re: Youth travel ball has to be the dumbest waste of time and money.

I was bored and helped a friend Coach Little League for a few years. It was kinda fun.

I was around it enough that I started seeing the Travel Ball parents post on FB. They were so excited about little Jaxcyon and Hayden winning another tournament and getting another ring.

Like that kids inflated ego needed a useless arse ring for winning a weekend tournament.

My son did travel soccer from U11 through U15ish…It definitely made him a better athlete and competitor. The travel sucked, but you have to go find other talent to sharpen your skills.

He quit club ball, but probably will still play school ball in the fall. He’s taken his talents over to football…he really likes the accountability that coaches put on you in that sport, and wishes soccer coaches had done it all along.

Still though, playing in the finals of all those tournaments definitely helped my son with his focus and effort level. He learned to give way more than he would have otherwise, I think.

There are levels to it all. None of my kids are interested in baseball. So I guess I lucked out. My oldest has been playing football and basketball all his life. There are no travel football teams in our area. Basketball has AAU, but he wasn't interested. School ball was enough for him.

I can relate 2 stories though. One successful, one not.

1. I know a Dad who has 2 girls who like softball. So he starts them on a workout schedule. They would get up and go to train at 5am and then after school either go to practice or private instruction. They played on a lower travel team and honestly weren't that great. Both girls burned out before they even graduated high school. Taught them how to hate the game.

2. My brother. He was an athletic stud growing up. Played pro ball all through the minors. His girls didn't start travel ball until High school. The teams they play on have mostly D1 players. His girls Have won the state championship 5x, graduated college and coached for another championship each. They weren't paying for their kid to play, they were paying for their kid to play against the best competition.

It has it's place. But reality is in most cities.. if you don't want to play ghetto ball, then you gotta pay up to play. Travel ball filled that void.

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see this is the biggest issue i see that the OT has with travel ball.

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Yup. And not every parent is pushing this on their kid. We certainly didn't. I swore we'd never do it. My kid asked to tryout because most of friends were playing. I can afford it so I that point I felt selfish for not letting him tryout. He loves it and I couldn't care less if he plays in high school or if he even wants to. While there are many stereotypical travel ball parents out there, it is not universal.

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You’re the guy that will go tell the 12 yr old playing the drums in the garage to keep it down because he will never make it. Every hobby your kid will have requires money. Big shocker there. If it’s not traveling for tournaments and equipment, it’s for music going see different artists they may like, buying instruments, sound equip, etc. Enjoy being a miserable person. I’m sure you’re fun to be around.

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You’re the moron to tell Tony Robichaux that he is wrong. While he was a college baseball coach and you’re the parent pounding beers in the hotel parking lot at Braxton game in another state.

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Most of these kids won't play past high school and the parents sign them up to play year round, lol.

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The worst part is the organization itself that kid may play for. Many of them suck and therefore the experience hinders a child's progress, is expensive as frick, and can actually make a child resent playing.

Hers what to do......private lessons

Example baseball...get a hitting coach for 1 hr of private lessons twice a week for the length of the club season..half way thru switch to a throwing/fielding lesson for a couple weeks.

Your kid will advance in skills TWICE as much as he would playing club.

When he's in 7th/8th grade, play club for game experience leading into high school

Back in the 90's my buddy's dad had a bucket of tennis balls that he'd hit us grounders and pop ups. We'd go through a few buckets then play catch. That's 1,000% more action than Chaiston gets sitting the bench, and then going to center field for a weekend tournament in Orlando.

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You’re the guy that will go tell the 12 yr old playing the drums in the garage to keep it down because he will never make it. Every hobby your kid will have requires money. Big shocker there. If it’s not traveling for tournaments and equipment, it’s for music going see different artists they may like, buying instruments, sound equip, etc. Enjoy being a miserable person. I’m sure you’re fun to be around.

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Hobby is the key word here. Even if your kid "loves baseball" he needs to play other sports, or be involved in other activities. As the parent you put them in those positions. Then there's times when they need to just be relaxing. Go camping, fishing, hiking, or just simply play in the backyard. Let kids be bored, and learn to entertain themselves. Climb trees, play on a dirt pile, draw, read, or even if at home hit off a tee and just play catch and BS for a bit.

I have plenty of co-workers and relatives who are constantly talking about spending their entire weekend (and in some cases work week) watching their kids playing in some travel ball tournament like 4 hours away.

It isn't much different for young girls with softball/cheerleading teams.

What was wrong with local rec leagues for baseball/softball? Why do little girls have to be on cheer teams from the age of 3 to make HS cheerleader?

Why in god's name would any functioning adult actively want to put themselves through the stress of all the travel when they could just go down to the local ballpark?

Congrats??

What’s your beef with travel ball homeboy?