps. The kids he will compete against later on are so far ahead of the rec kids that its crazy. Sure, you can give me an example of a great athlete that didn't play much until 13U. Those outliers exist. But for most normal kids, the ones that play rec aren't making the junior high team. They are too far behind.

When we were kids in the 80's, we played rec. But we also played with friends all the time. Those skills were being honed year round in fun ways. Kids don't do that anymore.

And also, if we're being honest, for the most part these HS teams today would kick your 1990's HS team's arse. They are better in every aspect. Its hard for kids to make the HS team if they aren't already very polished as a player. And those rec reps won't get them there.

Tournament baseball covers such a wide spectrum. You can find the right mix for your kid. There are teams that take it seriously and teams that don't. Teams that travel and those that don't. Teams that play in the Spring only and teams that play year round. Teams coached by dad or teams coached by high level coaches. Teams that costs $5,000 a year and teams that cost $500 a year.

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Travel ball is the most anti American thing ever. You may as well be teaching your kids to suck communist dick

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Travel ball is the most anti American thing ever. You may as well be teaching your kids to suck communist dick

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Maybe football it's not.

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I’ve got 2 tournaments this weekend. My husband and I will go our separate ways for the weekend and miss watching one of our kids play.

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Maybe football it's not. No, it exists. But mainly within the black community. I hear it’s dirty as hell too. Lots of older kids playing down an age group and no birth certificates are required so there are no age checks. Even was told they gamble on the games from the sidelines. I only do rec football. That’s from what I’ve gathered from other parents that have experience in the “travel football” leagues.

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