The money side of playing travel ball

[tomorrow]

For those that have done lessons for many years. Do you ever scale back the lessons as the DD gets older?

 

[chinamigarden]

This is for the parents who don’t have a lot of money.

Ok so my DD last played travel in 2018
She started on a 10u team when she was 8 and played with the same org until she was 15. That org didn’t charge much. Uniforms were used year by year and turned back in to cut down on costs. Fundraisers were available to pay fees. 4 years my fees were zero due to fundraising.
My dd started pitching when she was 9.

At 15 she was asked to join an team that was splitting off from our org. She played 16u and 18u with them. We paid $600 a year in org fees, except for her last season when she was 18 and hadn’t intended to play. They had some availability issues with kids and asked her to play some tourneys and wound up playing all year, didn’t charge her for the season.

So I never bought her a bat that cost even $100. Never paid over $100 for a glove, shoes,…usually used team bats.

We did pay to drive to tourneys and hotel rooms, no way to avoid that

I never paid for a private lesson for pitching or hitting. I did however buy a Hillhouse instruction DVD. And she started for 3 varsity sports in HS, so she got to do everything she wanted

At 14 she told me she didn’t intend to play ball in college as she wanted to focus on academics and too many girls had told her that was difficult when playing college ball. So we never sent out anything to colleges. She had some coaches interested, but we told them early on that she was not going to play college. Lots of girls she played with and against went on to play college ball.

All in I doubt my total costs for travel didn’t reach some of the per year costs of many.

So when she went to college she wound up playing club softball. And it’s a higher level of ball then I expected. She went to the club World Series twice, made all American her sophomore year.

She focused on academics like she said and 5 years of college she had a bachelors in electrical engineering and a masters in biomedical engineering. She worked all 5 years of college and did an internship, and as a grad assistant. Between that and academic scholarships she wound up with about $20,000 in student loans.

Your DD can have a fulfilling softball life without spending a ton of money. If you have it to spend and you do, I’m not saying you shouldn’t. I’m just saying if you don’t have the money, don’t worry softball is not an investment in academics it’s a sport to enjoy. You can enjoy it either way.

 

[_MIA_]

My (serious) take on the money side of things is that I am not sure it is worth it. Whatever memories/experiences my kid(s) will get from TB could probably be acquired cheaper (different experiences obviously but similar impact) doing other things. None of them will make a career out of sports (more than likely) hence the only real benefit to their lives are these overpriced experiences

My sister was a much more accomplished athlete than I and she has never encouraged her kids to play sports. They have played a season or two here and there but nothing more. She doesn’t need her kids to correct a failed athletic path like me..My wife played both volleyball and track but my kids only play the sports I played..It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what is going on.

 

[justAdad2]

DD is a pitcher on a 16U national team. plays and practices all year except 3 weeks in august. with lessons, team fees, camps, flights, hotels, rental cars and equipment. $22k was the total, that's with only 1 parent traveling and no food costs taken into account. she loves the game and the practicing, she will gladly ditch hanging out with her boyfriend to go to practice. she has shown us her commitment so we support her financially to the best of our ability. This sport has opened up so many doors for her with the people she has met and players she made friends with, i wouldn't change a thing at this moment.

 

[HunterMO]

This is for the parents who don’t have a lot of money.

Ok so my DD last played travel in 2018
She started on a 10u team when she was 8 and played with the same org until she was 15. That org didn’t charge much. Uniforms were used year by year and turned back in to cut down on costs. Fundraisers were available to pay fees. 4 years my fees were zero due to fundraising.
My dd started pitching when she was 9.

At 15 she was asked to join an team that was splitting off from our org. She played 16u and 18u with them. We paid $600 a year in org fees, except for her last season when she was 18 and hadn’t intended to play. They had some availability issues with kids and asked her to play some tourneys and wound up playing all year, didn’t charge her for the season.

So I never bought her a bat that cost even $100. Never paid over $100 for a glove, shoes,…usually used team bats.

We did pay to drive to tourneys and hotel rooms, no way to avoid that

I never paid for a private lesson for pitching or hitting. I did however buy a Hillhouse instruction DVD. And she started for 3 varsity sports in HS, so she got to do everything she wanted

At 14 she told me she didn’t intend to play ball in college as she wanted to focus on academics and too many girls had told her that was difficult when playing college ball. So we never sent out anything to colleges. She had some coaches interested, but we told them early on that she was not going to play college. Lots of girls she played with and against went on to play college ball.

All in I doubt my total costs for travel didn’t reach some of the per year costs of many.

So when she went to college she wound up playing club softball. And it’s a higher level of ball then I expected. She went to the club World Series twice, made all American her sophomore year.

She focused on academics like she said and 5 years of college she had a bachelors in electrical engineering and a masters in biomedical engineering. She worked all 5 years of college and did an internship, and as a grad assistant. Between that and academic scholarships she wound up with about $20,000 in student loans.

Your DD can have a fulfilling softball life without spending a ton of money. If you have it to spend and you do, I’m not saying you shouldn’t. I’m just saying if you don’t have the money, don’t worry softball is not an investment in academics it’s a sport to enjoy. You can enjoy it either way.

DD’s first 3-years of softball (10u-12u) were spent on a C-level local-travel team. We spent maybe $300 a year. She played double header league games mid-week with a couple tournaments each “season” on weekends. I don’t think we ever drove more than an hour to get to a tournament. In terms of gear, I scrubbed (and still do) the area/internet for used or prior years model stuff.

For those that just want to play, but don’t want to get into travel (or can’t afford it)….it’s perfect.

 

[LEsoftballdad]

Facility rentals are expensive here on LI. Most places run between $30-$45 an hour to rent one cage for a walk-in. I'm sure our trainers get a break because they bring in a lot of business, but I'd venture a guess and say they're paying at least $25-$30 to the house. My daughter's pitching trainer often times has a paid catcher for lessons whom she pays $10 per hour. And if the facility isn't a cash place, you get 2.9% deducted by the credit card company for their vig. Oh, then there's the lovely IRS, you know the silent business partner we all have who does none of the work yet collects 35% from us every year? But I digress...

 

[Vertigo]

DD’s old PC used his garage. No catchers, pitched into tarps, produced many, many collegiate pitchers who received numerous accolades and some now coach at the collegiate level. Coached at the D1 and D2 levels himself. Paid about $40/Hr for him (had to book in blocks of 4 lessons per month). Really don’t need the fancy, decked out facilities for pitching lessons. Heck, DD’s current coach uses part of a barn. Drive about 30 min south of here and we will have places that charge around $100+/Hr. More expensive does not necessarily = better coaching/outcomes.

I will not put down anyone who pays whatever they can afford to provide opportunities for their kids. Dh and I have sacrificed and done it for both kids for a long time - and believe me - baseball lessons tend to be much more expensive for whatever reason.

The point of my post is that I still am just amazed at what coaches can charge and bring in! I mean think about it - say a coach works an 8 hour day, 5 days per week giving 8 individual lessons. At $120/Hr, that’s on par with or more than what most family practice doctors in my area will make in an 8 hour day seeing close to 20+ patients if not more!

Just providing perspective.

 

[radness]

I should have spent my 6 years in grad school studying pitching instead of aeroelasticity…

when I got to college remember the athletic academic advisor asking what degree are you seeking here?
Replied "what?
I came here to play softball."
While I did have different types of jobs later after college, my first job after college was a D1 coach.
Then continued to make a career out of softball.

Not sure what the definition difference is between a hobby that pays, as well as offers life experiences and helps others. Versus a j.o.b.?!

Do know, would never consider softball just a hobby. It's truly a life experience!

 

[Vertigo]

Not sure what the definition difference is between a hobby that pays, as well as offers life experiences and helps others. Versus a j.o.b.?!

Lol - I guess most of us are just doing it wrong!

 

[softball dad 6]

For those that have done lessons for many years. Do you ever scale back the lessons as the DD gets older?

Yes we did cut back as DD got older. DD went to a JMU camp while Mickey Dean was still there. One of the assistant coaches did a group breakdown of the swing into each of its component parts. She was very good at teaching. I was watching and she was able to maintain most girls attention and everything she explained was similar to what I had learned here and other places. I had no idea but when we were driving home and talking about what she learned it was obvious that this was dd's moment when she understood what she was trying to accomplish with her swing. She was 14 or 15 at the time. We never went to a hitting coach more than 10-12 times a year. The rest of the time it was her working off a tee by herself or mostly me throwing front toss to her a lot. Was she as successful as she could have been? We will never know. She went through the dreaded freshman year of her college coach who recruited her because of her hitting spent her entire freshman year changing her stance, hand position, etc. It made for a difficult freshman year but a good sophomore year so far.
The amount of time dd and I have spent on the softball field alone practicing are priceless memories I wouldn't trade for anything. Typing this makes me a little sad as I realize those days are quickly coming to end an end.