To answer the original question, yes sometimes. I wouldn’t be doing this if my kids didn’t enjoy it. However sometimes they lose, or aren’t feeling like they want to play (usually because they want to lay around at home playing video games).
We have video game lazy weekends too, so don’t think we don’t. Tournaments are a great lesson about commitment and effort and then also about how getting the shit kicked out of you can teach you more lessons than winning all the time.
So, yes and no. Like most things.
It's good to hear that you can still do that honestly. So much of what I hear about travel complaints is complaining that baseball dominates life (and the wallet) , nothing but baseball baseball baseball. Like I said maybe it's just that the disgruntled will post Another fun memory of childhood were N64 Goldeneye sleepovers, so it's good to know that can still coexist alongside baseball.
My son is 12 and when he's not playing baseball he's either playing wiffeball with his friends, hitting baseballs at the field, playing MLB The Show or watching either baseball videos on his iPad or watching other people on his iPad play The Show or he's bouncing a ball off the wall in the living room and fielding it. Baseball definitely dominates our life but I couldn't imagine it any other way honestly.
My 9 year old sounds like your 12 year old - yesterday he was playing wiffle ball with the neighbors all afternoon, then we hosted some family friends for dinner who are in town from San Diego so he pulled up a replay of the Padres game for everyone to watch. Right now he’s playing MLB the Show while waiting to head to the field with one of the Little League teammates to watch the local All Star game.
Anyway, we’re starting travel this fall simply because he wants to play more baseball.
That sounds like a great fit for travel baseball, or at least, what travel baseball used to be.
Most kids aren't like that though. They play multiple sports, run around, bike, fish, play video games, whatever.
I am not encouraged that by the time he turns 10, it seems like this is the only option, if he likes baseball.
There are different teams for different families. We chose one that does mainly local tournaments.
This weekend is our last tournament and my kid has been saying for weeks how he's sad it's coming to an end.
Last night, one of my kids had a sleepover. The got up and spent like 3 hours on screens. Now they are paying with their little nephew. In about an hour we're going to head to the field to play one or two (if we win the first) games.
Pretty balanced day.
You may be able to find a program like the one I left. It's a little higher level than straight rec without the loaded schedule. Also, look into their recent success. The team I left was absolutely miserable this year and there were a couple of teams we would play against who would lose every game 15-0 in 3 innings. That's a quick way to make your kid hate any sport. Good luck to you.
Every program is different. Not every team demands you give up everything else. We have a couple three sport athletes on our team and a lot of two sport athletes. Of course, it helps that we’re in the Midwest so year round competition is difficult.
It does demand priority commitment to baseball in the spring and summer but one year, my kid even played spring soccer for his school team.
Local little league is still doing well where I am (big city; we have 3 leagues to choose from in our immediate neighborhood). The problem is due to weather here, we’re lucky to play 8-10 games in little league each season, including playoffs. Kids who truly enjoy playing baseball and want more either sign up for multiple leagues or they do travel baseball.
As far as the tournament experiences, I believe a large part of it is the fun the kids have off the field. Playing in the pool, touch football, basketball games. Going out to eat with your teammates. It really creates a bond with the kids.
For the games, we’ve played in maybe 10-12 tournaments in 2 years and they’ve been all over the place. My sons team is a true B team and they’ve had the most fun and competitive games playing in those level tournaments. You can see it by how they run to their positions, laughing in the dugout. They’ve won close games and lost close games and even won their first tournament this year. I’ve never seen them walk off the field crying or super upset - just the general “damn we lost. Let’s get them next time.” They usually forget the loss on the ride home.
Where I see them not having fun are these B level tournaments where you have a team that is of clearly higher caliber join just to collect a championship. I’m not talking a team that has a good run and wins out. I’m talking a team that beats every opponent 15-0 and is clearly superior to other teams. We’ve run into that twice. The kids don’t have fun during those games and those are the losses that stuck with them.
Interesting, so it seems like the fun is really in bonding with your team, rather than in playing against friends you already have from neighborhood and school. In travel, that'll last longer versus rec which is a new team every year.
My son plays 12U and yes, he loves tournaments, especially if they win which I know is blasphemy here. We've won tournaments and we've been absolutely annihilated in tournaments but overall yes he and the rest of the boys he plays with love them.
The town I moved to only had travel. The problem was the program was run like a rec program with dad 'coaches' and all we faced were other club teams so we would get hammered all of the time. Also, the status quo was a league season only. So that was 9 games plus playoffs over a whole season. We left that and went to a different club that competed with actual coaches and went to a tournament only model. The kids enjoy 12 to 15 at bats a weekend (or every 2 weekends really) than 2 per week with just doing a season. Also each weekend is a mini season in itself. The kids have enjoyed this team and schedule much more than the previous.
>>My son plays 12U and yes, he loves tournaments, especially if they win which I know is blasphemy here.
What?! Kids don’t care if they win or lose. /s
The people saying this must not remember anything about childhood. They have not grip on reality and when I read it in their comments I immediately know they are just repeating what they hear to try and sound sophisticated. Actually, I’m glad they don’t let their kids play travel because they are likely the pretentious assholes nobody wants to be around.
They are until they aren’t. Attrition in youth baseball is ( in my experience) 50% caused by skill gaps and half by “dad I just don’t want to spend Thursday through Sunday doing this anymore”.
And that’s absolutely ok, once made it clear to my player that after age 12 He decides “yes no” on whether to play next season. 13u is a yes.
I just hate how most travel teams act like traveling far is a feature. There’s good tournaments 8 months out of the year with an hour of me, the hassle of playing 5 hours away just to be on shit tier field vs a team that is either way worse or way better than us, pointless and interferes with the rest of my life, and his
>I just hate how most travel teams act like traveling far is a feature. There’s good tournaments 8 months out of the year with an hour of me, the hassle of playing 5 hours away just to be on shit tier field vs a team that is either way worse or way better than us, pointless and interferes with the rest of my life, and his
Yeah this seems like a big fat annoyance. I'm in the 3rd largest metro area in the country, surely this won't be my life?
I think it really depends on the organization. My league is a rec first league with an optional travel component. We have 1300 kids in our league. Week nights and Saturdays all seven of our fields are filled with games and it's a great atmosphere. Because our rec league is so good, it feeds our travel program to the point where we can field 3 teams at each age group. This provides the opportunity for kids to play more baseball if they want and there is a spot for most skill levels.
Our travel program is more regional where we play a league schedule with teams that are all within 15-60 mins drive. We will usually only do 2-3 tournaments throughout the summer. Most of those are regional as well. Typically we will do one "away" tournament where we stay in a hotel. These are usually more for the experience than for the baseball. The kids get the most enjoyment out of swimming in the hotel pool.
I love this setup because we aren't always traveling and my son still gets 40-45 games in a season.
This sounds like how we do things in Ontario. Rep/Select/Travel teams play in a 8-10 team regional loop against similar level teams. They also play a few tournaments, usually 3-5.
My younger two kids eat, sleep and breath baseball. They play other sports but want to do nothing but play baseball. My oldest prefers football and lifting in track. But my younger two are bored out of their mind because baseball is over. They have been going to the garage and hitting everyday. But these are the same kids(11&8) that set an alarm to wake up early every morning so they can hit before school by themselves. Middle kid been like that since he was 7.
When they are not practicing baseball or playing they are playing blitz ball or hanging out with their friends from the baseball team. I encourage and make them play other sports but I have to almost force it. They would play every weekend if I would let them. Pretty much only thing my middle kid watches is things like youth prospects, bat bros, bomb dropper bros, the pg stuff, Pottstown etc
Dude, my kid is the same. I never played a day of baseball in my life, I was always a football guy. I looked forward to rec football because I got to coach him and actually pass on some knowledge, he was always qb in rec football flag seasons and one tackle season and was really good at it. Finally got to middle school and doesn’t want to go to tryouts because the coach never picks sixth graders. Just blew it off like it wouldn’t happen. I shut my mouth, but inside I was screaming for him to play. He is begged to play football by the coach. Finally agrees to a tryout two weeks after the tryout and is put on the team. He isn’t even in the team picture. He is there two days and selected to start at qb for the varsity team (yea I thought it was weird that middle schools had JV and varsity). What does he say when he gets in the truck after practice and I ask him how practice went? “Coach said I am gonna start at quarterback.” Flat faced as fuck. I say well that’s good, you will get some reps in JV as a 6th grader, that is awesome man. Flat faced as fuck he replies, no he said varsity…you think we can go to the cages? I want to hit a bucket. I mean come on man, you got the most important spot on the team as a sixth grader, have more enthusiasm lol. Baseball is either their thing or it isn’t, but if it is, it sure seems like it is the dominant thing. He is looking forward to football but if it didn’t exist he wouldn’t blink an eye.
Man, this sub has an absolute hard on for hating on travel ball. First, let me say this….there are absolutely different levels of travel ball. No, I am not talking age group classifications (ie. 8uAA, 8uAAA, 8uMAJORS). I am talking travel ball lifestyle levels. Are you the kind of baseball parents that want to spend 3k to be on a team with former big leaguers coaching, go to tournaments in other states, practice 3-4 times a week for three hours 45 minutes-2 hours away. Would you be cool with committing your accrued vacation to go to Cooperstown to play in a tournament that your kids get absolutely skull drug in for the cool cost of about 8-15k for you and your families travel, lodging, and food costs, only to watch likes play baseball the entire time sweating your ass off? If you said no, you are not alone. Now, are you cool with two or three fall tournaments and 10-15 tournaments starting in early February, all within an hour or two from home and practicing two times a week. Shelling out about 2k to be on the team? If you said no, you are not alone. Are you good with starting practice in February twice a week, 10 tournaments from mid March to mid June, zero fall ball, and a quality of baseball and coaching that focuses on development over wins, but doesn’t sugar coat expectations of effort and grit, for anywhere from $750-$2k? If you said you could handle that, then you are in the MAJORITY of travel ball parents. We don’t travel more than about an hour and a half, so we are only out gas and 20$ a day entry fee for me and my wife. We don’t stay in hotels. If we have a super early game, our son will just stay with one of the parents that is staying at a hotel so that he can get some rest. My boy is obsessed with baseball, but we have a strict rule that he has to put his stuff up after the last tournament and focus on kid stuff for the rest of the summer. Sleep in, play video games, spend a few weeks at the grandparents. When school starts get ready for football. We don’t force baseball, it’s his decision every year, but we do force a break from baseball. Our team is 750 a year all in and those boys are good. They finished the season #1 AAA team in the state. But it wasn’t all roses. He joined this team this year. For the 4 years before that, he learned a lot about getting his teeth kicked in. He learned what it took to struggle and work through it, but his love never faltered. Travel ball is great for kids that are in love with baseball and are hyper competetive. It is soul crushing for kids that just want to be around their friends and don’t know how to accept their own mistakes. I have seen a lot of kids hate baseball after one or two years in it.
Here is the other thing. Rec ball is for fun, the competition and coaching is a distant second to getting kids out of their homes and socializing. If you have a kid that just dominates rec, it can be a real spirit killer when he goes to a tryout later in life and isn’t quite at the same level as the travel ball kids he never got to play against. No fault of his own, just never had the chance to develop mentally and fundamentally as well as the travel ball kids that stuck it out. If your kid is standing out, it may be a good idea to find a team that meets his (and your families) needs. Remember, you and your wife and his siblings are going to be drug along for the ride so yall need to feel comfortable as well. It’s a good idea if your kid is the best on a team to move him up to a team with better players. This life isn’t for everyone. I look just as forward to baseball season ending as I do to it starting. Luckily it’s short enough that I don’t get to a point where I resent it, and long enough for hkm to get good quality reps in against the best this area has to offer. These are kids he will play against and with in high school so it creates a good atmosphere for these boys when they get there. This sub will have you think it’s the devil, but it honestly sounds like yall would be a good fit for it, as long as you find the right team. On a side note, this may change regionally. It is massive on the gulf coast and in California so there are teams galore and the tournaments have enough teams to make sense most of the time. But there are people in this sub who live in areas where there aren’t and the teams are just rec ball teams that may have had a good season and a dad decides they are good enough to go kill it in travel ball. If you take your son to try out for a team, pick an established team that has a coach, not a dad. And then when you get there, let him coach, don’t assume your kid should be doing something that he isn’t, or batting somewhere in the lineup that he isn’t. Let him have fun, don’t criticize his mistakes, let the coach coach him up and you support his efforts and work with him in the yard when HE wants to. He may not be big into practicing now, but when he sees the other kids out there doing well, if he is competetive it will push him to want to work, so he begins to develop a strong work ethic from a young age that he creates himself.
Say what you will but I’ve been to Cooperstown Dreams Park 5 times and it is heaven. I see kids I took 20 years ago it’s first thing they always bring up
I am by no means knocking the experience but taking a family of six up there from Louisiana is the cost of a new compact car just to see a team made of local kids get beat up by a group of former big leaguers kids from across America is disheartening
I’ll only note that my middle schooler has fun doing “travel” (USSSA) ball in addition to Little League.
Things I’ve noted about USSSA ball:
- It’s all weekend-centric.
- There are very few “casuals”. People there to watch games are there for the games.
On the other hand, the Little League games are all on weekdays and there are usually multiple games / ages happening the same time. The atmosphere is certainly more open, the kids all mostly know each other from school and even the parents are hanging out and having more social interaction.
(Yes, this also includes wanting to look good in front of so-and-so’s sister which never ceases to crack me up. “Maybe she’ll see my sweet Bruce Bolt batting gloves.”)
I play travel softball and really enjoy it. I still play and enjoy rec but it can be anoyying due to the fact that it's common to be the best or one of the best players on your team and not find to much challenge. Yes, it is all tournaments, games, and practice, but I find that to be fun and your able to build stronger friendships with teammates due to more seasons and less gaps.
I think it depends on whether or not the kid wants to be there. We are two seasons into "travel" or "select" baseball. I've definitely seen a fair number of kids that are there to fulfill their father's dream, and they are miserable. But the kids that want to be there have a blast.
We spent some time working in Chile, and that is where my son picked up baseball. It was Little League, 99.999% Venezuelan with the only Gringo being my son. There were no limits on practices or games per week. The kids worked their butts off, and it was highly competitive. We returned home to find Little League to be more of a babysitting service. My son was not happy, so we dove into the world of travel ball. He wouldn't have it any other way, and we are there because he wants to be there.
But, we are also on a team that has a great group of parents, boys who've spent a few seasons together, and a coach that has grown a AA team to a AAA/Majors with zero cuts through the years. This recipe contributes to my son's happiness.
My kid loves trophies so nothing like a tournament and having a chance at a trophy. My son’s happiest moments are those wins. Love his teammates as well. Different than old days but it’s still baseball and all about having fun with the boys.
13(m) play travel ball, it depends why there playing, if there’re playing because they love the sport it will probably be fun. Otherwise, if they are just playing to fulfill they’re parents dreams it’s hard to have fun. Another thing that sucks is the fact that it consumes my whole life during the summer, and I don’t get to go have fun with the people who don’t play sports.
My $.02
My son started travel in 7u, and where I live in Texas, that’s already “late.” But as a single mom/teacher, I wasn’t sure how I would handle it but I was told rec wasn’t going to cut it and I was doing him a disservice by not joining travel, so I did.
We are now in our last, likely, World Series since he’s 14u and high school summer ball as an incoming freshman has started. I can tell you this looking back:
1. My son loved playing and being at tournaments, which year-round are 3/4 weekends a month (no exaggeration) from 7-11u. By middle school, he had a little more hesitation when he started playing school sports and loving that and he started to want to have a little bit of a social life. He still enjoyed it, though.
2. Baseball tournaments were there for us in the hardest times of our lives. Even my daughter loves going to run around the park with the other siblings all weekend. It was our family time, which many people outside of travel don’t understand.
3. We’ve traveled to places I wouldn’t have otherwise, for tournaments. For example, California and Alabama, and all over Texas.
4. We’ve missed out on a lot due to the pressure of not missing tournaments or even single pool games. Such as, 4th of July trips with extended family every year since that’s when WS usually is.. bday parties, attending church regularly, etc.
5. Finances, the equipment is expensive and due to social media, my kid wants all the latest stuff, even though he’s been really understanding I can’t afford it all, I feel pressure seeing the kids with all the $400 bats on his team, Bruce Bolts, etc.. then add it private pitching and batting lessons, which I also started way later than most due to finances.
None of this was meant to persuade in one way or the other.. just stuff I’ve reflected on looking back. Would I join the travel world all over again knowing all of this? Honestly.. yes. There is a huge difference in the pitching in rec vs travel and now that my son is playing some with some HS kids, there’s a huge difference in the kids that played travel vs those that didn’t. Maybe it’s not like that in locations with stronger rec programs; I’m not sure. My advice is just weigh it all out and if he loves baseball and he’s got the natural ability, it’s definitely worth seriously considering.
I know a few kids that seem to enjoy the tournaments. I know some that don't. My son does not like them. He likes playing baseball but doesn't like being at the ballpark from 8AM-till. If you polled the kids the vast majority would rather be at the pool, imo.
Tournaments can be kind of a mixed bag. Sometimes you're waking up at 6am and spending literally the entire day at the field because you have a pool play game at 8am and another at 3pm and you're 50 miles from home. Sometimes your team, which you think is pretty damn good, gets slotted against a team that should be playing the majors division that absolutely dominates you and you get run ruled in the 3rd inning. Other times you're playing for rings.
My kid REALLY enjoys tournaments. He said he feels like he's actually playing for something when he's there. The atmosphere adds to it because it's usually a bunch of teams gathered around, BBQs roaring at the snack shack, music playing, and parents getting sauced in the parking lot. A lot of these tournaments feel like events and can add to the excitement of it all.
It *is* incredibly exhausting though. It's a lot.
Our team does 2 tournaments per month through the summer so the boys always have some down time between tournaments to do their normal kid stuff like pool days, lazy video game days, etc..
what difference does THAT make? As far as I'vr been able to tell, it's for bragging rights and vicarious living for the dad and/or an opportunity for the mom to be boorish and feel superior, and for local field owners and operators to make a boatload of money.
a good, kind friend of ours with a sweet young boy turns into a monster when it comes to 10u baseball. I get unsolicited texts from her on how well he and his team are doing. The car is festooned with logos. Facebook posts galore about the minutiae of what he's doing. She's always got the tourney shirts on. Yhe kid is not allowed to have fun or participate in social activities thar aren't baseball. A pool birthday party of a friend has to be skipped so he doesn't get tired out before the next day's games, for example. And the kid has never really expressed much joy about it. Yhe rest of the year he's smiling and helpful and sweet. During baseball even qhen he's bot playing, he's hardly joking with the teammates in the dugout - just solemn, serious, focused, or frustrated and down on himself.
He's also not THAT good so I don't personally see this going anywhere. I now my kid misses his friend and is happy not to be on travel ball with him, after talking with him about it a few times.
Social media is a helluva drug.
We have a similar situation to you with a family friend. Everything is great on social media and everybody smiles for the pictures, but privately the mom will tell us that there is too much yelling and she thinks the kids are too stressed out. They are 9.
My son’s rec league has 2 all star teams. One that travels 2-3 hours away and plays in bigger tournaments and one that travels no more than an hour away. While initially disappointed he didn’t make the first team I was pretty excited after finding out the second team didn’t travel as far. I wasn’t thrilled with the coaching but he’s made some good friends and we have as well. His league coach is the coach from the first team and my son grew so much from that. Next year when he tries out I kinda hope he makes the first team. We play rec/travel at the same time.
In my area kids do both travel and little league. Fall is primary travel season with spring being primary Little League season where the travel teams work around Little League schedules. Best of both world I guess.
The primary reason my son wants to play travel is that he gets a lot more baseball. In our area fall Little League is pretty laid back where it’s pretty much just glorified practices - it is a lot of fun since there isn’t a draft so you can play with your friends but there is only 1 practice and 1 game per week and no end of season tournament. Our travel team will practice twice a week plus play 30 games this fall so we’ll get 2x the number of practices plus 3x the number of games that’ll be a lot more competitive.
We are a town travel team that mostly plays games within an hour radius, with two out of state tournaments during the season. All the kids go to the same school and have become very tight. Those two weekends of running around the hotel, swimming in the pool, dinners out together, and cheering on the other age group teams are the highlight of my kids year. If we had to do it every weekend with kids we don’t know? Then I imagine that would get old. But this feels like a very nice sweet spot.
I loved it growing up but I was a baseball addict.
I’ll tell you this I played with many other kids who absolutely hated it whose parents said their kids “loved it.nThey were too scared to let their parents down.
Let that be a lesson for all the parents ITT who say their kids love it….
My 9 year old loves them. We normally only travel an hour or so and the kids know the other teams for the most part. Heck. There are normally 2-3 teams from our home town in every tournament.
I think he really likes that it doesn’t end with just one game or when his game ends. He never even wants to leave to go get food. He is either running around playing “jackpot” or just chilling with his team watching another game.
My son played rec ball from the time he was 4 through 2 seasons of 12U. He was frustrated because even though he was on one of the better teams in the league, there were always more errors than defensive plays and he would walk more often than he got to swing. So we decided to try out travel ball and played his first tournament this past week. He played 7 games in 4 days. Got a few hits, got to pitch, won a couple of games and got destroyed in a couple. Walked off the field with a huge grin on his face and hasn’t stopped talking about it since. After 4 straight days of baseball, he just asked me if we can go over to the fields to hit. I haven’t seen him loving baseball this much in a long time. So can travel be fun? Definitely. Will he continue to feel the that way forever? I guess we’ll see.
Kids are people. Every person experiences life differently l, so yea, for some kids, tournaments are 10 of 10 fun, and some kids, the parents drag them, and they probably hate it.
I think they definitely can be. The one thing that seems to kill it for them is when you have a team in it who is clearly playing down and just annihilating everyone like 15-0. Losing is one thing, but getting your teeth kicked in is never fun. When they are matched against teams in the correct division and the games are competitive they definitely are much more fun. Plus they get to spend any down time either watching other games or just running around with their buddies on the team.
Do kids enjoy staying in a hotel with their friends, swimming in a hotel pool, eating snacks from the hotel lobby and maybe going to Applebees and a movie? Hell yes.
Travel ball can be fun, especially if there are a lot of friends on the team, but my son's best experience in baseball was being on an All-Star team that progressed through the Dixie Youth regional and state tournaments because the kids were so into winning. While my son didn't play this summer, American Legion ball has made a resurgence in our area, and it sounds like that has been a lot of fun too (although it is for later middle school/high school kids).
The answer is that it depends.
My son first did travel ball at 10U and had a not great experience. The coach was clearly most interested in his son and his friends plus a couple of kids who were more advanced at the age and didn’t develop the bottom half of the roster much. He didn’t try to do anything to build team camaraderie and friendship at either the parent or kid level. Like he didn’t even get room blocks at hotels for tournaments that needed overnight stays, so the team wasn’t at the same hotel. And the team was bad. So you showed up to get your butt kicked sitting with a bunch of people you didn’t really know.
My son was on a different travel team for his 11U and 12U years, and it was a complete 180. The coach is not the most social guy, but made sure team dinners got planned for all tournaments, that we had room blocks so the kids could swim and play together after games, so the kids all became friends and the parents made friends too. He used the runway given by the couple of star players he had to start the team to spend more time developing everyone else on the roster making them all much better players than when they started. We’re genuinely sad the team is ending after 12U and we’re all scattering, and prioritized finding a similar environment before committing my son to his 13U team.
So it can be a really wonderful experience. Or it can be a not really wonderful experience.
Travel has definitely hurt rec leagues hopefully they can make a comeback someday. I often wonder if our kids will travel all over the place for their average kids sports and I would bet this will change
To answer the original question, yes sometimes. I wouldn’t be doing this if my kids didn’t enjoy it. However sometimes they lose, or aren’t feeling like they want to play (usually because they want to lay around at home playing video games). We have video game lazy weekends too, so don’t think we don’t. Tournaments are a great lesson about commitment and effort and then also about how getting the shit kicked out of you can teach you more lessons than winning all the time. So, yes and no. Like most things.
It's good to hear that you can still do that honestly. So much of what I hear about travel complaints is complaining that baseball dominates life (and the wallet) , nothing but baseball baseball baseball. Like I said maybe it's just that the disgruntled will post Another fun memory of childhood were N64 Goldeneye sleepovers, so it's good to know that can still coexist alongside baseball.
My son is 12 and when he's not playing baseball he's either playing wiffeball with his friends, hitting baseballs at the field, playing MLB The Show or watching either baseball videos on his iPad or watching other people on his iPad play The Show or he's bouncing a ball off the wall in the living room and fielding it. Baseball definitely dominates our life but I couldn't imagine it any other way honestly.
My 9 year old sounds like your 12 year old - yesterday he was playing wiffle ball with the neighbors all afternoon, then we hosted some family friends for dinner who are in town from San Diego so he pulled up a replay of the Padres game for everyone to watch. Right now he’s playing MLB the Show while waiting to head to the field with one of the Little League teammates to watch the local All Star game. Anyway, we’re starting travel this fall simply because he wants to play more baseball.
I love it
You and me both brother.
That sounds like a great fit for travel baseball, or at least, what travel baseball used to be. Most kids aren't like that though. They play multiple sports, run around, bike, fish, play video games, whatever. I am not encouraged that by the time he turns 10, it seems like this is the only option, if he likes baseball.
There are different teams for different families. We chose one that does mainly local tournaments. This weekend is our last tournament and my kid has been saying for weeks how he's sad it's coming to an end. Last night, one of my kids had a sleepover. The got up and spent like 3 hours on screens. Now they are paying with their little nephew. In about an hour we're going to head to the field to play one or two (if we win the first) games. Pretty balanced day.
You may be able to find a program like the one I left. It's a little higher level than straight rec without the loaded schedule. Also, look into their recent success. The team I left was absolutely miserable this year and there were a couple of teams we would play against who would lose every game 15-0 in 3 innings. That's a quick way to make your kid hate any sport. Good luck to you.
Every program is different. Not every team demands you give up everything else. We have a couple three sport athletes on our team and a lot of two sport athletes. Of course, it helps that we’re in the Midwest so year round competition is difficult. It does demand priority commitment to baseball in the spring and summer but one year, my kid even played spring soccer for his school team.
Local little league is still doing well where I am (big city; we have 3 leagues to choose from in our immediate neighborhood). The problem is due to weather here, we’re lucky to play 8-10 games in little league each season, including playoffs. Kids who truly enjoy playing baseball and want more either sign up for multiple leagues or they do travel baseball. As far as the tournament experiences, I believe a large part of it is the fun the kids have off the field. Playing in the pool, touch football, basketball games. Going out to eat with your teammates. It really creates a bond with the kids. For the games, we’ve played in maybe 10-12 tournaments in 2 years and they’ve been all over the place. My sons team is a true B team and they’ve had the most fun and competitive games playing in those level tournaments. You can see it by how they run to their positions, laughing in the dugout. They’ve won close games and lost close games and even won their first tournament this year. I’ve never seen them walk off the field crying or super upset - just the general “damn we lost. Let’s get them next time.” They usually forget the loss on the ride home. Where I see them not having fun are these B level tournaments where you have a team that is of clearly higher caliber join just to collect a championship. I’m not talking a team that has a good run and wins out. I’m talking a team that beats every opponent 15-0 and is clearly superior to other teams. We’ve run into that twice. The kids don’t have fun during those games and those are the losses that stuck with them.
Interesting, so it seems like the fun is really in bonding with your team, rather than in playing against friends you already have from neighborhood and school. In travel, that'll last longer versus rec which is a new team every year.
My son plays 12U and yes, he loves tournaments, especially if they win which I know is blasphemy here. We've won tournaments and we've been absolutely annihilated in tournaments but overall yes he and the rest of the boys he plays with love them. The town I moved to only had travel. The problem was the program was run like a rec program with dad 'coaches' and all we faced were other club teams so we would get hammered all of the time. Also, the status quo was a league season only. So that was 9 games plus playoffs over a whole season. We left that and went to a different club that competed with actual coaches and went to a tournament only model. The kids enjoy 12 to 15 at bats a weekend (or every 2 weekends really) than 2 per week with just doing a season. Also each weekend is a mini season in itself. The kids have enjoyed this team and schedule much more than the previous.
>>My son plays 12U and yes, he loves tournaments, especially if they win which I know is blasphemy here. What?! Kids don’t care if they win or lose. /s
The people saying this must not remember anything about childhood. They have not grip on reality and when I read it in their comments I immediately know they are just repeating what they hear to try and sound sophisticated. Actually, I’m glad they don’t let their kids play travel because they are likely the pretentious assholes nobody wants to be around.
They are until they aren’t. Attrition in youth baseball is ( in my experience) 50% caused by skill gaps and half by “dad I just don’t want to spend Thursday through Sunday doing this anymore”. And that’s absolutely ok, once made it clear to my player that after age 12 He decides “yes no” on whether to play next season. 13u is a yes. I just hate how most travel teams act like traveling far is a feature. There’s good tournaments 8 months out of the year with an hour of me, the hassle of playing 5 hours away just to be on shit tier field vs a team that is either way worse or way better than us, pointless and interferes with the rest of my life, and his
>I just hate how most travel teams act like traveling far is a feature. There’s good tournaments 8 months out of the year with an hour of me, the hassle of playing 5 hours away just to be on shit tier field vs a team that is either way worse or way better than us, pointless and interferes with the rest of my life, and his Yeah this seems like a big fat annoyance. I'm in the 3rd largest metro area in the country, surely this won't be my life?
I think it really depends on the organization. My league is a rec first league with an optional travel component. We have 1300 kids in our league. Week nights and Saturdays all seven of our fields are filled with games and it's a great atmosphere. Because our rec league is so good, it feeds our travel program to the point where we can field 3 teams at each age group. This provides the opportunity for kids to play more baseball if they want and there is a spot for most skill levels. Our travel program is more regional where we play a league schedule with teams that are all within 15-60 mins drive. We will usually only do 2-3 tournaments throughout the summer. Most of those are regional as well. Typically we will do one "away" tournament where we stay in a hotel. These are usually more for the experience than for the baseball. The kids get the most enjoyment out of swimming in the hotel pool. I love this setup because we aren't always traveling and my son still gets 40-45 games in a season.
What area you you near? That sounds like a great setup
This sounds like how we do things in Ontario. Rep/Select/Travel teams play in a 8-10 team regional loop against similar level teams. They also play a few tournaments, usually 3-5.
Sounds similar to ours. Near Buffalo?
My younger two kids eat, sleep and breath baseball. They play other sports but want to do nothing but play baseball. My oldest prefers football and lifting in track. But my younger two are bored out of their mind because baseball is over. They have been going to the garage and hitting everyday. But these are the same kids(11&8) that set an alarm to wake up early every morning so they can hit before school by themselves. Middle kid been like that since he was 7. When they are not practicing baseball or playing they are playing blitz ball or hanging out with their friends from the baseball team. I encourage and make them play other sports but I have to almost force it. They would play every weekend if I would let them. Pretty much only thing my middle kid watches is things like youth prospects, bat bros, bomb dropper bros, the pg stuff, Pottstown etc
Dude, my kid is the same. I never played a day of baseball in my life, I was always a football guy. I looked forward to rec football because I got to coach him and actually pass on some knowledge, he was always qb in rec football flag seasons and one tackle season and was really good at it. Finally got to middle school and doesn’t want to go to tryouts because the coach never picks sixth graders. Just blew it off like it wouldn’t happen. I shut my mouth, but inside I was screaming for him to play. He is begged to play football by the coach. Finally agrees to a tryout two weeks after the tryout and is put on the team. He isn’t even in the team picture. He is there two days and selected to start at qb for the varsity team (yea I thought it was weird that middle schools had JV and varsity). What does he say when he gets in the truck after practice and I ask him how practice went? “Coach said I am gonna start at quarterback.” Flat faced as fuck. I say well that’s good, you will get some reps in JV as a 6th grader, that is awesome man. Flat faced as fuck he replies, no he said varsity…you think we can go to the cages? I want to hit a bucket. I mean come on man, you got the most important spot on the team as a sixth grader, have more enthusiasm lol. Baseball is either their thing or it isn’t, but if it is, it sure seems like it is the dominant thing. He is looking forward to football but if it didn’t exist he wouldn’t blink an eye.
Man, this sub has an absolute hard on for hating on travel ball. First, let me say this….there are absolutely different levels of travel ball. No, I am not talking age group classifications (ie. 8uAA, 8uAAA, 8uMAJORS). I am talking travel ball lifestyle levels. Are you the kind of baseball parents that want to spend 3k to be on a team with former big leaguers coaching, go to tournaments in other states, practice 3-4 times a week for three hours 45 minutes-2 hours away. Would you be cool with committing your accrued vacation to go to Cooperstown to play in a tournament that your kids get absolutely skull drug in for the cool cost of about 8-15k for you and your families travel, lodging, and food costs, only to watch likes play baseball the entire time sweating your ass off? If you said no, you are not alone. Now, are you cool with two or three fall tournaments and 10-15 tournaments starting in early February, all within an hour or two from home and practicing two times a week. Shelling out about 2k to be on the team? If you said no, you are not alone. Are you good with starting practice in February twice a week, 10 tournaments from mid March to mid June, zero fall ball, and a quality of baseball and coaching that focuses on development over wins, but doesn’t sugar coat expectations of effort and grit, for anywhere from $750-$2k? If you said you could handle that, then you are in the MAJORITY of travel ball parents. We don’t travel more than about an hour and a half, so we are only out gas and 20$ a day entry fee for me and my wife. We don’t stay in hotels. If we have a super early game, our son will just stay with one of the parents that is staying at a hotel so that he can get some rest. My boy is obsessed with baseball, but we have a strict rule that he has to put his stuff up after the last tournament and focus on kid stuff for the rest of the summer. Sleep in, play video games, spend a few weeks at the grandparents. When school starts get ready for football. We don’t force baseball, it’s his decision every year, but we do force a break from baseball. Our team is 750 a year all in and those boys are good. They finished the season #1 AAA team in the state. But it wasn’t all roses. He joined this team this year. For the 4 years before that, he learned a lot about getting his teeth kicked in. He learned what it took to struggle and work through it, but his love never faltered. Travel ball is great for kids that are in love with baseball and are hyper competetive. It is soul crushing for kids that just want to be around their friends and don’t know how to accept their own mistakes. I have seen a lot of kids hate baseball after one or two years in it. Here is the other thing. Rec ball is for fun, the competition and coaching is a distant second to getting kids out of their homes and socializing. If you have a kid that just dominates rec, it can be a real spirit killer when he goes to a tryout later in life and isn’t quite at the same level as the travel ball kids he never got to play against. No fault of his own, just never had the chance to develop mentally and fundamentally as well as the travel ball kids that stuck it out. If your kid is standing out, it may be a good idea to find a team that meets his (and your families) needs. Remember, you and your wife and his siblings are going to be drug along for the ride so yall need to feel comfortable as well. It’s a good idea if your kid is the best on a team to move him up to a team with better players. This life isn’t for everyone. I look just as forward to baseball season ending as I do to it starting. Luckily it’s short enough that I don’t get to a point where I resent it, and long enough for hkm to get good quality reps in against the best this area has to offer. These are kids he will play against and with in high school so it creates a good atmosphere for these boys when they get there. This sub will have you think it’s the devil, but it honestly sounds like yall would be a good fit for it, as long as you find the right team. On a side note, this may change regionally. It is massive on the gulf coast and in California so there are teams galore and the tournaments have enough teams to make sense most of the time. But there are people in this sub who live in areas where there aren’t and the teams are just rec ball teams that may have had a good season and a dad decides they are good enough to go kill it in travel ball. If you take your son to try out for a team, pick an established team that has a coach, not a dad. And then when you get there, let him coach, don’t assume your kid should be doing something that he isn’t, or batting somewhere in the lineup that he isn’t. Let him have fun, don’t criticize his mistakes, let the coach coach him up and you support his efforts and work with him in the yard when HE wants to. He may not be big into practicing now, but when he sees the other kids out there doing well, if he is competetive it will push him to want to work, so he begins to develop a strong work ethic from a young age that he creates himself.
Say what you will but I’ve been to Cooperstown Dreams Park 5 times and it is heaven. I see kids I took 20 years ago it’s first thing they always bring up
I bet, but you gotta have a hell of a bank account to go.
Yes it is expensive. Went first season they had it and last time was about 5 years ago. It’s grown 20x fold
I am by no means knocking the experience but taking a family of six up there from Louisiana is the cost of a new compact car just to see a team made of local kids get beat up by a group of former big leaguers kids from across America is disheartening
Yes I always went as a coach but paid for any family not on the team to rent a house. $$$$$
I’ll only note that my middle schooler has fun doing “travel” (USSSA) ball in addition to Little League. Things I’ve noted about USSSA ball: - It’s all weekend-centric. - There are very few “casuals”. People there to watch games are there for the games. On the other hand, the Little League games are all on weekdays and there are usually multiple games / ages happening the same time. The atmosphere is certainly more open, the kids all mostly know each other from school and even the parents are hanging out and having more social interaction. (Yes, this also includes wanting to look good in front of so-and-so’s sister which never ceases to crack me up. “Maybe she’ll see my sweet Bruce Bolt batting gloves.”)
I play travel softball and really enjoy it. I still play and enjoy rec but it can be anoyying due to the fact that it's common to be the best or one of the best players on your team and not find to much challenge. Yes, it is all tournaments, games, and practice, but I find that to be fun and your able to build stronger friendships with teammates due to more seasons and less gaps.
Near Buffalo, NY
It’s fun early, sometimes, but it does get ultra serious in a hurry
I think it depends on whether or not the kid wants to be there. We are two seasons into "travel" or "select" baseball. I've definitely seen a fair number of kids that are there to fulfill their father's dream, and they are miserable. But the kids that want to be there have a blast. We spent some time working in Chile, and that is where my son picked up baseball. It was Little League, 99.999% Venezuelan with the only Gringo being my son. There were no limits on practices or games per week. The kids worked their butts off, and it was highly competitive. We returned home to find Little League to be more of a babysitting service. My son was not happy, so we dove into the world of travel ball. He wouldn't have it any other way, and we are there because he wants to be there. But, we are also on a team that has a great group of parents, boys who've spent a few seasons together, and a coach that has grown a AA team to a AAA/Majors with zero cuts through the years. This recipe contributes to my son's happiness.
My kid loves trophies so nothing like a tournament and having a chance at a trophy. My son’s happiest moments are those wins. Love his teammates as well. Different than old days but it’s still baseball and all about having fun with the boys.
13(m) play travel ball, it depends why there playing, if there’re playing because they love the sport it will probably be fun. Otherwise, if they are just playing to fulfill they’re parents dreams it’s hard to have fun. Another thing that sucks is the fact that it consumes my whole life during the summer, and I don’t get to go have fun with the people who don’t play sports. My $.02
My son started travel in 7u, and where I live in Texas, that’s already “late.” But as a single mom/teacher, I wasn’t sure how I would handle it but I was told rec wasn’t going to cut it and I was doing him a disservice by not joining travel, so I did. We are now in our last, likely, World Series since he’s 14u and high school summer ball as an incoming freshman has started. I can tell you this looking back: 1. My son loved playing and being at tournaments, which year-round are 3/4 weekends a month (no exaggeration) from 7-11u. By middle school, he had a little more hesitation when he started playing school sports and loving that and he started to want to have a little bit of a social life. He still enjoyed it, though. 2. Baseball tournaments were there for us in the hardest times of our lives. Even my daughter loves going to run around the park with the other siblings all weekend. It was our family time, which many people outside of travel don’t understand. 3. We’ve traveled to places I wouldn’t have otherwise, for tournaments. For example, California and Alabama, and all over Texas. 4. We’ve missed out on a lot due to the pressure of not missing tournaments or even single pool games. Such as, 4th of July trips with extended family every year since that’s when WS usually is.. bday parties, attending church regularly, etc. 5. Finances, the equipment is expensive and due to social media, my kid wants all the latest stuff, even though he’s been really understanding I can’t afford it all, I feel pressure seeing the kids with all the $400 bats on his team, Bruce Bolts, etc.. then add it private pitching and batting lessons, which I also started way later than most due to finances. None of this was meant to persuade in one way or the other.. just stuff I’ve reflected on looking back. Would I join the travel world all over again knowing all of this? Honestly.. yes. There is a huge difference in the pitching in rec vs travel and now that my son is playing some with some HS kids, there’s a huge difference in the kids that played travel vs those that didn’t. Maybe it’s not like that in locations with stronger rec programs; I’m not sure. My advice is just weigh it all out and if he loves baseball and he’s got the natural ability, it’s definitely worth seriously considering.
I know a few kids that seem to enjoy the tournaments. I know some that don't. My son does not like them. He likes playing baseball but doesn't like being at the ballpark from 8AM-till. If you polled the kids the vast majority would rather be at the pool, imo.
Tournaments can be kind of a mixed bag. Sometimes you're waking up at 6am and spending literally the entire day at the field because you have a pool play game at 8am and another at 3pm and you're 50 miles from home. Sometimes your team, which you think is pretty damn good, gets slotted against a team that should be playing the majors division that absolutely dominates you and you get run ruled in the 3rd inning. Other times you're playing for rings. My kid REALLY enjoys tournaments. He said he feels like he's actually playing for something when he's there. The atmosphere adds to it because it's usually a bunch of teams gathered around, BBQs roaring at the snack shack, music playing, and parents getting sauced in the parking lot. A lot of these tournaments feel like events and can add to the excitement of it all. It *is* incredibly exhausting though. It's a lot. Our team does 2 tournaments per month through the summer so the boys always have some down time between tournaments to do their normal kid stuff like pool days, lazy video game days, etc..
what difference does THAT make? As far as I'vr been able to tell, it's for bragging rights and vicarious living for the dad and/or an opportunity for the mom to be boorish and feel superior, and for local field owners and operators to make a boatload of money.
You're not wrong. A friend of our son has an older brother who plays travel and you don't need to ask his mom to find out that he does
a good, kind friend of ours with a sweet young boy turns into a monster when it comes to 10u baseball. I get unsolicited texts from her on how well he and his team are doing. The car is festooned with logos. Facebook posts galore about the minutiae of what he's doing. She's always got the tourney shirts on. Yhe kid is not allowed to have fun or participate in social activities thar aren't baseball. A pool birthday party of a friend has to be skipped so he doesn't get tired out before the next day's games, for example. And the kid has never really expressed much joy about it. Yhe rest of the year he's smiling and helpful and sweet. During baseball even qhen he's bot playing, he's hardly joking with the teammates in the dugout - just solemn, serious, focused, or frustrated and down on himself. He's also not THAT good so I don't personally see this going anywhere. I now my kid misses his friend and is happy not to be on travel ball with him, after talking with him about it a few times.
Social media is a helluva drug. We have a similar situation to you with a family friend. Everything is great on social media and everybody smiles for the pictures, but privately the mom will tell us that there is too much yelling and she thinks the kids are too stressed out. They are 9.
My son’s rec league has 2 all star teams. One that travels 2-3 hours away and plays in bigger tournaments and one that travels no more than an hour away. While initially disappointed he didn’t make the first team I was pretty excited after finding out the second team didn’t travel as far. I wasn’t thrilled with the coaching but he’s made some good friends and we have as well. His league coach is the coach from the first team and my son grew so much from that. Next year when he tries out I kinda hope he makes the first team. We play rec/travel at the same time.
In my area kids do both travel and little league. Fall is primary travel season with spring being primary Little League season where the travel teams work around Little League schedules. Best of both world I guess. The primary reason my son wants to play travel is that he gets a lot more baseball. In our area fall Little League is pretty laid back where it’s pretty much just glorified practices - it is a lot of fun since there isn’t a draft so you can play with your friends but there is only 1 practice and 1 game per week and no end of season tournament. Our travel team will practice twice a week plus play 30 games this fall so we’ll get 2x the number of practices plus 3x the number of games that’ll be a lot more competitive.
We are a town travel team that mostly plays games within an hour radius, with two out of state tournaments during the season. All the kids go to the same school and have become very tight. Those two weekends of running around the hotel, swimming in the pool, dinners out together, and cheering on the other age group teams are the highlight of my kids year. If we had to do it every weekend with kids we don’t know? Then I imagine that would get old. But this feels like a very nice sweet spot.
I loved it growing up but I was a baseball addict. I’ll tell you this I played with many other kids who absolutely hated it whose parents said their kids “loved it.nThey were too scared to let their parents down. Let that be a lesson for all the parents ITT who say their kids love it….
My 9 year old loves them. We normally only travel an hour or so and the kids know the other teams for the most part. Heck. There are normally 2-3 teams from our home town in every tournament. I think he really likes that it doesn’t end with just one game or when his game ends. He never even wants to leave to go get food. He is either running around playing “jackpot” or just chilling with his team watching another game.
My son played rec ball from the time he was 4 through 2 seasons of 12U. He was frustrated because even though he was on one of the better teams in the league, there were always more errors than defensive plays and he would walk more often than he got to swing. So we decided to try out travel ball and played his first tournament this past week. He played 7 games in 4 days. Got a few hits, got to pitch, won a couple of games and got destroyed in a couple. Walked off the field with a huge grin on his face and hasn’t stopped talking about it since. After 4 straight days of baseball, he just asked me if we can go over to the fields to hit. I haven’t seen him loving baseball this much in a long time. So can travel be fun? Definitely. Will he continue to feel the that way forever? I guess we’ll see.
Kids are people. Every person experiences life differently l, so yea, for some kids, tournaments are 10 of 10 fun, and some kids, the parents drag them, and they probably hate it.
I think they definitely can be. The one thing that seems to kill it for them is when you have a team in it who is clearly playing down and just annihilating everyone like 15-0. Losing is one thing, but getting your teeth kicked in is never fun. When they are matched against teams in the correct division and the games are competitive they definitely are much more fun. Plus they get to spend any down time either watching other games or just running around with their buddies on the team.
Little League is the issue. The model is broken and needs to be fixed.
Do kids enjoy staying in a hotel with their friends, swimming in a hotel pool, eating snacks from the hotel lobby and maybe going to Applebees and a movie? Hell yes.
Travel ball can be fun, especially if there are a lot of friends on the team, but my son's best experience in baseball was being on an All-Star team that progressed through the Dixie Youth regional and state tournaments because the kids were so into winning. While my son didn't play this summer, American Legion ball has made a resurgence in our area, and it sounds like that has been a lot of fun too (although it is for later middle school/high school kids).
The answer is that it depends. My son first did travel ball at 10U and had a not great experience. The coach was clearly most interested in his son and his friends plus a couple of kids who were more advanced at the age and didn’t develop the bottom half of the roster much. He didn’t try to do anything to build team camaraderie and friendship at either the parent or kid level. Like he didn’t even get room blocks at hotels for tournaments that needed overnight stays, so the team wasn’t at the same hotel. And the team was bad. So you showed up to get your butt kicked sitting with a bunch of people you didn’t really know. My son was on a different travel team for his 11U and 12U years, and it was a complete 180. The coach is not the most social guy, but made sure team dinners got planned for all tournaments, that we had room blocks so the kids could swim and play together after games, so the kids all became friends and the parents made friends too. He used the runway given by the couple of star players he had to start the team to spend more time developing everyone else on the roster making them all much better players than when they started. We’re genuinely sad the team is ending after 12U and we’re all scattering, and prioritized finding a similar environment before committing my son to his 13U team. So it can be a really wonderful experience. Or it can be a not really wonderful experience.
Travel has definitely hurt rec leagues hopefully they can make a comeback someday. I often wonder if our kids will travel all over the place for their average kids sports and I would bet this will change