My daughter doesn't particularly like to play tournaments any more. She is much happier w/ a high school or college team pattern of practicing every day and playing 2-4 games/week. She'd be happy to play 4 scheduled games per week (never more than 2, maybe 3 in a day), for a total of 25 straight weeks, a total of 100 games.
Instead, like every other travel kid in America, she gets about 85 percent of her 100 games on weekends, sometimes playing games 10 hours apart.
I think she's got a point. Travel ball is what it is, but there really isn't much sane about the idea of kids playing 4-5 games in a day, one starting at 8 a.m., another at 7:30 p.m. The unpredictability of a tournament schedule is another part of the insanity. You don't know if you're going home at 11 a.m. or 7 p.m. on Sunday. Softball rules your life, and your family's life.
I'm sure some would say ''if you don't like it, don't do it.'' Or, it's a moot point, it's not going to change.
I get that, but from the standpoint of growing the game, getting more kids and families to be a part of it, and to stay a part of it, wouldn't it be better to have more leagues, and less tournaments? More games in which the start times are known well in advance? Wouldn't the quality of the games be higher? Wouldn't you improve faster? If you're going to spend 20 hours at a ball field, wouldn't you benefit by spreading those hours out a little more? Isn't a little every day a better learning environment than 2 hours on WED and 12 on SAT?
Don't know what can be done, but I really feel the sport could be more beneficial for the players and families if there was another way.
Instead, like every other travel kid in America, she gets about 85 percent of her 100 games on weekends, sometimes playing games 10 hours apart.
I think she's got a point. Travel ball is what it is, but there really isn't much sane about the idea of kids playing 4-5 games in a day, one starting at 8 a.m., another at 7:30 p.m. The unpredictability of a tournament schedule is another part of the insanity. You don't know if you're going home at 11 a.m. or 7 p.m. on Sunday. Softball rules your life, and your family's life.
I'm sure some would say ''if you don't like it, don't do it.'' Or, it's a moot point, it's not going to change.
I get that, but from the standpoint of growing the game, getting more kids and families to be a part of it, and to stay a part of it, wouldn't it be better to have more leagues, and less tournaments? More games in which the start times are known well in advance? Wouldn't the quality of the games be higher? Wouldn't you improve faster? If you're going to spend 20 hours at a ball field, wouldn't you benefit by spreading those hours out a little more? Isn't a little every day a better learning environment than 2 hours on WED and 12 on SAT?
Don't know what can be done, but I really feel the sport could be more beneficial for the players and families if there was another way.
