Douche

[PooPopsBaldHead]

This travel, club, aau, or whatever crap has become completely toxic. And it's our own fault as parents.

I've railed on it before, but I specifically left the suburbs of Dallas several years ago because having two boys that were under 6 at the time, my future was written. 3 seasons of various travel teams (no matter the talent level since even the b & c level players get to play less competitive travel teams) for each kid throughout the year. $10's of $20's of thousands of dollars a year spent on said activities. And no time for anything else... That's the life all my friends were living.


Anyhow, fast forward to this weekend. I don't want to go TLDR, but let's just say I saw it all in action this weekend.

So here's the moral. Your 10u kids will likely never be close to good enough to make the pros or college at any sport. You are spending gobs of time and money to teach them the worst attributes of sports (that money, resources, and winning are more important than teamwork, having fun, and being sportsman.) Because of how much you spend in time and money, you take it way to serious and are legitimately losing it over youth sports.

It's an absolute plague. Don't be a part of it if you have other options. If your kids are playing in this stuff, especially if you are coaching, make sure you are not part of the problem.

Pro tip... you are absolute idiots if you have your 8-9 year old football team ride to a game a couple of hours away on a chartered bus. What's wrong with Mom's SUV your spending $1250 a month on for the next 84 months? And your club team doesn't need it's own cheerleaders and concession stand you take with you in road games... There's more to life than what should be an actual kids game. Like making sure your kids are at or above grade level math.

 

[columbiadawg2]

Preach!!!! The USWNT ain't scouting u9 girls.

We're knee-deep in our first year of travel soccer and I'll be interested to see if we continue after this year. And yes, I think 7 is too young for travel. But my child loves soccer and our local club and rec league are under one umbrella. Basically, we don't have enough girls so if you want to play all girls, you have to play travel starting at u9. The other option is she's the only girl on the rec league team which isn't terrible but she loves being on an all-girl team and having a group of buddies. And while it's expensive, our club is thousands cheaper than the northern Virginia ones nearby. We actually have parents that have pulled kids out of ours to go into NOVA and drive 2 hours a day, 3 times a week for 8, 9, and 10-year-old soccer.

First game of the season, we had a fight break out between two parents on the same team (luckily not ours). These people are absolutely insane. She loves being around her friends and playing soccer but we're learning quickly that it takes away from the chance to do any other activities. Luckily we have amazing coaches that are all about teaching and having the kids learn. It's all about having fun, learning and development with them which is awesome.

 

[Maroon13]

I agree with the overall sentiment of your post. I have 3 kids that went through travel ball in different sports. There was pros and cons.

Cons: was the time aspect as you said. Also most of these kids playing aren't that talented but these clubs sell you "development". These clubs are just a money grab. The parents of the most talented players run the clubs and the coaches do their bidding to keep the money coming. It's cut throat. A friend this season will turn their back to go to another team tomorrow if they can win another game or tournament. I hate that aspect. The team/club hoping.

Pros: my kids enjoyed playing. I enjoyed meeting new people and making new friends. It kept my kids active. It kept me active. It was fun.

I do laugh when I see people promoting .... "U7 tryouts for Bubba and Peggy Sue's baseball/softball". How many of those kids can field or throw or catch a fly ball or hit the ball off a tee. Anyways I wish we could all agree and pass some regulations that "travel" or "club" teams can't be formed until 12 years old.

 

[57stratdawg]

I got pretty baked on my back porch all weekend.

Hope that helps.

 

[johnson86-1]

I'm convinced there's not a parent alive that isn't a worse person for their involvement in travel sports. Even when they are decent people outside of sports, they are as far as I can tell with 100% consistency worse people if not actually terrible people when dealing with the sport. If nothing else, just the willingness to do fundraisers not just for voluntary sports, but voluntary sports where they actively try to exclude people, is a special level of *** holedness that would make them ashamed of themselves in any other setting. Nah, I'm not going to donate any swag for your golf tournament for your 8U coach pitch baseball tournament where you're going to be pitching to your own son two hours away from here while playing against another team from our home city.

And I could handle all of that if there was a point to it. But as far as I can tell, the only point is to burn kids out on sports early for those that do participate and to limit the opportunities for the ones that don't participate. So many kids seem to do a year or two of travel and then drop it all together because of some combination of rec not being good enough and being burned out on practice and travel or not getting playing time.

It's also incredible to me the morons they are making rich off of this. If you hear a coach of an 8U team justifying a kid getting one at bat over the entire weekend of play because "we earn our playing time on this team", or a coach justifying pulling an 8 year old kid off the soccer field and benching him for the game after less than a quart of play, because "this ain't rec ball", please don't continue to be part of that kind of moron making good money. Those kind of people don't need to be around kids sports.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

My kid has chosen to play football and basketball, which to-date, have always been about $100 to play rec ball, and the leagues are still competitive since there is no travel ball yet. We gave up soccer years ago, and gave up baseball last year, those were the money makers. To be fair, we haven't actually given up baseball fully, he just didn't play this fall.

I only have one son so my time here is done in this world, he's almost old enough that he will choose his path. So I no longer feel the need to fight the good fight, just have to accept reality. But I feel lucky we dodged the big money pits thus far, as I always coached it myself and stayed fairly local and kept prices down.

ETA: It boils down to this. I know football starts having 7 on 7, and basketball has AAU. But that stuff starts, at earliest, 7th or 8th grade. Baseball and soccer has been plagued by the club stuff as early as 1st grade (and some in K!). Bottom line it is a money making racket, but no one questions it. It obviously has taken hold more strongly in areas of the South where there's nothing else to do (like MS). It's entertainment for parents, and they gladly pay for it. They've built all these turf fields, so now it's too hot to play in summer, and it's pushed into fall. And parents/coaches will say "fall ball is for DeVeLoPmEnTs", no, it's because the tournament directors know nobody will play in 95 degrees on turf. At least soccer has the 'it'll keep you in shape' thing going for it.

In this country, baseball is SOOOOO mismanaged. MLB has big problems ahead, since so many kids are being weeded out. Football and basketball will continue to thrive because there's no barrier to entry - they are cheap. Soccer is a wild card. I think it may overtake baseball, but it won't rival football/basketball.

 

[HRMSU]

Guilty as charged did that scene with my son. We were a little different as we really took a local all star team and kept them together for 4 years. No cuts or new player tryouts and we did reach major status in our second season but I think that's when it got too serious. We went from providing a team that all the kids and parents could stay together on to getting too focused on Sunday seeds and trophies. We won plenty trophies against the big organizations but in the end I think we lost more as a family. Countless weekends playing all over Texas could have been spent doing different things. At the end of the day my son enjoyed being around his buddies more than anything and travel ball was just a vehicle for that. I look back at it sometimes and really get disappointed at the time I wasted as a father getting caught up in something that is totally irrelevant to our world today.

 

[mcdawg22]

Preach!!!! The USWNT ain't scouting u9 girls.

We're knee-deep in our first year of travel soccer and I'll be interested to see if we continue after this year. And yes, I think 7 is too young for travel. But my child loves soccer and our local club and rec league are under one umbrella. Basically, we don't have enough girls so if you want to play all girls, you have to play travel starting at u9. The other option is she's the only girl on the rec league team which isn't terrible but she loves being on an all-girl team and having a group of buddies. And while it's expensive, our club is thousands cheaper than the northern Virginia ones nearby. We actually have parents that have pulled kids out of ours to go into NOVA and drive 2 hours a day, 3 times a week for 8, 9, and 10-year-old soccer.

First game of the season, we had a fight break out between two parents on the same team (luckily not ours). These people are absolutely insane. She loves being around her friends and playing soccer but we're learning quickly that it takes away from the chance to do any other activities. Luckily we have amazing coaches that are all about teaching and having the kids learn. It's all about having fun, learning and development with them which is awesome.

Yup this is where we are. Daughter loves playing with only girls. She is a goalie so she gets specialized training there. We have a good group of parents that get along and don’t go overboard. We celebrate sucesses and don’t harp on the failures. We have a good time when we have to travel far enough to get hotel rooms. Luckily, financially that’s only one maybe two a season. I don’t understand how some people can travel for a whole week. One of my old coworkers spent 6 days in Denver because her daughter’s team kept advancing. I guess if you have one kid it’s not that bad, but that would really suck for the child that isn’t playing.

 

[Wesson Bulldog]

This travel, club, aau, or whatever crap has become completely toxic. And it's our own fault as parents.

I've railed on it before, but I specifically left the suburbs of Dallas several years ago because having two boys that were under 6 at the time, my future was written. 3 seasons of various travel teams (no matter the talent level since even the b & c level players get to play less competitive travel teams) for each kid throughout the year. $10's of $20's of thousands of dollars a year spent on said activities. And no time for anything else... That's the life all my friends were living.


Anyhow, fast forward to this weekend. I don't want to go TLDR, but let's just say I saw it all in action this weekend.

So here's the moral. Your 10u kids will likely never be close to good enough to make the pros or college at any sport. You are spending gobs of time and money to teach them the worst attributes of sports (that money, resources, and winning are more important than teamwork, having fun, and being sportsman.) Because of how much you spend in time and money, you take it way to serious and are legitimately losing it over youth sports.

It's an absolute plague. Don't be a part of it if you have other options. If your kids are playing in this stuff, especially if you are coaching, make sure you are not part of the problem.

Pro tip... you are absolute idiots if you have your 8-9 year old football team ride to a game a couple of hours away on a chartered bus. What's wrong with Mom's SUV your spending $1250 a month on for the next 84 months? And your club team doesn't need it's own cheerleaders and concession stand you take with you in road games... There's more to life than what should be an actual kids game. Like making sure your kids are at or above grade level math.

My son is on the Mad Dawg Rugby team at State. He is a freshman. They've played at Auburn and at Memphis the past 2 Saturdays. He drove/carpooled his vehicle both times. How in the hell is a peewee team taking a charter bus??????

ETA: My son's car is a 2019 Toyota Camry

 

[hatfieldms]

I coach a competitive baseball team and that is some of the conversations I have had with the parents and kids.

To the parents the message is “I am not here for you. I’m here to help your kids get better and enjoy the game. Please do not try to live through your kids and let them enjoy it.”

to the kids it is “if you are not having fun out here you do not need to be here. This isn’t life or death. It’s a game.”

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

Another pro, plenty opportunity for the parents to swing with other parents while their kid is balling at the "World Series" in PCB.

 

[615dawg]

Travel volleyball is the third circle of hell.

It's really expensive. My travel baseball dad friends are shocked when I tell them what we pay. I personally know three families in the Jackson Metro area with talented volleyball players that just can't handle the expense.

There is little to no local competition, which means more (and expensive) travel. We have one tournament in Jackson, but the rest of our tournaments are Memphis, Atlanta, Dallas, St. Louis, Orlando, etc. And the volleyball circuit has a deal with AES - teams have to use the AES hotels are they are charged a penalty. So no deal shopping or using points on volleyball trips. Youth sports have become a $50 billion industry.

I think the parents of girls can be more cut throat than the boys. There are four club teams in the Jackson Metro - and they all hate each other. This team steals from this team and that team steals from another - and because the volleyball coaching tree in Mississippi is barely a seedling - certain players have to be with certain clubs to get a shot at playing for their high school team. The MHSAA and MAIS need to step in and clean it up.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

I coach a competitive baseball team and that is some of the conversations I have had with the parents and kids.

To the parents the message is “I am not here for you. I’m here to help your kids get better and enjoy the game. Please do not try to live through your kids and let them enjoy it.”

to the kids it is “if you are not having fun out here you do not need to be here. This isn’t life or death. It’s a game.”

Do you have a kid on the team, or are you doing it for a job i.e. the money?

I don't expect the paid coaches/trainers/etc. to ever come out publicly against it because it's a gold mine of cash. If you have name cache you can make a bundle with lessons, travel teams and tournaments. So I get it, I would never ask that you re-examine your stance, have to go with reality.

But what if, just what if, a bunch of these guys banded together and supported the local rec leagues all the way through 7th/8th grades, then supported All-Stars/travel through the summer? Then encouraged the kids to do training in the fall (assuming they want to play baseball-only)? The situation would be much better. You'd get the best of both worlds, everybody would get to play early, then the competition would break off later on.

This will never happen, in any sport, because why cut off that gravy train of year-round paid competition? The money is there.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Travel volleyball is the third circle of hell.

It's really expensive. My travel baseball dad friends are shocked when I tell them what we pay.

It does not sound like you enjoy it. So why do you do it? What is the end game? Is your daughter going to get a scholarship?

If you enjoy it, that is great. Problem I see is about 20% enjoy it, and the rest are there due to FOMO and to finance the system.

 

[beachbumdawg]

Another pro, plenty opportunity for the parents to swing with other parents while their kid is balling at the "World Series" in PCB.

That balls deep

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

One of my best friends, who coached travel ball up until his kids aged out told the parents (at the first team meeting), your kid isn't going to play pro ball, you kid isn't going to play college ball and probably won't play at on a high level HS team. When you picked you mate you locked in your kids athletic future. If you kid was good, he'd been recruited by a better team.

 

[Bulldog45]

But what if, just what if, a bunch of these guys banded together and supported the local rec leagues all the way through 7th/8th grades, then supported All-Stars/travel through the summer? Then encouraged the kids to do training in the fall (assuming they want to play baseball-only)? The situation would be much better. You'd get the best of both worlds, everybody would get to play early, then the competition would break off later on.

Ideally that would happen. Maybe it’s possible for the smaller towns but in the larger areas it’s a bridge too far. Too many people being people. First off, you got to get the rec administrators to buy in and take a more active role in managing it. Some places the rec itself is a money maker for certain folks. Then you’ve got some coaches scheming how to get a leg up to win even though it’s rec. Then you’ve also got a shortage of coaches so you end up taking volunteers who don’t have a clue or don’t have much interest in practice and development just to have enough coaches to cover the teams. Then I won’t even get started on a handful of parents I’ve come across who double—dip on rec and tournament seemingly for no other reason to scout and recruit folks to bring money into the organizations.

 

[rynodawg]

Travel volleyball is the third circle of hell.

It's really expensive. My travel baseball dad friends are shocked when I tell them what we pay. I personally know three families in the Jackson Metro area with talented volleyball players that just can't handle the expense.

There is little to no local competition, which means more (and expensive) travel. We have one tournament in Jackson, but the rest of our tournaments are Memphis, Atlanta, Dallas, St. Louis, Orlando, etc. And the volleyball circuit has a deal with AES - teams have to use the AES hotels are they are charged a penalty. So no deal shopping or using points on volleyball trips. Youth sports have become a $50 billion industry.

I think the parents of girls can be more cut throat than the boys. There are four club teams in the Jackson Metro - and they all hate each other. This team steals from this team and that team steals from another - and because the volleyball coaching tree in Mississippi is barely a seedling - certain players have to be with certain clubs to get a shot at playing for their high school team. The MHSAA and MAIS need to step in and clean it up.

We did club volleyball both in Los Angeles and Jackson and will say the good thing in LA was almost zero overnights. Almost every single tournament weekend was a 30-45 minute day trip. When you add in the hotels/travel Jackson volleyball is probably triple the cost. Those days are long gone now, daughter did Div III volleyball for a couple years and stopped after that.

 

[RockyDog]

Travel volleyball is the third circle of hell.

It's really expensive. My travel baseball dad friends are shocked when I tell them what we pay. I personally know three families in the Jackson Metro area with talented volleyball players that just can't handle the expense.

There is little to no local competition, which means more (and expensive) travel. We have one tournament in Jackson, but the rest of our tournaments are Memphis, Atlanta, Dallas, St. Louis, Orlando, etc. And the volleyball circuit has a deal with AES - teams have to use the AES hotels are they are charged a penalty. So no deal shopping or using points on volleyball trips. Youth sports have become a $50 billion industry.

I think the parents of girls can be more cut throat than the boys. There are four club teams in the Jackson Metro - and they all hate each other. This team steals from this team and that team steals from another - and because the volleyball coaching tree in Mississippi is barely a seedling - certain players have to be with certain clubs to get a shot at playing for their high school team. The MHSAA and MAIS need to step in and clean it up.

My daughter played for one of the lesser teams at Infinity for one year, and that was enough for me. Luckily her team didn't travel near as much as some of the others. We played NOLA, Atlanta, Hoover and Jackson.

The tournament in Atlanta was ridiculous. Like you said, you didn't have any choice in the hotel stay and I learned the hard way when our team was booked into a ghetto hotel out by the airport while the Hazelwoods and some of the upper tier teams were lodging downtown within walking distance of the World Congress Center.

 

[RockyDog]

It does not sound like you enjoy it. So why do you do it? What is the end game? Is your daughter going to get a scholarship?

If you enjoy it, that is great. Problem I see is about 20% enjoy it, and the rest are there due to FOMO and to finance the system.

Regretfully, some of the high school coaches around here are also involved with club volleyball and many won't give a girl a look in tryouts if she doesn't have that experience.

 

[Bulldog45]

Regretfully, some of the high school coaches around here are also involved with club volleyball and many won't give a girl a look in tryouts if she doesn't have that experience.

That happens with baseball too.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Regretfully, some of the high school coaches around here are also involved with club volleyball and many won't give a girl a look in tryouts if she doesn't have that experience.

Yeah, definitely understand that. That's just the reality of the situation nowadays. In any big metro area, most any baseball or soccer player isn't making a 7th team isn't making the high school team unless they have been playing serious travel ball, even the unreal athletes. Assume volleyball is the same.

One of the benefits of living in a small town I assume would be that your kid gets to do everything. But you still don't get noticed unless you do travel sports. The good coaches still see the value in getting out and finding the athletes. The Lemonis' of the world rely on travel tournaments.

 

[rynodawg]

Yeah, definitely understand that. That's just the reality of the situation nowadays. In any big metro area, most any baseball or soccer player isn't making a 7th team isn't making the high school team unless they have been playing serious travel ball, even the unreal athletes. Assume volleyball is the same.

One of the benefits of living in a small town I assume would be that your kid gets to do everything. But you still don't get noticed unless you do travel sports. The good coaches still see the value in getting out and finding the athletes. The Lemonis' of the world rely on travel tournaments.

Yep in small town MS any athlete can still make varsity volleyball, but now that Jackson has several club teams it’s a necessity if a girl wants to play for a varsity school team. Middle schools can’t replicate the thousands of repetitions they would get in in club practice.

 

[615dawg]

My daughter played for one of the lesser teams at Infinity for one year, and that was enough for me. Luckily her team didn't travel near as much as some of the others. We played NOLA, Atlanta, Hoover and Jackson.

The tournament in Atlanta was ridiculous. Like you said, you didn't have any choice in the hotel stay and I learned the hard way when our team was booked into a ghetto hotel out by the airport while the Hazelwoods and some of the upper tier teams were lodging downtown within walking distance of the World Congress Center.

We were on one of the upper tier teams and stuck out by the airport. That Atlanta tournament has the best teams in the country. We were a pretty good team and got beat 25-4, 25-10 by a team from Phoenix, AZ that ended up finishing 20th. Then we had to play IMG Academy, who interestedly enough was above average, but not great.

Which reminds me, the next step in the evolution of youth sports in Mississippi is the sports-focused middle and high school. Some of the privates are almost there, but I'm talking about someone building a school somewhere that doesn't hide what they are.

 

[The Peeper]

One of the proudest moments of mine as a soccer parent was the day my daughter had just finished playing in Tupelo at the "State Cup" at the age of 14 and said as we drove away from the complex "I'm tired of soccer"

Hallefreakinleuah, pass me a big tall drink!

This was about 2010 I think and even back then we were paying $500-$600 per weekend minimum when we went to a tournament (2 tanks gas, 2 nights hotel, 6 meals eaten out for 4 of us, coaches travel costs for the weekend, tournament tshirts, even parking at the tournament (when you've already paid $250-$400 for your team to enter the tournament you still pay for parking!) . That didn't count club dues, uniforms, backpacks, shoes, referee fees, fund raising, etc etc etc. I think a conservative cost guess would be $5,000 per year even back then it cost us per year. My daughter was good, really good, but she literally got burned out playing from July-May every year. She gave it up completely, never even tried out for high school even though the coaches begged her to. As a family we found completely new friends after that because you literally only have time for the ones you play and travel with.

Some of our girls played high school, some didn't. I believe 2 played community college and ZERO sniffed a scholarship at any college level. I wished I had that $20,000 or so that I spent on soccer to apply to college once that started for her...............

 

[The Cooterpoot]

That's not what the good travel organizations are. They're run correctly. You just have to be good and lucky enough to get in them. Winning doesn't matter in those except two tournaments a year max. They play every kid in the team. They're honest with kids and parents. Hell, we always started the next game where the lineup ended the previous game so every kid gets their time and exposure. We required the team eat together at least once each tournament and there were no cellphones allowed. We had games/competitions and karaoke sings. The work should be away from the field. The field should be about fun and handling yourselves appropriately. Parents got the boot if they opened their mouths beyond encouragement.
So it's not all bad. But expensive as hell it is. Worth it IMO if they love it and want to work for it.

 

[Darryl Steight]

This travel, club, aau, or whatever crap has become completely toxic. And it's our own fault as parents.

I've railed on it before, but I specifically left the suburbs of Dallas several years ago because having two boys that were under 6 at the time, my future was written. 3 seasons of various travel teams (no matter the talent level since even the b & c level players get to play less competitive travel teams) for each kid throughout the year. $10's of $20's of thousands of dollars a year spent on said activities. And no time for anything else... That's the life all my friends were living.


Anyhow, fast forward to this weekend. I don't want to go TLDR, but let's just say I saw it all in action this weekend.

So here's the moral. Your 10u kids will likely never be close to good enough to make the pros or college at any sport. You are spending gobs of time and money to teach them the worst attributes of sports (that money, resources, and winning are more important than teamwork, having fun, and being sportsman.) Because of how much you spend in time and money, you take it way to serious and are legitimately losing it over youth sports.

It's an absolute plague. Don't be a part of it if you have other options. If your kids are playing in this stuff, especially if you are coaching, make sure you are not part of the problem.

Pro tip... you are absolute idiots if you have your 8-9 year old football team ride to a game a couple of hours away on a chartered bus. What's wrong with Mom's SUV your spending $1250 a month on for the next 84 months? And your club team doesn't need it's own cheerleaders and concession stand you take with you in road games... There's more to life than what should be an actual kids game. Like making sure your kids are at or above grade level math.

I get all the complaints about travel sports, but (at least in a good club) there are still lifelong friendships made, quality family time on trips, and as much of a pain 2 or 3 practices per week are, it's still a helluva lot better than the kids sitting at home on YouTube or video games. Which is what they would be doing in a lot of cases.

I'm not advocating for travel sports over rec, or for anything really. I'm just saying, it's not literally the debil and you could find some benefits if you wanted to. Carry on with yer b*tching.

 

[RockyDog]

We were on one of the upper tier teams and stuck out by the airport. That Atlanta tournament has the best teams in the country. We were a pretty good team and got beat 25-4, 25-10 by a team from Phoenix, AZ that ended up finishing 20th. Then we had to play IMG Academy, who interestedly enough was above average, but not great.

Which reminds me, the next step in the evolution of youth sports in Mississippi is the sports-focused middle and high school. Some of the privates are almost there, but I'm talking about someone building a school somewhere that doesn't hide what they are.

My daughter was on a 16 team a few years ago and they were average at best. Really had no business in Atlanta other than to make Infinity some money and have a good time hanging out together.

In between one of their matches I did get to go over to a court next to them and watch a couple of 17 teams battle it out with the court surrounded by college scouts. It was a team from Ohio playing one from the Atlanta area. The Atlanta team had 4 girls over 6'6.

 

[615dawg]

My daughter was on a 16 team a few years ago and they were average at best. Really had no business in Atlanta other than to make Infinity some money and have a good time hanging out together.

In between one of their matches I did get to go over to a court next to them and watch a couple of 17 teams battle it out with the court surrounded by college scouts. It was a team from Ohio playing one from the Atlanta area. The Atlanta team had 4 girls over 6'6.

Yep. I caught a glimpse of a match of a team from Orlando playing a team from the Chicago area. College scouts everywhere.

 

[Villagedawg]

This travel, club, aau, or whatever crap has become completely toxic. And it's our own fault as parents.

I've railed on it before, but I specifically left the suburbs of Dallas several years ago because having two boys that were under 6 at the time, my future was written. 3 seasons of various travel teams (no matter the talent level since even the b & c level players get to play less competitive travel teams) for each kid throughout the year. $10's of $20's of thousands of dollars a year spent on said activities. And no time for anything else... That's the life all my friends were living.


Anyhow, fast forward to this weekend. I don't want to go TLDR, but let's just say I saw it all in action this weekend.

So here's the moral. Your 10u kids will likely never be close to good enough to make the pros or college at any sport. You are spending gobs of time and money to teach them the worst attributes of sports (that money, resources, and winning are more important than teamwork, having fun, and being sportsman.) Because of how much you spend in time and money, you take it way to serious and are legitimately losing it over youth sports.

It's an absolute plague. Don't be a part of it if you have other options. If your kids are playing in this stuff, especially if you are coaching, make sure you are not part of the problem.

Pro tip... you are absolute idiots if you have your 8-9 year old football team ride to a game a couple of hours away on a chartered bus. What's wrong with Mom's SUV your spending $1250 a month on for the next 84 months? And your club team doesn't need it's own cheerleaders and concession stand you take with you in road games... There's more to life than what should be an actual kids game. Like making sure your kids are at or above grade level math.

You couldn't be more spot on. We got a small taste of 9U travel baseball in Houston. After that, nope. Both boys did rec and school sports only. They are both grown, and neither of them are professional athletes nor did they get athletic scholarships. They and we never counted on that. They did both, however, attend State on full academic scholarships. ETA that this was a feat I didn't even come close to attaining!

 

[OG Goat Holder]

That's not what the good travel organizations are. They're run correctly. You just have to be good and lucky enough to get in them. Winning doesn't matter in those except two tournaments a year max. They play every kid in the team. They're honest with kids and parents. Hell, we always started the next game where the lineup ended the previous game so every kid gets their time and exposure. We required the team eat together at least once each tournament and there were no cellphones allowed. We had games/competitions and karaoke sings. The work should be away from the field. The field should be about fun and handling yourselves appropriately. Parents got the boot if they opened their mouths beyond encouragement.
So it's not all bad. But expensive as hell it is. Worth it IMO if they love it and want to work for it.

Spoken like a true paid travel coach. Of course you will say it's worth it and put the narrative out there that it's expensive and the only way. You are incentivized to do so.

So it's not all bad. But expensive as hell it is. Worth it IMO if they love it and their parents enjoy it and want to work pay for it.

Fixed that for you.

I have to say, you've done a great job cornering the market. Because there really isn't any other option if you want to play baseball. But be careful, your pool of players is shrinking, developing lower numbers of future fans of the game. This is fact. Killing the middle class.

The lessons are fine. Kids work and get better. But the big money for the tournaments? RACKET.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

Spoken like a true paid travel coach. Of course you will say it's worth it and put the narrative out there that it's expensive and the only way. You are incentivized to do so.


Fixed that for you.

I have to say, you've done a great job cornering the market. Because there really isn't any other option if you want to play baseball. But be careful, your pool of players is shrinking, developing lower numbers of future fans of the game. This is fact. Killing the middle class.

The lessons are fine. Kids work and get better. But the big money for the tournaments? RACKET.

You really have no idea wtf you're talking about as usual. Tuition of $40k a year mostly covered sounds like a 17ing great return on investment. College is completely covered at some smaller colleges. Kids meet big donors/supporters that help them in life. NIL money now too. It pays big to be a college athlete.

 

[blitz2Win]

This travel, club, aau, or whatever crap has become completely toxic. And it's our own fault as parents.

I've railed on it before, but I specifically left the suburbs of Dallas several years ago because having two boys that were under 6 at the time, my future was written. 3 seasons of various travel teams (no matter the talent level since even the b & c level players get to play less competitive travel teams) for each kid throughout the year. $10's of $20's of thousands of dollars a year spent on said activities. And no time for anything else... That's the life all my friends were living.


Anyhow, fast forward to this weekend. I don't want to go TLDR, but let's just say I saw it all in action this weekend.

So here's the moral. Your 10u kids will likely never be close to good enough to make the pros or college at any sport. You are spending gobs of time and money to teach them the worst attributes of sports (that money, resources, and winning are more important than teamwork, having fun, and being sportsman.) Because of how much you spend in time and money, you take it way to serious and are legitimately losing it over youth sports.

It's an absolute plague. Don't be a part of it if you have other options. If your kids are playing in this stuff, especially if you are coaching, make sure you are not part of the problem.

Pro tip... you are absolute idiots if you have your 8-9 year old football team ride to a game a couple of hours away on a chartered bus. What's wrong with Mom's SUV your spending $1250 a month on for the next 84 months? And your club team doesn't need it's own cheerleaders and concession stand you take with you in road games... There's more to life than what should be an actual kids game. Like making sure your kids are at or above grade level math.

Couldn’t agree more. tourney baseball burns out more talented kids than anything. Keep them in league ball, have fun with friends, get lessons if you must on the side but tourney ball ruins more good kids than it helps, IMO.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

You really have no idea wtf you're talking about as usual. Tuition of $40k a year mostly covered sounds like a 17ing great return on investment. College is completely covered at some smaller colleges. Kids meet big donors/supporters that help them in life. NIL money now too. It pays big to be a college athlete.

20% of those kids might sniff a college scholarship. And 20% of those will command NIL. Give me a break. And those that are good enough are catered to by the travel organizations. The rest of the 80% finance it for them. The best teams get fully sponsored but guess what, the players are already the best. Your organization did not make them that way.

Again, I certainly expect you to further this agenda. But just know there are those of us who have seen this shlt up close and know better. But you're definitely winning. Stupidity and ignorance are the playground of predators.

 

[johnson86-1]

I get all the complaints about travel sports, but (at least in a good club) there are still lifelong friendships made, quality family time on trips, and as much of a pain 2 or 3 practices per week are, it's still a helluva lot better than the kids sitting at home on YouTube or video games. Which is what they would be doing in a lot of cases.

I'm not advocating for travel sports over rec, or for anything really. I'm just saying, it's not literally the debil and you could find some benefits if you wanted to. Carry on with yer b*tching.

For parents willing and able to drop money on travel ball, the alternative usually isn't going to be no activities. There are the exceptionally stupid ones that really only care about sports and are stupid enough to believe little Johnny is going to go pro even though neither parent sniffed a DI scholarship, but even for them, there were plenty of kids that used to spend every spare moment playing sports without travel ball and their kids would likely still play a lot of sports. But most of the parents would still overschedule their kids (like we do and most of our friends do whether or not they play travel ball), it'd just be more variety of activities and ones that generally would let the kids have more time to be kids on the weekends.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

For parents willing and able to drop money on travel ball, the alternative usually isn't going to be no activities. There are the exceptionally stupid ones that really only care about sports and are stupid enough to believe little Johnny is going to go pro even though neither parent sniffed a DI scholarship, but even for them, there were plenty of kids that used to spend every spare moment playing sports without travel ball and their kids would likely still play a lot of sports. But most of the parents would still overschedule their kids (like we do and most of our friends do whether or not they play travel ball), it'd just be more variety of activities and ones that generally would let the kids have more time to be kids on the weekends.

I'm not so concerned about folks being busy, or whether it's structured or unstructured. To me, active is active, and is a good thing. I think it's good to find the things kids are good at, and invest in them. But unreasonable costs are something entirely different, and especially doing it in something where many don't have a future? The shlt doesn't add up.

12U baseball costs at an 'organization' are around $150-$250 a month, outside of uniforms and tournament fees. That's a rec ball season, a lot of musical lessons, karate, golf lessons, tennis lessons, etc., and those still leave you MUCH more time to do.....whatever. And you take those things with you later in life. You can only play so much of the big sports (football, basketball, baseball, soccer) before it's at the point of diminishing returns.

I kept it cheap by doing myself (and not taking money), but that wears on you.

 

[Wesson Bulldog]

Spoken like a true paid travel coach. Of course you will say it's worth it and put the narrative out there that it's expensive and the only way. You are incentivized to do so.


Fixed that for you.

I have to say, you've done a great job cornering the market. Because there really isn't any other option if you want to play baseball. But be careful, your pool of players is shrinking, developing lower numbers of future fans of the game. This is fact. Killing the middle class.

The lessons are fine. Kids work and get better. But the big money for the tournaments? RACKET.

Here here! Bravo my good fellow!

 

[Wesson Bulldog]

As a former USSSA baseball 1-season umpire, I hated every minute of it. Every game was like the freaking game 7 of the world series. Lots of umpire help in the bleachers and in the dugout. Teams from Lousiana were the WORST.

 

[hatfieldms]

Do you have a kid on the team, or are you doing it for a job i.e. the money?

I don't expect the paid coaches/trainers/etc. to ever come out publicly against it because it's a gold mine of cash. If you have name cache you can make a bundle with lessons, travel teams and tournaments. So I get it, I would never ask that you re-examine your stance, have to go with reality.

But what if, just what if, a bunch of these guys banded together and supported the local rec leagues all the way through 7th/8th grades, then supported All-Stars/travel through the summer? Then encouraged the kids to do training in the fall (assuming they want to play baseball-only)? The situation would be much better. You'd get the best of both worlds, everybody would get to play early, then the competition would break off later on.

This will never happen, in any sport, because why cut off that gravy train of year-round paid competition? The money is there.

I have a kid on the team and do not get paid. I am on the board for the local rec league as well. Love volunteering my time to youth sports.
Our rec league is a different situation. We have a 1000 kids in it and it sells out every year. There are also a ton of competitive teams in the Memphis area so while it is watered down as hell we do not have room for anymore in the rec league

 

[The Cooterpoot]

As a former USSSA baseball 1-season umpire, I hated every minute of it. Every game was like the freaking game 7 of the world series. Lots of umpire help in the bleachers and in the dugout. Teams from Lousiana were the WORST.

USSSA says a lot