Joining Long Distance Travel Ball teams

[_MIA_]

A local (OK) first year 14u pitcher just started playing for a Georgia Impact team.

 

[Rolling Hard]

A local (OK) first year 14u pitcher just started playing for a Georgia Impact team.

Who is paying for the travel expenses? How many weekends a year would she be required to travel? Doesn't seem right. If she is that good now, she will probably be that good when she 17 years old.

 

[_MIA_]

Who is paying for the travel expenses? How many weekends a year would she be required to travel? Doesn't seem right. If she is that good now, she will probably be that good when she 17 years old.

This is all I know

 

[osagedr]

I have coached a few players that have done this. During the tournament season we are all traveling to the "same" tournaments so where your team is based out of is less relevant. Figure out where the teams are playing and see if it fits.

For winter/off season training it can be a pain but when the players are older there is less concern from all parties. Softball is all about the individual work and you are getting your hitting/catching/pitching practice in anyways (away from the team).

So I would say age and tournament schedule are the determining factors here.

This. Our travel team was based 700 miles from where we are. Met up for tourneys; put in the work here are on own; got recruited to D1 dream school. It can work!

 

[radness]

We had an offer from a a team that was 115 miles away, practice on our own through out the week and then drive down for weekend practices. We decided against it because my daughter wanted the "team" feel with her teammates and she would have been the outsider as everyone else was pretty close. We decided to go with an org and is based 4 miles from our house.....this week we have had 4 practices and hit on our own one night..... so worth it to stay close for us.

This 'outsider' aspect seems the most difficult obstacle.

 

[CMMom1740]

After having done very local (10 minute drive) to very far (6 hour drive) travel teams, my advice is to stay as close to home as you can as long as you can. If your DD wants to play high-level D1, you'll need a national exposure team starting in about 9th grade. If she wants to play in college but somewhere more regionally close to your home, save some money and get her on a team that practices within two hours of home. She'll still get exposure by going to camps. You don't HAVE to go to Colorado or California every summer to get recruited. The stress, expense and time commitment for those far away teams is not something to be taken lightly.

 

[sbmom19]

I guess i'll do a bad job of rambling seeking thoughts and opinions on the matter of when/why/what's too much in joining a travel ball organization that's say anywhere from 70-300 miles away from your home.

There's only 1 Class A team at the moment within i'd call my semi local distance and I have zero interest in joining that team.

The rest... pretty are different parts of state and from then, the elite teams are across state lines.

Then we have the difficulty of dd becoming a to be 8th grader and trying out for varsity. Then trying to join a Class A team that competes at more national level etc. High School ball really is not the avenue that gets the best or most exposure from a collegiate perspective.

Its very consuming to digest, plan, and execute these tryouts and contacts with teams so far away.

My DD played for a travel ball team nearly 300 miles on the the other side of the state for the last 2.5 years of high school. Drove her over 4 hours one way for practices every weekend, then in the summer after her senior year she drove herself half the time. Not a choice for us - no Class A TB teams over here and the ones that were here were glorified rec teams. Awesome experience for both of us - lots of windshield time and her team went to Nationals her last year with the team.

 

[Chad504boy]

After having done very local (10 minute drive) to very far (6 hour drive) travel teams, my advice is to stay as close to home as you can as long as you can. If your DD wants to play high-level D1, you'll need a national exposure team starting in about 9th grade. If she wants to play in college but somewhere more regionally close to your home, save some money and get her on a team that practices within two hours of home. She'll still get exposure by going to camps. You don't HAVE to go to Colorado or California every summer to get recruited. The stress, expense and time commitment for those far away teams is not something to be taken lightly.

Beyond the exposure aspect, the level of competition will be different; thus maybe different type of development and motivation for the kid to keep working hard. idk...

 

[NJZoo]

I'm thinking that we are going to see less of this moving forward as teams continue to "franchise". There used to be 10-15 (pick a number) top teams in the country. But, if the Batbusters have a team in your state you don't have to go to California to play any more. There will always be people who travel for the right fit, and there is nothing wrong with that. I just think that as the game becomes more popular and there are more high level organizations in more states, you won't need to play for 1 of 10 teams for your kid to have a great experience and get the coaching and exposure that you are looking for.

 

[RobertsB]

We made a bad decision in going with an organization 105 miles from home after a not-so-good experience with a local team. The new organization was run by a thug, thief, and liar, so that part was awful, but the traveling to practices on weekends became way too much for us. Even the tournaments they joined were mostly in the NJ/Eastern PA area, so everything involved a hotel stay. The roundtrip for each Sunday practice was 210 miles, plus a ride through NYC, so I was happy to get away from that team.

I know a lot of older girls join teams and only do tournaments with them, but my daughter needs the work she gets from team practices to really excel at her game.

Whatever you choose, I hope it's the right choice for your and your family.

Is the thug, thief, and liar team in NE PA?