Travel Ball insanity and Parents training their Kids to be Pros......

Tremonti

Tremonti

Fractal Fanatic
I am 45. I played soccer, baseball, basketball, football, tennis and powerlifting growing up. Normal league stuff and then also at school. Now all kids/parents do is Travel Ball. "Hey lets play 5 games a weekend, 4 hours away with a hotel and also have 4 practices a week". Who wants that? Not cool for parent or kid. All these pay training facilities, on top of the required madness mentioned above. When did everyone start training their kids to be pro athletes? It is absurd and a million to 1 shot. I just don't get it....... Life balance matters and I do not think it is healthy.
 
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Tremonti said:
I am 45. I played soccer, baseball, basketball, football, tennis and powerlifting growing up. Normal league stuff and then also at school. Now all kids/parents do is Travel Ball. "Hey lets played 5 games a weekend, 4 hours away with a hotel and also have 4 practices a week". Who wants that? Not cool for parent or kid. All these pay training facilities, on top of the required madness mentioned above. When did everyone start training their kids to be pro athletes? It is absurd and a million to 1 shot. I just don't get it....... Life balance matters and I do not think it is healthy.
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100%

It’s a huge business now
 
Quick answer crazy!
I remember one time my youngest son had a soccer game 1:20 minutes away from home.
We had to be at the field by 6:00am. So Pack up all 5 of us and head out.
It was 43 Deg. F and it was a steady rain, and rained all day.

I love my kids, my wife was the one pushing for the kids and all the sports activities for them.

We got there that morning at 6:00, now we are supposed to stand outside in the cold and rain all day???
No, this is the last one for me!
 
This whole concept is what basically (couple other factors but this is the biggest one) ruined baseball for me. As a kid I loved baseball and was naturally good at it. But there came a time where I needed to step away from actual games and competition to focus on building my skills. Baseball in the spring playing for the school was the biggest deal. Then summer league. Then fall ball. Then indoor winter training. I just got so tired of it but felt guilty for wanting to take a break. It makes me sad to look back on
 
I agree with you - I don't find travel-level sports healthy either. My daughter's done a bit of low-grade travel soccer this past year and we're bailing on it. It's a machine that pushes the kids and parents into thinking they're being seen by scouts who will get them a Division 1 scholarship - even average (and lower) players are led to believe this. In reality, it's a bunch of bunk and only the best-of-the-best-of-the-best will see a D1 scholarship. They string the kids along to feed the machine. A few of a top league's best players may get some kind of small-school invite, but in the cases I've seen, your kid ends up compromising their academics to go to a small school just so they can continue playing a small-school sport they're going to stop playing totally in 4 years max. I'd rather they select a school based on their academic and career drivers and play intramural soccer.

Not to mention the expense. Spending a full weekend (Friday afternoon thru Sunday evening) driving 2 states away and spending food and lodging to play another mediocre team that we could find in the next town over gets old real quick.

I totally realize that's only my experience and I don't know how every sport works (though I suspect travel baseball is the worst in that regard). If your kid is a high-performer and lives to play a particular spot, that's one thing, but most parents don't think enough about the end-game. So many kids get burned out by their mid-teens after spending all that time and money and just want to drop out. At that point you hopefully have some good friends and experiences, but it's at the cost of not doing a ton of other things. Plus it's thousands and thousands of dollars spent on pursuits your kid won't make much use of in their adult life.

I think kids should try several sports growing up and only specialize in something in their high school years if they're elite. Otherwise, play and have fun. They'll enjoy sports much more for their whole lives IMO.
 
Both of my boys played competitive soccer and I spent a lot of time traveling with them. It wasn't every week but probably 4-6 times per year between the two. Now that we are empty nesters, I truly miss these trips. Being on the road gave us so much time to just talk about things and spend time together. I always tried to plan something fun that was non-soccer related when we traveled. Whether it was a cool attraction or somewhere special to eat we seemed to always fit it in. We also had a good parent group who all got along so some of the late-night parties were pretty wild.

I can see if you were traveling every weekend, it would get old, but we really looked forward to the trips. Also, both of my boys and I realized that the chances of them playing professionally was slim. They could have played in college but neither of them wanted to go to the schools that wanted them and that was OK because their academic scholarships were far more than the athletic ones they were offered.
 
CodePoet said:
I agree with you - I don't find travel-level sports healthy either. My daughter's done a bit of low-grade travel soccer this past year and we're bailing on it. It's a machine that pushes the kids and parents into thinking they're being seen by scouts who will get them a Division 1 scholarship - even average (and lower) players are led to believe this. In reality, it's a bunch of bunk and only the best-of-the-best-of-the-best will see a D1 scholarship. They string the kids along to feed the machine. A few of a top league's best players may get some kind of small-school invite, but in the cases I've seen, your kid ends up compromising their academics to go to a small school just so they can continue playing a small-school sport they're going to stop playing totally in 4 years max. I'd rather they select a school based on their academic and career drivers and play intramural soccer.

Not to mention the expense. Spending a full weekend (Friday afternoon thru Sunday evening) driving 2 states away and spending food and lodging to play another mediocre team that we could find in the next town over gets old real quick.

I totally realize that's only my experience and I don't know how every sport works (though I suspect travel baseball is the worst in that regard). If your kid is a high-performer and lives to play a particular spot, that's one thing, but most parents don't think enough about the end-game. So many kids get burned out by their mid-teens after spending all that time and money and just want to drop out. At that point you hopefully have some good friends and experiences, but it's at the cost of not doing a ton of other things. Plus it's thousands and thousands of dollars spent on pursuits your kid won't make much use of in their adult life.

I think kids should try several sports growing up and only specialize in something in their high school years if they're elite. Otherwise, play and have fun. They'll enjoy sports much more for their whole lives IMO.
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Spot on. And yes, having done kids travel ball for both, soccer is bad but baseball is just horrible.
 
My girlfriends' grandkids and family have gotten caught up in this world. The 15 year old girl really wants to quit but has gotten a couple lower level offers and says she'll keep playing if she can get a D1 offer. She's good, but she doesn't stand out that much when I've watched her - my guess is that anyone telling her about top-level offers is just playing on her desires, and maybe more, playing her parents.

Otherwise, yea... 5 hour travel for weekends where they play multiple games, etc. My gf will go sometimes, but not just to one game... it's gotta be every one. I get it, but enough is enough. One time we almost went all the way from Denver to Phoenix to watch - I love sports but who can sit through 5 games in two days, just to "be there for her." If I'm going that far, it's for a vacation and sure, we can go to one of the games and support her. Another time we actually left a music festival that we'd spent a bunch of money on, drove for an hour, just to see about half a game, and then went back to the festival. Seriously?
 
I'll give the grumpy old man answer. I was born in 1970 back when your parents didn't have much to do with you. They had no concept of driving us around anywhere to participate in anything considered entertainment.

The most I got was "go outside and play and be home when the streetlights come on"

The parental equivalent of "piss-off"
 
ipressthebutton said:
Both of my boys played competitive soccer and I spent a lot of time traveling with them. It wasn't every week but probably 4-6 times per year between the two. Now that we are empty nesters, I truly miss these trips. Being on the road gave us so much time to just talk about things and spend time together. I always tried to plan something fun that was non-soccer related when we traveled. Whether it was a cool attraction or somewhere special to eat we seemed to always fit it in. We also had a good parent group who all got along so some of the late-night parties were pretty wild.

I can see if you were traveling every weekend, it would get old, but we really looked forward to the trips. Also, both of my boys and I realized that the chances of them playing professionally was slim. They could have played in college but neither of them wanted to go to the schools that wanted them and that was OK because their academic scholarships were far more than the athletic ones they were offered.
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That's great and it sounds like you made the best of it! For sure, the time spent together is the best thing.
 
Very few words in the English language elicit a stronger response from parents than when you pair “your child” and “potential”.
Travel sports are a business, a lucrative one.
(Travel hockey Dad here)
 
AndyOrr said:
Very few words in the English language elicit a stronger response from parents than when you pair “your child” and “potential”.
Travel sports are a business, a lucrative one.
(Travel hockey Dad here)
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Very lucrative. It'll only get more lucrative in the US with the NIL money for college athletes which is now available.
 
I could write a book on the current insanity of youth travel/select/club baseball. Parents have straight up ruined it. I coached my son for 10 years in youth baseball, served on the local association board and it was one of the best things I have ever done. I did get sucked in a bit to the whole club thing and exposure but tried to stay somewhat sane about it all. It was my son’s dream to play college baseball (not my dream forced on him) and I was happy to support him in any way to achieve that dream. He’s currently a sophomore in college and a starter for his team. It all worked out but there sure was plenty of crazy along the way.

Bottom line, parents are insane (most know absolutely nothing about baseball) and there are PLENTY of people willing to take their money and promise them the world for their kids. 90% of them are full of BS.
 
fcs101 said:
Very lucrative. It'll only get more lucrative in the US with the NIL money for college athletes which is now available.
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Good point. I’ve talked a lot about NIL lately - a good friend is a D1 Athletic Director - but I never thought about the implications for youth sports. You’re right. The increased insanity is practically guaranteed. I may have to start a competitive sports league... 😜
 
Based on what I'm seeing my nephew and his wife go through with their daughter, the whole kid's beauty pageant thing is similar, except the travel tend to be cross-country by air, not just driving to neighboring states. It's a moneymaking scheme perpetuated by the organizers based on hollow promises of future scholarships and potential. And their daughter is no longer just a brat...she's a stuck-up brat.
 
Agree, @Tremonti

We’re expecting our first great-grandchild this year, and for three generations I’ve watched it escalate more every time around. It’s way past beyond reason already, and no end in sight.
 
TG3K said:
Based on what I'm seeing my nephew and his wife go through with their daughter, the whole kid's beauty pageant thing is similar, except the travel tend to be cross-country by air, not just driving to neighboring states. It's a moneymaking scheme perpetuated by the organizers based on hollow promises of future scholarships and potential. And their daughter is no longer just a brat...she's a stuck-up brat.
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In a story too long to get in to here, I was associated with Sid Sussman, the founder of Miss USA, back in the mid-1980’s. Through that association, I was an official in several of the state Miss USA and junior Miss USA pageants. I can tell you, without a doubt, it’s a money making scheme of epic proportion. There’s a reason the former POTUS got involved in the beauty pageant business. (Well, maybe two!😜)

As I said earlier, when you combine “your child” and “potential” parents magically separate from their money. Throw in the “Daddy’s little girl” factor and… epic proportions.
 
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