OT and a sucky part about kids travel sports (baseball)

[ritaith]

not that anyone cares or should care but I need to vent.

My son joined a travel baseball team at age of 7. He’s 10 now and about half the team are a year younger (playing up). We are an independent team (not affiliated with a little league) and only have this one team (no teams at other age groups).

We lost a couple of players in the spring and a couple more early this summer and it looked like the team would end. It had to end sometime and the timing was probably a good time especially since the team that most of the 10 year olds would tryout for are in mid August and the 10 year olds could all try out for that team. I always figured when the team broke up the coach would keep the younger players and go down an age group and add younger players.

But we were able to get a couple more players and so the team - most of which had been on the team for 4 years - was going to stay together for another year.

Then earlier this week 2 of the 10 year olds said they were leaving the team after this fall because they had tried out for the team that was the natural next step for the 10 year olds and they had committed to joining that team after the fall. Thus the coach announced that the team will be done after this fall bc we are not able to add 2 players at the quality that we had just lost, especially bc the 2 players we lost in the spring were A players and were replaced with C players.

Here’s what sucks: it appears the 2 10 year olds (well their parents) didn’t want to have the competion to make the team if all the 10 year olds had tried out at the same time. Really not cool.

My son may still be able to get on that team - he’s a significantly better pitcher than anyone they have but bc he was not at tryouts (bc the team was supposed to last another year) we are not sure when/if a space will open. The other 3 kids that would have had a shot of making the team are probably out of luck until next summer.

Really not cool.

Oh well. If you read this thanks for reading my vent!

 

[ClarkstonMark]

Yep, Travel Sports can suck.
Been through it with baseball.
and here in MI it is even worse with hockey.

 

[psuro]

You are not going to like my response.

I think travel sports is a scam created by a group of greedy people who figured out a way to convince parents into spending money with their teams, by going after their kids and tugging on the parents guilty heartstrings. They want to give those parents the faint hope of their children being world class athletes, and chance for athletic scholarships to colleges. The entire travel sports culture is nothing more than an obligation for kids and their families. It takes time, schedule, money, organization and creates an unnecessary hierarchy for kids at a young age, as well as their families - based solely on the child's athletic abilities - and nothing else. it creates unnecessary angst and animosity between adults. Parents who think their child is the next baseball star or any other sports mega athlete are simply deluding themselves.

Kids don't learn fundamentals, they lose the concept of playing for fun, and using their imagination. Putting youth sports on television only makes it worse for pre-teens. The Little League World Series on television is abhorrent. I don't care that it's in Williamsport and brings in money to the town.

Treating children as if they were high paid professionals, and expecting them to perform as such, and with the same level of intensity and drive is simply a way for adults to redeem themselves for their own failures and inabilities in youth sports (on the larger plane). It also continues the downward spiral in America of our societal values of sports over other pursuits - including academics. If the parents would have their kids focus on academics as much as athletics it would bode well for the future of our society.

That is my rant. Thanks for reading it.

Go ahead and tell me that I am wrong, and that your little kid is a straight A student and a.400 hitter. The statistics would prove otherwise.

Now let's get the Weekend Jukebox thread started.

 

[AWS1022]

not that anyone cares or should care but I need to vent.

My son joined a travel baseball team at age of 7. He’s 10 now and about half the team are a year younger (playing up). We are an independent team (not affiliated with a little league) and only have this one team (no teams at other age groups).

We lost a couple of players in the spring and a couple more early this summer and it looked like the team would end. It had to end sometime and the timing was probably a good time especially since the team that most of the 10 year olds would tryout for are in mid August and the 10 year olds could all try out for that team. I always figured when the team broke up the coach would keep the younger players and go down an age group and add younger players.

But we were able to get a couple more players and so the team - most of which had been on the team for 4 years - was going to stay together for another year.

Then earlier this week 2 of the 10 year olds said they were leaving the team after this fall because they had tried out for the team that was the natural next step for the 10 year olds and they had committed to joining that team after the fall. Thus the coach announced that the team will be done after this fall bc we are not able to add 2 players at the quality that we had just lost, especially bc the 2 players we lost in the spring were A players and were replaced with C players.

Here’s what sucks: it appears the 2 10 year olds (well their parents) didn’t want to have the competion to make the team if all the 10 year olds had tried out at the same time. Really not cool.

My son may still be able to get on that team - he’s a significantly better pitcher than anyone they have but bc he was not at tryouts (bc the team was supposed to last another year) we are not sure when/if a space will open. The other 3 kids that would have had a shot of making the team are probably out of luck until next summer.

Really not cool.

Oh well. If you read this thanks for reading my vent!

I understand your need to vent. I coached my own travel team for exactly this reason. I kept them together from age 9 to 18. I had to fill in spots every year, but kept the bulk of them together the whole time. It was a great experience with a great group of kids, but I understand your frustration. The good news is what they do at this age has little bearing on their future. High school coaches don’t care how much they played or what teams they played for. If they can contribute to the team, they will make the roster.

 

[AWS1022]

You are not going to like my response.

I think travel sports is a scam created by a group of greedy people who figured out a way to convince parents into spending money with their teams, by going after their kids and tugging on the parents guilty heartstrings. They want to give those parents the faint hope of their children being world class athletes, and chance for athletic scholarships to colleges. The entire travel sports culture is nothing more than an obligation for kids and their families. It takes time, schedule, money, organization and creates an unnecessary hierarchy for kids at a young age, as well as their families - based solely on the child's athletic abilities - and nothing else. it creates unnecessary angst and animosity between adults. Parents who think their child is the next baseball star or any other sports mega athlete are simply deluding themselves.

Kids don't learn fundamentals, they lose the concept of playing for fun, and using their imagination. Putting youth sports on television only makes it worse for pre-teens. The Little League World Series on television is abhorrent. I don't care that it's in Williamsport and brings in money to the town.

Treating children as if they were high paid professionals, and expecting them to perform as such, and with the same level of intensity and drive is simply a way for adults to redeem themselves for their own failures and inabilities in youth sports (on the larger plane). It also continues the downward spiral in America of our societal values of sports over other pursuits - including academics. If the parents would have their kids focus on academics as much as athletics it would bode well for the future of our society.

That is my rant. Thanks for reading it.

Go ahead and tell me that I am wrong, and that your little kid is a straight A student and a.400 hitter. The statistics would prove otherwise.

Now let's get the Weekend Jukebox thread started.

Wow....did you ever have a kid play travel ball? If it’s the right team, it proves everything you posted wrong. My kids all had fun, learned fundamentals, were light years ahead of the other kids who didn’t play travel ball, and never paid a dime to be on the team. I raised all the money because I didn’t want a kid to not be able to play because of finances. I started the team so they could see better competition, play real live baseball rules (as opposed to Little League rules), and learn to love the game. Most of my players stuck with the game and ended up playing in college.

 

[lionville]

My experience with travel ball was always a guy with money who needed 11 other kids to give his kid a chance to play travel ball.
I have 2 sons who played a total of 1 year of travel ball between them. They had enough games in their local leagues to keep them happy. When they showed promise at the high school level they both played for showcase teams and it worked out well for both. They both played D-1 baseball In college.

I work with a couple guys who have their kids on travel teams since 6 or 7. Once in now 11 and wants to play other sports. The other is getting tired of it from all indications.

Sometimes it’s good to let a kid be a kid.

 

[AWS1022]

My experience with travel ball was always a guy with money who needed 11 other kids to give his kid a chance to play travel ball.
I have 2 sons who played a total of 1 year of travel ball between them. They had enough games in their local leagues to keep them happy. When they showed promise at the high school level they both played for showcase teams and it worked out well for both. They both played D-1 baseball In college.

I work with a couple guys who have their kids on travel teams since 6 or 7. Once in now 11 and wants to play other sports. The other is getting tired of it from all indications.

Sometimes it’s good to let a kid be a kid.

Again, I think it depends on the team. Get on the right team that’s there for the right reasons, it can be fun. Some local leagues suck and don’t play nearly enough games and/or have poor competition, so a travel team is probably necessary. Some areas have great youth leagues with plenty of good coaching and enough games, so travel isn’t necessary. Also, it depends on the kid. Some kids love it and want to play all the time. Others can take it or leave it and the parents pressure them into playing all the time. I think it’s important to know your kid and what he/she really wants.

 

[Pardlion]

not that anyone cares or should care but I need to vent.

My son joined a travel baseball team at age of 7. He’s 10 now and about half the team are a year younger (playing up). We are an independent team (not affiliated with a little league) and only have this one team (no teams at other age groups).

We lost a couple of players in the spring and a couple more early this summer and it looked like the team would end. It had to end sometime and the timing was probably a good time especially since the team that most of the 10 year olds would tryout for are in mid August and the 10 year olds could all try out for that team. I always figured when the team broke up the coach would keep the younger players and go down an age group and add younger players.

But we were able to get a couple more players and so the team - most of which had been on the team for 4 years - was going to stay together for another year.

Then earlier this week 2 of the 10 year olds said they were leaving the team after this fall because they had tried out for the team that was the natural next step for the 10 year olds and they had committed to joining that team after the fall. Thus the coach announced that the team will be done after this fall bc we are not able to add 2 players at the quality that we had just lost, especially bc the 2 players we lost in the spring were A players and were replaced with C players.

Here’s what sucks: it appears the 2 10 year olds (well their parents) didn’t want to have the competion to make the team if all the 10 year olds had tried out at the same time. Really not cool.

My son may still be able to get on that team - he’s a significantly better pitcher than anyone they have but bc he was not at tryouts (bc the team was supposed to last another year) we are not sure when/if a space will open. The other 3 kids that would have had a shot of making the team are probably out of luck until next summer.

Really not cool.

Oh well. If you read this thanks for reading my vent!

How hot are the moms?

 

[AWS1022]

How hot are the moms?

We had a kid in our regular season who couldn’t play at all but was picked high in the draft because his mom was so hot (it wasn’t me that picked him).

 

[MtNittany]

Comparing travel baseball to Little League or vice versa isn't fair because they are two totally different deals w/ totally different objectives.

 

[Pardlion]

We had a kid in our regular season who couldn’t play at all but was picked high in the draft because his mom was so hot (it wasn’t me that picked him).

I remember one time opening the locker room door, and one of the Flyers Russian wives was bent over, tying her kid's skates, with a whole handful of thong showing up the back. Yeah.

 

[4INSBU]

Welcome to travel baseball. My son is now 17 and all the madness didn't really start until he turned 13. It was like free agency. Before 13 he played for his town team in spring/fall and travel in summer. Nobody really jumped around. Now, it's madness starting at an early age. I hear similar stories from my neighbors who have younger kids.

My son was top of the talent pool for his age in our area. As he got older baseball got boring for him. He officially gave it up this summer. Says maybe he'll still play for his high school, but I have my doubts he will. It's all about basketball now. It's a shame as he could have played at the college level I think, but just doesn't have the interest.

 

[AWS1022]

Comparing travel baseball to Little League or vice versa isn't fair because they are two totally different deals w/ totally different objectives.

That’s true, which is why travel is right for some kids and not for others. My son played both...played Little League in the spring and travel the rest of the summer. I think Little League is a great thing and my son had an opportunity to play for a big time travel team, but he would have had to give up playing for his Little League team and he didn’t want to do that and I was fine with it.

 

[AWS1022]

Welcome to travel baseball. My son is now 17 and all the madness didn't really start until he turned 13. It was like free agency. Before 13 he played for his town team in spring/fall and travel in summer. Nobody really jumped around. Now, it's madness starting at an early age. I hear similar stories from my neighbors who have younger kids.

My son was top of the talent pool for his age in our area. As he got older baseball got boring for him. He officially gave it up this summer. Says maybe he'll still play for his high school, but I have my doubts he will. It's all about basketball now. It's a shame as he could have played at the college level I think, but just doesn't have the interest.

Travel basketball is worse, at least where we lived.

 

[dwiz]

The good news is what they do at this age has little bearing on their future. High school coaches don’t care how much they played or what teams they played for. If they can contribute to the team, they will make the roster.

Tell that to the parents spending 4 figures on their son who will top out MAYBE at high school varsity and screaming at the refs at these things like it's their fault that their kid sucks.

 

[Cletus11]

Tom....I agree with you. Club sports are crazy and mainly due to parents. Have seen many kids lately literally giving up the sport as 14 and 15 year olds because they are burnt out. It was why I never pushed my kids into team sports even though sports were my life growing up. More bad then good in a lot of situations. Youth sports should be about fun, friendships, exercise, the thrill of competition but too much now it is not about that. I have seen parents spend $20k, $30k to put there kids through club sports over their youth and then turn around and burden those same kids with huge college debt. Backwards thinking.

 

[broey1]

Yup. So glad to be done with travel ball. Only have one son left at home and he’s a cross country runner. The AAU track coaches still sniff around, but nowhere in the same league as travel baseball or AAU basketball.

Still get a kick out of the parents who drop about 5 grand a summer on baseball, then junior gets cut from the high school jv team. Those are some epic meltdowns!

 

[psualt]

A lot of travel teams will make space for an extra pitcher if your son wants to play. The problem you may have regarding the tryouts may limit him to only that position though as “pitcher only” normally doesn’t upset the balance of the team for the kids that already made it.

 

[AWS1022]

Tell that to the parents spending 4 figures on their son who will top out MAYBE at high school varsity and screaming at the refs at these things like it's their fault that their kid sucks.

There are dumb parents everywhere. I’ve seen parents drop thousands of dollars on cheerleading and music lessons as well. Parents want their kids to be the best and often can’t see a lack of ability.

 

[diontechristmas]

Travel basketball for suburban kids is the best though. Let’s travel 3 states away to play another team of rich suburban kids. In reality all one would have to do is drop the kid off at a playground court in Allentown or Reading and face better competition.

 

[ClarkstonMark]

Tom....I agree with you. Club sports are crazy and mainly due to parents. Have seen many kids lately literally giving up the sport as 14 and 15 year olds because they are burnt out. It was why I never pushed my kids into team sports even though sports were my life growing up. More bad then good in a lot of situations. Youth sports should be about fun, friendships, exercise, the thrill of competition but too much now it is not about that. I have seen parents spend $20k, $30k to put there kids through club sports over their youth and then turn around and burden those same kids with huge college debt. Backwards thinking.

way more than $20-30k when talking hockey

 

[ClarkstonMark]

Travel basketball for suburban kids is the best though. Let’s travel 3 states away to play another team of rich suburban kids. In reality all one would have to do is drop the kid off at a playground court in Allentown or Reading and face better competition.

that's funny. I've been at some baseball tournaments 4-6 hours away where 3/4 of the teams were within half an hour of us.

 

[AWS1022]

Travel basketball for suburban kids is the best though. Let’s travel 3 states away to play another team of rich suburban kids. In reality all one would have to do is drop the kid off at a playground court in Allentown or Reading and face better competition.

The worst for me in travel basketball was traveling miles and miles and end up playing one of the other teams from our town. It happened all the time.

 

[psualt]

There have been a lot of threads on here in the past that beat up the teams and parents. Most of that in my opinion is unjustified. My youngest is playing on a more local travel team in the fall. I was actually considering him not playing because he is one of the weaker kids and hadn’t shown the same amount of commitment as my older son. In the end I let him play because sports teaches a lot of valuable lessons...one of which may be riding the pine if you don’t put in the work.

 

[MtNittany]

Little League is to play w/ your neighborhood pals. Travel ball is to get a scholarship.

 

[4INSBU]

Travel basketball is worse, at least where we lived.

Yep, but I've been lucky on this front. Because of baseball couldn't ever do travel basketball when youner. The past few years he's played with a bunch of local kids he's eventually gone onto high school with. No nobody jumping for greener pastures.

 

[Erial_Lion]

I assign umpires to little league and travel programs. Earlier this summer, I assigned an ump to a 9u travel game. During the game, a coach lost it on a bang-bang call that went against him. After letting him vent a bit, the ump told him that was enough. Coach wasn’t ready to let it go, and got tossed. When he got tossed, he completely lost it, started screaming F-bombs and went after the ump, making physical contact with him, and his assistant coaches had to pull him away and get him to leave the field.

All of this in a regular season game of 9 year olds (and some younger). I filed a report on it, but don’t know if anything ever happened.

 

[Erial_Lion]

Little League is to play w/ your neighborhood pals. Travel ball is to get a scholarship.

That was true about 10 years ago, but now, anyone willing to pay $ also plays travel ball. You could change “get a scholarship” to “wants to play on his Freshman HS team”.

 

[MtNittany]

One thing I've noticed about youth and HS baseball in PA is that you can really see the impact of lacrosse. North Central PA has the best baseball in the state arguably, and it's probably because there ain't no lacrosse.

 

[wilbury]

My daughter played travel softball for many years. I'm so glad it's over. Way too much time committed to one sport. You end up practicing one day a week over the winter, then more often in the spring, 12 tournaments summer/fall and then repeat. All sorts of issues with repetitive motion injuries for what purpose? To be a good high school softball player? And I'm not that thrilled about her even playing college softball. Pick your school based on the education you'll get, not some softball scholarship. It's not like she's ever getting a career in professional softball.

Way too much drama with the parents. Not happy about playing time, arguing with the umps, etc.

 

[CentrevilleLion]

Welcome to travel baseball. My son is now 17 and all the madness didn't really start until he turned 13. It was like free agency. Before 13 he played for his town team in spring/fall and travel in summer. Nobody really jumped around. Now, it's madness starting at an early age. I hear similar stories from my neighbors who have younger kids.

My son was top of the talent pool for his age in our area. As he got older baseball got boring for him. He officially gave it up this summer. Says maybe he'll still play for his high school, but I have my doubts he will. It's all about basketball now. It's a shame as he could have played at the college level I think, but just doesn't have the interest.

Holy $hit, your son has had the same path my grandson has. He loved all of it for about 5 years, but started to find it boring except for when he was on the bump. He would have easily made his HS last year given his talent as a lefty who can locate 5 pitches, but he didn't even try out. He loves basketball and plays in HS and an AAU team.

 

[diontechristmas]

Little League is to play w/ your neighborhood pals. Travel ball is to get a scholarship.

You’re supposed to be thinking about a scholarship at age 11? That’s sad.

Baseball doesn’t give out a ton of scholarships, even in D1, and many are shared and partials. Terrible ROI really.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

I assign umpires to little league and travel programs. Earlier this summer, I assigned an ump to a 9u travel game. During the game, a coach lost it on a bang-bang call that went against him. After letting him vent a bit, the ump told him that was enough. Coach wasn’t ready to let it go, and got tossed. When he got tossed, he completely lost it, started screaming F-bombs and went after the ump, making physical contact with him, and his assistant coaches had to pull him away and get him to leave the field.

All of this in a regular season game of 9 year olds (and some younger). I filed a report on it, but don’t know if anything ever happened.

The ref, or somebody in a leadership position at the event, should have called the police. I think you're in PA. If so, CLICK HERE for the PA law on assaulting a sports official.

 

[psuro]

I assign umpires to little league and travel programs. Earlier this summer, I assigned an ump to a 9u travel game. During the game, a coach lost it on a bang-bang call that went against him. After letting him vent a bit, the ump told him that was enough. Coach wasn’t ready to let it go, and got tossed. When he got tossed, he completely lost it, started screaming F-bombs and went after the ump, making physical contact with him, and his assistant coaches had to pull him away and get him to leave the field.

All of this in a regular season game of 9 year olds (and some younger). I filed a report on it, but don’t know if anything ever happened.

Shocking that parents act that way.

 

[Erial_Lion]

The ref, or somebody in a leadership position at the event, should have called the police. I think you're in PA. If so, CLICK HERE for the PA law on assaulting a sports official.

I’m in South Jersey, but there are also laws here to cover it..funny thing is there is a police station right across the street from the field. The ump was a guy in his early-20s and was fine with just getting rid of him and moving on. I’ve never had things escalate that badly, but I doubt that I would have just let him leave and restarted the game.

 

[AWS1022]

Shocking that parents act that way.

Unfortunately it’s not anything new.

 

[AWS1022]

You’re supposed to be thinking about a scholarship at age 11? That’s sad.

Baseball doesn’t give out a ton of scholarships, even in D1, and many are shared and partials. Terrible ROI really.

It is a terrible ROI. I had my kid play travel because he enjoyed it and I knew it would be competitive for him to get playing time on his high school team. He ended up playing in college, but that wasn’t the goal when he was younger. Most of the guys that played travel for me did play in college but none of them got more than a few thousand dollars and my son was the only one that played D-1. Hopefully this constant focus on getting little Johnny a scholarship shifts to focusing on little Johnny enjoying the game and having fun with his buddies.

 

[AWS1022]

“Little League” attracts asshole parents like moths to a flame.

Sad

It also attracts asshole umpires who don’t know how to keep a situation from escalating and asshole coaches who don’t realize they’re not auditioning for the big leagues.

 

[diontechristmas]

I guess the whole youth sport culture these days bothers me. Many push their kids so hard.

My son is old enough to play flag football this year (5), and they have 4 two hour practices a week! I really didn’t want him to play, but did ask him. Do you want to swim and play with the neighbors every night or spend the rest of summer at football practice. Guess what he chose?

The 5 and 6 year old team has like 7 coaches, none of which actually played football I’m sure. They act like Franklin is watching for new coaching talent. They are a bunch of dopes frankly save one or two. I appreciate that people are involved and care about their kids, but I’m like calm down people.

I played FCS college football, and many of my friends played D1 and 2 as well. I didn’t start organized football until much later, and used to ride my bike to the field in full gear.. my parents didn’t really care what the hell I was doing as long as I want and was respectful to the coaches.

 

[YYZ86]

Only 11% of high school baseball players play collegiate baseball with only 2% at the D1 level. Basketball is worse with only 5.7% and .9% respectively. The amount of money spent by parents for their kids on travel teams according to Real Sports on HBO was over 10 billion in 2016. I realize that includes more than just baseball and basketball, but the money is staggering. Because mostly parents are running the travel teams, it is not viewed as negatively as the money in college athletics. I wonder how many kids could go to college without a scholarship on that 10 billion.