IS TRAVEL BALL leaving people/players/rec & school behind...OR...

[wconn1979]

Our local league has started to implement a summer league and fall ball. This will help some of the kids that cant afford to play travel ball keep up. It will also help the local high school in the long run. To be competitive you have to have more than spring rec ball players coming up into high school.

The teams that win state in Texas are always filled with girls that have played tournament ball since coach pitch.

 

[Agcy]

Didn't read the entire thread (sorry - late the the conversation).

In our community, it is about commitment, not money. Girls in our school are not interested in practicing 2 times a week and committing every other weekend to play. The only real success our HS has had is 2 classes that a parent got a team together to get girls involved at younger ages. Since that time, however, our BB team has gotten much better and most girls that are willing to put extra time into something are playing travel BB.

 

[daywalkerdad]

No knowing the current state of the softball world the plan was to play req until junior high. Players started leaving until 10u was hard to field a team and tough to face pitching that threw strikes. Leagues not ran well. Forced into travel at 12u.
Now kids are going select at young age before even dominating req. I am afraid you will see lots of injuries.

 

[lostcreek1]

From what I see in my part of the world. Which is very rural and you have to travel pretty far to play travel ball. (30-50 miles to practice) You have kids that wish to play softball more than just a couple months in the spring, and there parents can afford it so they end up in travel ball. These kids don’t play travel ball because they are the best athletes or even the best softball players they do it because they want to and there parents can afford it. The kids that don’t wish to play more than just a couple months in the spring, or there parents can’t afford it play Rec. Not many kids play travel ball, yet the Rec leagues are not what they use to be because of other things. Kids just have more options today. I would say be glad the girls are playing softball wether it be Rec or travel. Pick the one that suits you DD wants and your families level of commitment and go have fun.

 

[Orange Socks]

Summer All stars is why we stayed in Rec so long. DD played 5 summers. Last year was 14U after 7th grade. I kept a great core group of players together for a long time. After that last summer, I told the parents that I won't be coaching the team anymore, and it's time for DD to fly out of the nest.

You can get lots of reps in summer without having to commit to full year TB while also being able to play other sports in the fall and winter. Our league is unique in the fact that they host 6 different sports. Football, Soccer, Basketball, Softball, Baseball and Lacrosse which allows players to cycle through the sports with their friends.

ETA: Our league had a player who played for Fresno State in 1988 that won the WCWS. They post Alumni and their respective schools.

 

[radness]

Kids just have more options today. I would say be glad the girls are playing softball wether it be Rec or travel. Pick the one that suits you DD wants and your families level of commitment and go have fun.

✔

 

[radness]

Nice reads everyone!

How about imagine this~
*When travel ball started...

Families heard
'We're going to have teams you have to try out for and we're going to be playing out of the area where you live and we will be staying overnight there to play softball.'

Would that have sounded absurd?
Maybe that even sounded outrageous?!

Because people said 'Yes we want to'
People made a commitment to the riggers of multiple practices weekly and making the extra effort to go play softball in other areas!
'Yes' became the opportunity to play in a more competitive venue!

Apparently the idea grew strong roots!

 

[_MIA_]

Circling around to the thread title, the answer is Yes, the kids who cannot afford to play TB (as I stated early in this thread). It isn't a hard question to answer regardless of how you want to spin it. Doesn't make TB evil, just answering the question.

I played with two kids who played MLB..there is now way in he%& they could have afforded to play travel baseball nowadays unless they were given scholarships . Now they may have been so gifted that they didn't need the competition level to succeed and playing whatever they could until HS might have been enough..not sure. They were both pitchers so that may have been the case.

 

[radness]

Circling around to the thread title, the answer is Yes, the kids who cannot afford to play TB (as I stated early in this thread). It isn't a hard question to answer regardless of how you want to spin it. Doesn't make TB evil, just answering the question.

I know you keep bringing up the point of financial disparity. Financial disparity affects Much More Than Just Sports.
That is an answer for many things.

To look a little more in depth about what people want to do with their money or debt...

Even with the higher cost of travel ball, And pushing the riggers of added cost, people who could otherwise stay in rec ball have chosen to move on to travel ball at younger ages. That reason is not because of financial disparity, that is people are choosing to do something that costs a lot more at an earlier age.

For the people who are paying more (and quite possibly creating more debt in that way facing their own Financial disparity) they have still chosen to play travel ball instead. By the abundance of 10U travel ball teams we know it happened.

So on the flip side Financial disparity is not why travel ball has grown so huge. Travel ball has grown huge because people have taken on the burden of financial requirement.

 

[_MIA_]

That is an answer for many things.

and it is an answer to this:

"IS TRAVEL BALL leaving people/players/rec & school behind...OR.."

whether you like it or not. If you wanted to close your eyes to that then you should have made that clarification in your initial post
eg " Financial issues aside....." and I wouldn't keep bringing it up every so often so people don't forget the most glaring answer to your question.

Look, I think TB is great. My DD loves playing it and if my boys want to they will play it when they are ready. Doesn't mean I have
to close my eyes to the problem(s)..Kind of like how my DW feels about me..