travel softball ?

[lovin'fl]

Another tip for saving money, OP. Hotels, we will drive back and forth when we can (if it's up to about 1.5 hours). And we will drive to the fields on Saturday (without staying in hotel Friday night) if it's about 3 hours and/or if we have a later start time (but do get a lot of 8am Saturday games, uggggh). We try to keep hotel stays to the minimum. We drove to OK and to TN for Nationals because we had batbags (and we have 2 players) so it was easiest to take our car with all their crap. But flew to Atlanta and FL. This year they are going up to the Boston, MA area for a big showcase instead of a Nationals...we will drive (But hotels are crazy expensive up there). Also, with Nationals...they are a week long but teams will lose out early (we are always out 2-3 days early) so they make sure we have a hotel we can cancel the last days if they are out of the tourney. DH and I usually tag team. Most players on our team have just 1 parent there though when they were younger and played more locally, both parents tended to go.

We pack food a lot. They like fruit. I may get 2 footlong subs from Subway and split the into individual ziplocs. Some folks bring tuperwear with lunchmeat and cheese and a ziploc with rolls or bread and then mustard or mayo to build sandwiches there. I sometimes bring just meat and cheese and let them eat that rolled up (maybe pepperoni and cheese)...or make chicken salad in tuperwear and bring crackers. I keep a ziploc or tuperwear with bars (granola, cereal, power...). Gotta be careful with ziplocs in cooler, though, cause as ice melts ziplocs get waterlogged. They also LOVE those nutella cups. You can freeze water bottles to keep cooler cold and as they melt, they can drink them. I put in a ziploc of ice too...and if someone has a injury I can pull that out. We also try to get hotels with free breakfast.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Travel ball can be a great experience for kids who want to play and families who enjoy it.

There has been a lot of anger toward travel teams as they're seen as taking players away from local leagues. That's where some of the rancor and negativity comes from - people who support local leagues have come out strong against travel leagues, say a lot of things that aren't necessarily true because they're hurt and angry that the sports landscape has changed. And you also have people who chose not to have a travel experience for whatever reason chime in about how awful they are. Yet many who make these accusations haven't even experienced "travel ball" themselves! They're just going by what they read or heard. Google the subject and you'll find a lot of controversial articles.

I think it's changing, though, as it becomes more mainstream. And it has, over the last decade.

One needs to look at why travel leagues started in the first place. It wasn't necessarily that wide eyed parents thought their little Johnny was a superstar at age 8. It was because when local budgets took a hit, sports were one of the first things to go, among other reasons. Field and umpire costs went up, regulations changed, maintenance of fields and building of new ones suffered, uniforms got expensive, etc. Some local leagues were better than others, but many found that there was little time spent learning how to play; instead, kids were just thrown out there into the field without being taught the fundamentals of the game. Parents found that if they wanted their kid to learn the sport, they had to go to private leagues. Many kids have dads who teach them to play, but for the kid who doesn't have that, how do they learn? Our local leagues (and my son played both every year) *might* have a practice or two, usually not, they just put the kids in to play games and that's it. For a kid who loves to play and wants to learn how, it's not enough.

Look, there are good and bad travel teams and organizations, just like anything else. And most of the people involved in travel are there because their kid loves to play. Not too many are going to put the time and money into it if their kid really doesn't want to be there - how can you force a kid to play well that doesn't want to play? IME, you can't. Kids on my son's travel teams are crazy about the sport, and they're surrounded by like-minded people who enjoy the experience. Quality of play is good depending on where you go. Not sure why that has to be so controversial.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Traveling teams are full of players that are not great athletes.

Care to expand on that? Is your point that if they pay, they play? Do you think they derive any benefit even if that's true?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I think it should also be noted that with the teams we've been involved in, if a kid can't afford the costs but has the talent and wants to play, all the parent(s) need to do is talk to the people running it and they will figure something out. I've seen it firsthand.

 

[bsblady01]

I know you live up in NY where it snows-curious WHERE you play ball?

When my son was doing baseball , the school team STARTED around now and I live in South. Then the city league started in april. I thought ALL the travel teams were in the summer?

we have a sports dome about ten mins from our house they do indoor soccer, baseball and softball

 

[bsblady01]

My daughter wants to do this. We have a parents meeting tomorrow nigh and tryouts are on Friday and Saturday .

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Travel ball can be a great experience for kids who want to play and families who enjoy it.

There has been a lot of anger toward travel teams as they're seen as taking players away from local leagues. That's where some of the rancor and negativity comes from - people who support local leagues have come out strong against travel leagues, say a lot of things that aren't necessarily true because they're hurt and angry that the sports landscape has changed. And you also have people who chose not to have a travel experience for whatever reason chime in about how awful they are. Yet many who make these accusations haven't even experienced "travel ball" themselves! They're just going by what they read or heard. Google the subject and you'll find a lot of controversial articles.

I think it's changing, though, as it becomes more mainstream. And it has, over the last decade.

One needs to look at why travel leagues started in the first place. It wasn't necessarily that wide eyed parents thought their little Johnny was a superstar at age 8. It was because when local budgets took a hit, sports were one of the first things to go, among other reasons. Field and umpire costs went up, regulations changed, maintenance of fields and building of new ones suffered, uniforms got expensive, etc. Some local leagues were better than others, but many found that there was little time spent learning how to play; instead, kids were just thrown out there into the field without being taught the fundamentals of the game. Parents found that if they wanted their kid to learn the sport, they had to go to private leagues. Many kids have dads who teach them to play, but for the kid who doesn't have that, how do they learn? Our local leagues (and my son played both every year) *might* have a practice or two, usually not, they just put the kids in to play games and that's it. For a kid who loves to play and wants to learn how, it's not enough.

Look, there are good and bad travel teams and organizations, just like anything else. And most of the people involved in travel are there because their kid loves to play. Not too many are going to put the time and money into it if their kid really doesn't want to be there - how can you force a kid to play well that doesn't want to play? IME, you can't. Kids on my son's travel teams are crazy about the sport, and they're surrounded by like-minded people who enjoy the experience. Quality of play is good depending on where you go. Not sure why that has to be so controversial.

Just so we're clear, I have no animosity toward such leagues, it's just not my thing. Money aside (which would stop me right out of the gate) I'm just not prepared to give that much of my life for my child's hobby. I already give too many days to work And hey, if the travel team takes an elite athlete out of my daughter's league, all that does is increase HER odds of winning at that level. So, definitely no anger.

And I do "get" it. When I was 25, I gave over my life to my own hobby - mud racing. In addition to the 24 sanctioned races I attended trying to win a state championship (I got 2nd), I probably raced another 20 unsanctioned races on the side. I was gone EVERY weekend (often sleeping on the ground & "bathing" in a 5 gallon bucket of cold water), put 10,000+ additional miles on my truck in one Summer, and when I wasn't racing I was wrenching or washing. And I loved every minute of it.

So, I do "get" it. It was addictive. But, it was MY thing, not my kid's thing. And I could stop any time I wanted. I'd hate to find us 5 years deep into a travel league (and my kid 5 years from aging out) with my kid still loving it and me being completely burned out.

So, I'm thankful it's never come up because my answer would be "no". But, I have no harsh feelings toward those who love it. In fact, I'm grateful such leagues exist. And obviously, many MANY families get great joy from them. I wish them nothing but the best

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Just so we're clear, I have no animosity toward such leagues, it's just not my thing. Money aside (which would stop me right out of the gate) I'm just not prepared to give that much of my life for my child's hobby. I already give too many days to work And hey, if the travel team takes an elite athlete out of my daughter's league, all that does is increase HER odds of winning at that level. So, definitely no anger.

And I do "get" it. When I was 25, I gave over my life to my own hobby - mud racing. In addition to the 24 sanctioned races I attended trying to win a state championship (I got 2nd), I probably raced another 20 unsanctioned races on the side. I was gone EVERY weekend (often sleeping on the ground & "bathing" in a 5 gallon bucket of cold water), put 10,000+ additional miles on my truck in one Summer, and when I wasn't racing I was wrenching or washing. And I loved every minute of it.

So, I do "get" it. It was addictive. But, it was MY thing, not my kid's thing. And I could stop any time I wanted. I'd hate to find us 5 years deep into a travel league (and my kid 5 years from aging out) with my kid still loving it and me being completely burned out.

So, I'm thankful it's never come up because my answer would be "no". But, I have no harsh feelings toward those who love it. In fact, I'm grateful such leagues exist. And obviously, many MANY families get great joy from them. I wish them nothing but the best

Hey, variety is the spice of life and naturally, not everyone's going to be into travel sports! I wasn't talking of anyone in particular, just generally. Most of the noise comes from people who run the local leagues or people who did not have good experiences, not casual observers. I just wanted to give a little background on the history and the current controversy as it exists.

The funny thing about parents getting burned out, just as lovinfl' mentioned above, there comes a time when kids start going on their own, and parents don't have to go anymore, so there's a natural end. It sort of coincides with that time of life when you're sort of ready to let go of them anyway so the timing is good and it works out well.

 

[bianca]

My perspective comes from watching my Nephew and his family manage his daughters softball career. I have watched as they go deeper and deeper into this rabbit hole of debt and stress, as they scramble from practices, try-outs and tournaments. Our nephew is determined that his daughter is going to get a full scholarship to college and is spending every extra dollar of income on this endeavor. He has a very good job, yet regularly borrows money from everyone to pay his bills. He is stressed to the point of seeing a Dr. for stroke/heart attack symptoms. His daughter is almost 15 and has topped out at 4'9", so realistically, none of us see her getting that scholarship he is counting on due to her small size. They spend untold amounts of money they don't have on this, have not set aside any money for their kids' college education and have no savings. Did I mention she has a 9 year old brother? He kinda gets lost in all this softball hype and just has to follow around as they traverse the countryside going game to game. Somehow, I don't think his family memories are going to be as fond as his sisters.

Bottom line is that I see stress that is put on their marriage from all the running around they do, stress from financial instability and stress on my great niece to please her parents. Consider me one of the people that would be wary of starting this endeavor.

 

[goofy !]

The funny thing about parents getting burned out, just as lovinfl' mentioned above, there comes a time when kids start going on their own, and parents don't have to go anymore, so there's a natural end. It sort of coincides with that time of life when you're sort of ready to let go of them anyway so the timing is good and it works out well.

Nothing spurs a parent more to buy their 16 year old a car than realizing they would now be able to drive themselves to their daily 4am swim practice.

 

[lovin'fl]

Nothing spurs a parent more to buy their 16 year old a car than realizing they would now be able to drive themselves to their daily 4am swim practice.

As one who drove my DDs (17 soon) 45 minutes last night, in the rain, to get to the 2 hour indoor batting practice (had to stick around due to it being 45 minutes away)...yup, I am pressing DH to give DDs his civic and buy himself a new car.

 

[goofy !]

My perspective comes from watching my Nephew and his family manage his daughters softball career. I have watched as they go deeper and deeper into this rabbit hole of debt and stress, as they scramble from practices, try-outs and tournaments. Our nephew is determined that his daughter is going to get a full scholarship to college and is spending every extra dollar of income on this endeavor. He has a very good job, yet regularly borrows money from everyone to pay his bills. He is stressed to the point of seeing a Dr. for stroke/heart attack symptoms. His daughter is almost 15 and has topped out at 4'9", so realistically, none of us see her getting that scholarship he is counting on due to her small size. They spend untold amounts of money they don't have on this, have not set aside any money for their kids' college education and have no savings. Did I mention she has a 9 year old brother? He kinda gets lost in all this softball hype and just has to follow around as they traverse the countryside going game to game. Somehow, I don't think his family memories are going to be as fond as his sisters.

Bottom line is that I see stress that is put on their marriage from all the running around they do, stress from financial instability and stress on my great niece to please her parents. Consider me one of the people that would be wary of starting this endeavor.

You can always find those irresponsible and crazy parents who are living vicariously through their children or have unreal expectations. But the preponderance of us parents whose children are/were in competitive sports are actually only slightly crazy. The kids we hung with are all now in college with only a few with scholarships. Those without still had college funds from parents and nobody has declared sports bankruptcy.

You can find the crazies in any walk of life, not just kids' sports.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

You can always find those irresponsible and crazy parents who are living vicariously through their children or have unreal expectations. But the preponderance of us parents whose children are/were in competitive sports are actually only slightly crazy. The kids we hung with are all now in college with only a few with scholarships. Those without still had college funds from parents and nobody has declared sports bankruptcy.

You can find the crazies in any walk of life, not just kids' sports.

I do think it's one of those things that can snowball on you if you're not careful though, even if you start out with the best of intentions.

Kid is 10 going in, it's new & exciting for everyone. The cost both in time & $ works, etc. 4 years later, the amount of time & money has increased & oh BTW kid #2 wants to join a travel league and the schedules conflict. What to do now?

So, I do think it's important to think "long term" when joining up. This year is easy. The next few, maybe, maybe not.

 

[nugov2]

My perspective comes from watching my Nephew and his family manage his daughters softball career. I have watched as they go deeper and deeper into this rabbit hole of debt and stress, as they scramble from practices, try-outs and tournaments. Our nephew is determined that his daughter is going to get a full scholarship to college and is spending every extra dollar of income on this endeavor. He has a very good job, yet regularly borrows money from everyone to pay his bills. He is stressed to the point of seeing a Dr. for stroke/heart attack symptoms. His daughter is almost 15 and has topped out at 4'9", so realistically, none of us see her getting that scholarship he is counting on due to her small size. They spend untold amounts of money they don't have on this, have not set aside any money for their kids' college education and have no savings. Did I mention she has a 9 year old brother? He kinda gets lost in all this softball hype and just has to follow around as they traverse the countryside going game to game. Somehow, I don't think his family memories are going to be as fond as his sisters.

Bottom line is that I see stress that is put on their marriage from all the running around they do, stress from financial instability and stress on my great niece to please her parents. Consider me one of the people that would be wary of starting this endeavor.

I think this is the exception not the rule. Anyone who goes in debt to pay for such things is irresponsible and that is on them and not the fault of the travel team. Any parent who thinks there kids is going to get a scholarship for anything and pours money they don't have into that hobby on this assumption is not smart and again nothing to.do with being involved in travel. Travel sports do not breed this mentality, just delusional parents.

 

[bianca]

I totally get that my nephew is irresponsible and that most people that enter travel leagues don't go into debt for it. Having said that, I think they just got too far into it before they realized all the costs and time needed. For someone just starting out, I think that they should know going in how much to budget. I think everyone wants to provide their child with the best experiences, but when it even remotely comes close to costing the stability of the family unit, I think it should be seriously questioned.

 

[sam_gordon]

So, I do think it's important to think "long term" when joining up. This year is easy. The next few, maybe, maybe not.

I'm going to disagree with you. Who knows if the child will still like travel ball (or any activity) in a year. The parent's financial situation could change in a year. You have no idea what can happen. If we're in a position to give our child something they want, we're going to do it (yes, that sounds like we spoil them, but we're not in that position as often as the kids would want).

Did/do I *HOPE* my kids get a scholarship? Of course. No different than the parents of an 8th grade straight A student hope they're going to get a full ride to Harvard. We let our kids do travel sports because they enjoy it. The competition is tougher and the coaching is better which means (hopefully) the kids improve more.

 

[lovin'fl]

And there are different levels. You don't have to play at the top level...top level is more expensive. My DDs are at the top level in our area, hence the cost I calculated upthread. But mine started off, at 10U, playing a C level all star team and then went to B level. They are now Gold level showcase but still have friends playing local A and B level teams. That is less time commitment and less expensive.

I will say I am fizzled out and their team has lost that family bonded team feel now that they have 17 players (constant leaving and adding of players) and 3 that live too far away to come to any practices or team events. It's hard to fundraise because of the folks being from all over. It's hard to play as a well oiled machine when some girls never come to practice. And, as someone mentioned at the very beginning of this thread, junior year is a killer academically (most of the team is juniors). My DDs have 4 APs and a honors or 2. They have had to slack off on the softball. My girls can't find time for a job but some on the team do have jobs...some have boyfriends...some have other activities. That was one of the reasons behind having a large team. But I'm just not gungho about it so much anymore. DDs are still into it...so we continue. But my pitcher DD wants to quit pitching so we are dealing with that right now (her HS team NEEDS her to pitch...travel team has like 6 pitchers so that's not a problem).

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I'm going to disagree with you. Who knows if the child will still like travel ball (or any activity) in a year. The parent's financial situation could change in a year. You have no idea what can happen. If we're in a position to give our child something they want, we're going to do it (yes, that sounds like we spoil them, but we're not in that position as often as the kids would want).

Did/do I *HOPE* my kids get a scholarship? Of course. No different than the parents of an 8th grade straight A student hope they're going to get a full ride to Harvard. We let our kids do travel sports because they enjoy it. The competition is tougher and the coaching is better which means (hopefully) the kids improve more.

We'll just have to disagree then. The concerns & considerations I would have for travel sports are the same ones I consider before allowing my kid to sign up for local sports - but amplified. So I do believe it's important to look beyond the current season when weighing your decision.

 

[bethy]

The team that my daughter would play on goes as far a myrtle beach . they also go to pa. I want my daughter to do this but I don't want this to take over her life and take time away from my two younger kids. I have looked at a few websites but there is no cost breakdown that I can find

I have 3 kids. My oldest DD is the multiple sport athlete. It is her lifesblood and I could never take it away from her. That said, I have always wished she were my youngest child instead because - yes - her commitments have been hard on our younger two children over the years. We have found that on her various teams there are rarely any girls who have had younger siblings - especially much younger siblings. I think this is because most parents choose not to impose such a commitment on the whole family while they still have younger children at home.

I think it would be easier if you had a ton of family who live locally who could help you out with the logistics. Perhaps Grandparents houses where the younger children could stay over some travel weekends or even for your billionth local game. Over the past few years I've made the decision not to go to all my DD's games and tourneys. She's fine with it but it's a compromise many of her peers' parents don't understand.

Good luck with your decision. One think to remember is it's not a lifetime commitment, if it doesn't work well you can always move on to something else. But remember it is a lifestyle for your whole family - with plenty of GREAT benefits, too.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

I'm going to disagree with you. Who knows if the child will still like travel ball (or any activity) in a year. The parent's financial situation could change in a year. You have no idea what can happen. If we're in a position to give our child something they want, we're going to do it (yes, that sounds like we spoil them, but we're not in that position as often as the kids would want).

.

I agree with you. I wouldn't not sign my child up for a travel team (or any activity) because of being unsure of what our situation will be in 3-4 years. Things change, kids chance, circumstances change. Course, I have battled 3 cancers, so maybe we live more in the now, then some families.

Our boys are now 22 and 20, so we are done with travel teams. (and we SO miss having a game to go to at night and on the weekends!!)

Our boys played travel hockey. Our eldest played from 8 until he was on the high school team. Our youngest played from 8 until he didn't want to in 8th grade. Its true it was expensive and many weekends my husband went with one son and I went with another in the opposite direction. They enjoyed it and we enjoyed it, and when my youngest didn't enjoy it anymore, he stopped and joined a ski racing team.

Our oldest was also on a travel baseball team for 3 years. 9th grade-11th grade. He had the time of his life. We did too!! I do have to share that we fell into an amazing once and a lifetime opportunity with his team. Unknown to us when he was asked to try out, the coach was/is a millionaire. Not only did we not have to pay anything, he supplied all of the kids with cleats, 2 uniforms, batting their own batting helmet, jackets, sports bags, the whole nine yards. One summer they went to Cooperstown baseball world (it wasn't actually in Cooperstown it was in Oneonta NY) he paid for the entire trip, in the evenings he would take the kids to the movies/dinner/go-carts/mini-golf etc. What a blast they had, and since we went to, what a great time we had as well.

I say go for it!!!