Is travel experience necessary for HS ball?

is this a legit post?

what do you mean by "legit" post?

Is it necessary? no.  Will it help? maybe - depends on coaching and training and development.  Do a quick search under travel ball and you will most likely find what you are looking for. 

Tenreasy,

Welcome to HSBBWeb.  So, like you I was asking myself these questions 15 years ago.  My kids love baseball, they wanted to get better at it and they wanted to play on their high school teams.   Previously, all of them played house ball or recreation baseball as it is known around here.   Travel baseball gives them the repetition and skills development they need to better compete with other kids trying out for their high school teams.  All three of my kids played travel baseball and all three played high school baseball.

I know for a fact our local high school coaches don't care what travel team you play for.   But they do recognize polished talent when they see it.  I started a travel team when my middle son was 9U.   The goal of the team was for everyone of our kids to make their respective high school team when they got to 8th grade and 9th grade.  Our area allows 8th graders to play JV.  Mission accomplished.

I hope that answers your question.  

Can anyone from Illinois chime in and decode this post?  I'm unfamiliar with many of these terms.

Okay, TENREASY, this is how it works in Georgia.

1. Most kids start Travel Ball around age 9 or 10.  This is because they want MORE baseball, and the 2 month recreation baseball at the local county fields are just not enough for some kids.

2. A typical tournament can last Friday night to Sunday night, but usually Saturday and Sunday only. An 11u team will get together in August and play 2-4 tourneys from September to November, one or two of these will be Sunday only tournaments consisting of 2-4 games on Sunday.  Late February to first week in July the team will play 8-12 tournaments, usually ending 4th of July week at some destination tourney like Ripken, Panama City Beach, Cooperstown...etc. The Spring/Summer tournies they typically play 2-4 games a day.  They don't burn through arms because EVERYONE can and will pitch on a team of 10-13 kids at 11u.

3. The rec teams will play September-November, and then February to May, and if you make the all star team you can go June and July as well.

4. While Travel Baseball isn't necessary to a high school coach the coach can see who has played more and at a higher level within 5 minutes of the practice.  The travel ball kids in general have been trained by coaches who really know baseball.  They have been taught cuts, ways to throw, and techniques the rec ball coaches just don't know because in general they are volunteer dads who just enjoy the game. For my son's freshman year in high school over 35 9th graders came out.  I would estimate there were 5 who just liked baseball, they didn't make it.  10 that were rec ball players, none of them made it. And 20 that were travel ball players, 9 of them made it.  Now this is at the largest classification in GA, with a very good baseball program, and no 9th grade team.  The 9th graders had to compete against 10th and 11th graders for their spot.

5. I was at part of the summer workout they had so the HS coaches could see the rising 9th graders.  My son was playing deep left when a ball came that way, another kid came out to be a cutoff to second, my son bypassed the cutoff guy and threw a rope to 2B.  The kid shouted out "Hey, you missed your cut off!", coach told my son "Don't listen to that kid, he plays a different kind of baseball. If you can make the throw, which you obviously can, you make the throw."

Might depend where you are at. At my highschool in Texas everyone played for a high profile summer and fall team.

I honestly don't think there was a single kid who made the team that didn't play some level of travel ball.

you don't see 90 mph arms, or get recruited by playing in a rec league. Play the best talent you can play.

The only thing necessary is to be one of the best players out there on tryout day.

If you are out there throwing ropes and hitting bombs, the coach isn't going to care where the skills came from.

Necessary maybe not depending on what kind of HS team you have....helpful...absolutely.  House ball is just that....house ball. and I can tell you that based on our experience, if your son is the most talented kid on his team, he likely won't get better playing in the house league.  If he's not being challenged by the pitching, doesn't face good hitters and doesn't have to make tough plays on hard hit balls, he won't get better.  The numbers you are talking about for the travel team are so minimal that I think I would try it and see what you think.  3 tourneys isn't much of a committment.  My son's 10U season he played in 11 and also played house ball with his friends.....97 total games and he was crushed when the final game of the last tourney got cancelled....he wanted 100 lol.   Back to your original question....at my son's HS, if you can catch a ball and get a hit once in a while you'll be on the team....travel ball isn't a necessity...but like others said, in bigger cities or "baseball states" like TX  or FL, I'd assume it's a different story.  Good luck, whatever you decide.

I think the Southerners on the page would like "House ball defined". Remember we are slow.

My son started playing "travel" ball when he was 10. Main difference between that and Little League (our only other option at the time) was that we started practicing once a week in January or February, increased the practices when basketball ended, and then were done by early July and we quit as a team in eighth grade.

Our coach did a great job of getting the HS HC to practices throughout eighth grade, so when it came time for HS, he knew those kids and what they could do. That didn't get them any favors, but by junior year, roughly seven of the starting nine for our HS varsity team came from that travel team.

I'm guessing there are lots of options for "travel" ball. Pick one that fits with your family's needs and your son's level of passion for the game.

DrUGA Dawg posted:

I think the Southerners on the page would like "House ball defined". Remember we are slow.

House ball in my part of Chicago suburbs is season starts in April with 2 practices a week. Games start in late April through mid June. A total of 12 regular season games last year for 10U; plus an additional 3 playoff games. Still during the season only one game or practice Mon-Fr, and a game or practice on Saturday. 

thanks for all your comments!!!

House Ball = Whatever local community baseball program your player participates in.  Around here in Wisconsin it is Little League or Cal Ripken mainly.  

tenreasy posted:

DrUGA Dawg posted:

I think the Southerners on the page would like "House ball defined". Remember we are slow.

House ball in my part of Chicago suburbs is season starts in April with 2 practices a week. Games start in late April through mid June. A total of 12 regular season games last year for 10U; plus an additional 3 playoff games. Still during the season only one game or practice Mon-Fr, and a game or practice on Saturday. 

thanks for all your comments!!!

Yes, that sounds like what most people refer to as "Rec Ball".  Is there an option for all-stars?

"On a side note one dad had his kid try out for the local town travel team and the he didn't make the team. The dad said his kid was better then most of the travel players and that politics was involved. The judges at the tryout are supposed to be independent . Now the dad is starting his own travel team working with a local batting cage business; he is also recruiting other house players for his team."

I think this is how many travel teams are started.  It worked for me and I had a blast.  Once your son reaches 14 or 15 you will want to back out and get paid coaches.  Enjoy it while you can.    

I agree 100% with why a lot of travel teams get started due to daddy ball. One of the best things you can do is to get your son away from that.

No. I would ask how prevalent travel ball  is in your area and how much of those travel kids play HS ball? In Atlanta, travel isn't mandatory to make your HS squad but you def see more travel kids with skills and experience excel in HS ball over let's say, average kids who come from rec ball. Remember not all travel is good baseball, depends on coaching, comp. and focus of team on development vs winning games. My son's HS team had 5 D1 (two drafted) players and several D2s on his team and there were still kids who did not play travel ball on the roster. 

I'm not certain this is the right question. Here's why...

In our geo, there is an organization that brings together local travel teams to play when the county fields are open (April 1 to Oct 31). Teams sign up, are allocated practice time on the county fields, and games are scheduled with umpires. It's a system that has been working quite well for over 10 years as a means to fairly allocate the scarce resource of county fields (especially true in Fairfax County).  Here's the website: https://www.nvtbl.org/MainPage.asp

Why am I bringing this up? Take a look at the number of 8U to 10U teams: it's probably 3x the number of teams from about 4-5 years ago. Significant growth.

This tells me that more and more parents and their players are opting out of house ball (aka LL or Cal Ripken) and moving towards the travel concept. Thus the population of the youth travel ball world is growing at the expense of house ball. You would think that the talent level (as well as coaching acumen) would shrink as well. I'd guess that to be the case. Who the hell knows?

TL;DR and moral of the story: there are options available where the parents and player can go where the team talent and the competition fits the needs of the player as well as the long term aspirations (in this case, HS ball). The OP needs to come to a decision as to the level of play that will prepare his son for HS tryouts. One thing is absolutely certain: the player will not significantly improve with relatively poor coaching and inferior competition.

Travel Ball isn't required to play High School Varsity.  What is required is a lot of great practice and dedication, learning the proper fundamentals and getting Bigger/Stronger/Faster through strength training once a kid is in 8th or 9th grade.

If a kid doesn't want to put a ton of work in, on their own, on Baseball, he won't be good enough to play HS regardless if he plays Travel.  

Some of it depends on the area of the country you are in...

In Wisconsin there are 4, arguably 5 travel teams that regularly put players into D1 programs. The cheapest of them is $2500 per year, the most expensive is $4200. And that is before travel costs, and not including any extra classes or training sessions.

3 of those 5 teams have B teams or C teams that don't usually put players into D1, and two of them will put you in the "trap" where they tell you that you made the team but you don't find out if you are on the A or B team until after you've put your money down and practiced with the team for 2 months.

If you don't make any of those teams there are a half dozen or more other teams that cost $2200 plus travel costs and mostly put players in D3 and mostly play in tournaments against other D3 bound teams or the dozen additional Daddy Ball and independent teams that still cost $2000 plus.

Depending on where you live, I really don't think the advice to "play for the best team you can" is the best advice in terms of development and getting recruited, if you don't make the top teams.

Tenreasy, fellow Illinoisan here. I don't know any player on my son's high school team who doesn't play travel ball in the summer. Is it a requirement?  No. I don't know about where you live, but house ball ends at about 6th grade where we live and the competition isn't as good.  If you have a vibrant and competitive house league, then it might be a different story...

As others here say, the experience, competition and repetition helps your son develop his skills and be more competitive. If you can afford it, please do it if your son is serious about a high school baseball career. Since baseball is a cut sport, by the time he gets to trying out for varsity, there will likely be serious competition. 

Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss more. Good luck!