Is Rec Ball (soccer, baseball, etc) disappearing where you live

[tvguy]

My son played travel baseball starting at 6 and had tons of fun. So not just rec (league ball) is fun. Are the practices more intense and frequent, yes, but he loved it at the time. He's 13 now and we moved to league about 2 years ago because he was ready to explore some other options. He still loves baseball though!

Feel sorry for your bank account. My son was offered a spot on a travel team, estimated cost, $7,500. A whole lot more than the $75 Little League cost.
My immediate area has seen a drop in all sports just because of changing demographics, kids grow up, their parents still live here, fewer kids around. We had 33 kids under age 18 on my block 10 years ago, now we have 3.
Little League and Soccer have both cracked down hard on their residency rules, which of course, are not an issue with travel teams. That has made it much more difficult to sneak out of area star players into the league.

 

[MomofKatie]

Our Rec programs are thriving. Most play Rec until middle school age- at that time, most kids focus on one sport and transition to club teams. Teams really dwindle down past around the 11 year old age level.

DD plays Classic level club soccer (she travels up to 3 hours away for games). She played Rec from age 4 until she was 10, then went to club ball- played Challenge level for a couple years and now at Classic. Her middle school team had girls on it that played anywhere from Rec level all the way up to Premier club- it didn't seem to be a requirement to play a certain level to make the team.

She is a freshman in HS now, and will be trying out for the girls' soccer team in the spring.

 

[scrapquitler]

Our fall baseball season was cancelled because of lack of participation. At the same time, the organization is fielding travel teams which take away from the number of kids that play rec ball.

It seems everyone is driven to be in travel ball. Can't kids just play ball to have fun these days.

The rec leagues (basketball, soccer, softball and baseball, and they've recently started lacrosse, as well) are a HUGE thing here.

Yes there are travel teams, too. But I don't see a lack of participation in the rec leagues as a result.

 

[DeaverTex]

Do people still play games for fun, or does it all have to be organized, high pressure, highly competitive leagues now? I feel sad for the kids who don't thrive on competition and stress, or who aren't athletically talented. It's not much of an character-building experience for a kid (or an adult) to warm the bench while the stars make the coach look good. Trust, me, I know.

Yeah, I know. I'm an old weirdo.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

Still going strong here although start hearing more and more about travel teams.

 

[MomofKatie]

Do people still play games for fun, or does it all have to be organized, high pressure, highly competitive leagues now? I feel sad for the kids who don't thrive on competition and stress, or who aren't athletically talented. It's not much of an character-building experience for a kid (or an adult) to warm the bench while the stars make the coach look good. Trust, me, I know.

Yeah, I know. I'm an old weirdo.

Rec leagues and the lower level club leagues play everyone pretty equally up through the age of about 12-13. Winning is great, but the focus is more on player development and having fun. Once they get to HS age, the better players get more play time and the not so great players end up on the bench (just like HS teams). Winning and playing together as a team gets to be more the focus the older the kids get- kids are expected to have the basic skills mastered by then.

 

[Poohforyou]

In our town kids have to play rec if they're on a travel team so we don't have any problems fielding teams in all age ranges.

 

[DeaverTex]

Rec leagues and the lower level club leagues play everyone pretty equally up through the age of about 12-13. Winning is great, but the focus is more on player development and having fun. Once they get to HS age, the better players get more play time and the not so great players end up on the bench (just like HS teams). Winning and playing together as a team gets to be more the focus the older the kids get- kids are expected to have the basic skills mastered by then.

My concern is that I've seen so many situations over the last 20 years with coaches thinking of nothing but winning. (And it's usually because the parents will lynch them if they don't.) And I've seen it at ALL age levels, not just in jr high or high school level teams.

I suppose my real lament is that kids can't just do something to have fun without adults stepping in and organizing it beyond recognition. And of course, the adults do it to each other, too. Oh, well...

 

[ThreeKMom]

Rec ball in our town is a joke!

My DD9 LOVES softball and would love to play on any team, however the rec league in our town only plays 8 games a year! How is she supposed to learn to play and get better with only 8 games per year.

Also, the way they have their league set up she was a third grader playing with sixth graders! There is a huge difference in the size and ability of a small third grader and a big sixth grader! They do however have a travel team that plays in a league in the fall and tournaments in the spring/summer.

Because she loves the game so much we did bite the bullet and let her try out for travel this fall. She went to two different travel tryouts, one with our town and one with an elite club, she made both teams and chose to go with the elite team. Hopefully she will benefit from the college coaches over the winter and can keep improving her game.

It's what she loves, we feel like we don't really have another choice!

 

[bookgirl]

Our fall baseball season was cancelled because of lack of participation. At the same time, the organization is fielding travel teams which take away from the number of kids that play rec ball.

It seems everyone is driven to be in travel ball. Can't kids just play ball to have fun these days.

We have tons of rec ball here, in fact it's harder to find pure competition leagues than it is to find rec ball (at least for basketball which is what my nephews have played at that level). They've played baseball, soccor, and football as well. And all have been pretty intense but except in very few cases is it called anything but rec league. I know that it's easy to tell sometimes that a team is rec but ends up against a competition team and honestly it's just a shame because there should be clear lines for teams that are strictley playing for fun.

Our competition team does play league rec ball but we play a year up, not only to make sure that we don't dominate a league (because what's the fun in that to all the teams) but because after playing older bigger kids for fall and winter by the time we do spring and summer tournaments and play kids our own age it seems to be easier to perform and maintain tourney level play.

 

[NotUrsula]

Where I live it's a demographic thing: kids from well-off families in well-off zip codes do the travel team thing, but most everyone else plays on the rec or school teams if they want to play an organized sport. (There are some VERY talented poorer kids who are recruited for travel teams, but not many can do it because of the cost and especially the time commitment.)

 

[FireDancer]

In my city there are plenty of rec sports for both kids and adults and they keep expanding the offerings.

 

[CindysGusGus]

We definitely saw a decline. No rec softball over the age of 14....most went to travel ball. Sad to see my daughters softball days end. She enjoyed rec but did not want the pressure of school or travel ball.

 

[njmom47]

In our town, rec baseball (the only sport I know anything about) is alive and well, although as pps have stated, politically influenced. There is about 8 teams at the teen level and plenty of teams in the younger levels. Some kids do play on travel teams, and rec always falls to the bottom. Our HS team has even mentioned not playing in the fall for a local league, but actually to become a travel/showcase team!