Tournament camping?

[Kraedad]

Hey everyone-
Just starting to get our schedules lined up for this years TB schedule (12u). This is our first real experience with a decent club.
I am having a little sticker shock on the cost of hotels. While we can afford a few trips to a hotel, I am wondering what some of the pro's and con's are to camping.
I'm sure this has been discussed a bunch, but am curious what die hard campers think and those who might refuse to go that route. Especially during these earlier years of competition, I am hoping to make it a family experience. We do have a 5 year old who tends to get dragged along to her older sisters events.
Really enjoy this forum. Thanks a ton.

 

[Hawk_]

I guess it would depend to me on the distance of the tourneys. Hotels can add up for sure. My only question with Camping is will your DD be ready to play the next day? I have never woke up refreshed and clean camping lol. I'm always tired and sometimes sore from sleeping on a cot or something.

 

[Strike2]

I've camped quite a bit and traveled to softball tournaments, but never at the same time. Unless I had an RV or trailer with decent beds, I wouldn't mix the two as far as a player goes. Perhaps you could camp and your DD could share a room with another player whose parents can't go. DD's team always had a hotel room for the orphans. Consider the problem of leaving your stuff unguarded for extended periods.

 

[radness]

Hurray for camping!
That said imo
staying focused on tournament softball and the team group experience should be considered.

As a coach and player I like knowing that everybody was going to do at least some team functions together on a road trip. Do understand that not all teams have that dynamic.

I treasure the road trip experiences have had with my softball teams and even the added theater of the parents...
Although do understand not all people are in for that type of group unity thing.
Which is something I personally think has become a lacking in building the spirit in a softball team.

To the point of
Saving money is definitely understandable!
*We used to have players room together and add a couple cots sometimes 6 players to a room.
We would only have a few parents/ chaperone attend but nowadays it seems everybody's parent has to go or wants to go.
Which that in itself is a giant chunk of money.
Think it through wisely.
Perhaps a conversation with the coach about how everybody can work that out together best is a good idea. Group air-b-b? Or maybe others everyone will want to go camping!

 

[Kraedad]

Hurray for camping!
That said imo
staying focused on tournament softball and the team group experience should be considered.

As a coach and player I like knowing that everybody was going to do at least some team functions together on a road trip. Do understand that not all teams have that dynamic.

I treasure the road trip experiences have had with my softball teams and even the added theater of the parents...
Although do understand not all people are in for that type of group unity thing.
Which is something I personally think has become a lacking in building the spirit in a softball team.

To the point of
Saving money is definitely understandable!
*We used to have players room together and add a couple cots sometimes 6 to a room.
We would only have a few parents/ chaperone attend but nowadays it seems everybody's parent has to go or wants to go.
Which that in itself is a giant chunk of money.
Think it through wisely.
Perhaps a conversation with the coach about how everybody can work that out together best is a good idea. Group air-b-b?

Yeah, I guess one of the hard parts going into this year, is we have no sense of what the travel dynamic will be like with this team. Most everyone is new to the org. Only 2 returning players. I think this is why I am kind of thinking out of the box.

 

[radness]

Yeah, I guess one of the hard parts going into this year, is we have no sense of what the travel dynamic will be like with this team. Most everyone is new to the org. Only 2 returning players. I think this is why I am kind of thinking out of the box.

I remember this from college.
( one of the few nuggets remember learning)

Four parts to an event~
1.Anticipation
2.Preparation
3.Participation
4.Recall

Your thinking in anticipation,
Now
Starting conversation is communication that helps facilitate preparation for a proactive plan!

Plan for the experience you would like to have rather than fall into the direction you may not want to go. It's a group. If everybody followed where would you go?

 

[FB Fool]

about 3-4 families RV camp for our tournaments, half stay in hotels, and the rest will share a house. for week long tournaments the house sharing is awesome and really cheap compared to hotels and you can do a lot of the cooking instead of eating out.

 

[DonnyS]

Camping or glamping? RV/Trailer I think is common. Pitching a tent somewhere I haven't seen.

 

[Cougars]

I like to camp, and every winter when I'm trying to plan the next summers tournaments, I always have a moment where I think it would be fun to do a tournament that everyone stayed at a campground with tents/small campers/etc. Then, after 30 seconds or so, I remember how much effort it takes the girls to get ready when they have regular bathrooms, laundry, etc. and that thought dies.

I think it would take an entire team full of families that LOVE camping to make it work.

 

[flash277]

We did go camping with DD team one summer before the start of the seadon. Three nights, it was a lot of fun but I wouldn't want to do it for a softball tournament.
As for dragging the younger siblings around, did you ever consider leaving one parent and the other kids home? Most of DD's away games my wife stayed home with our son, it was great for me, not having to worry about entertaining other kid, just watching softball then hanging with other parents at night, and my wife didn't mind it either, she wasn't a big fan of all the traveling.