Running tab for Summer Ball

I see this thread is super old, but I wanted to update it since it's been several years.  This is for Summer 2021.  Two tournaments in Georgia (PG - 6 nights and PBR - 8 nights), another out of town (3 nights) and 3 localish (can drive back and forth).

• Summer team & tournament dues - $1200
• Uniform - $300
• Hotels - $3,110 - (Yes, I price shop and use points)
• Food & Gas - $2,000 (This includes groceries for cooking at the hotel)
• Dog sitters - $1,000 (yep, have 2 dogs that have to be taken care of while we are away)
• Misc. - $500.00 (gate fees, doing stuff while not playing games)
• Total = $8,110 for summer only

Son won't be playing fall ball this fall due to football and school.

@BaseballMOM05 posted:

I see this thread is super old, but I wanted to update it since it's been several years.  This is for Summer 2021.  Two tournaments in Georgia (PG - 6 nights and PBR - 8 nights), another out of town (3 nights) and 3 localish (can drive back and forth).

• Summer team & tournament dues - $1200
• Uniform - $300
• Hotels - $3,110 - (Yes, I price shop and use points)
• Food & Gas - $2,000 (This includes groceries for cooking at the hotel)
• Dog sitters - $1,000 (yep, have 2 dogs that have to be taken care of while we are away)
• Misc. - $500.00 (gate fees, doing stuff while not playing games)
• Total = $8,110 for summer only

Son won't be playing fall ball this fall due to football and school.

Wow.

I've often wondered about the return on investment for many families. Even if you get great scholarship at State U  it may be worth less than what was spent on showcases and travel ball.

@JCG posted:

Wow.

I've often wondered about the return on investment for many families. Even if you get great scholarship at State U  it may be worth less than what was spent on showcases and travel ball.

Looking for ROI can be a waste of time for most players. I got it for two kids. But I looked at the fees as the cost of playing without looking for ROI. A big expense was traveling to watch in 17u baseball and 18u Gold softball. But going to watch is optional.

In both cases the kids would have been accepted academically at their choices. They received more money for academics. Neither one played travel academics in the summer. My son was invited to a gifted summer program at Carnegie Mellon. I guess this would have been travel academics. But we had our priorities straight. He was too busy with travel baseball. 😁

Or you may just kick yourself later on, when your kids are grown and not playing baseball, and wish you had splurged and spent more, because those days you had with them are gone forever!

Also, I will add that this is the first year that we have spent this much money. Son is a HS freshman - will be a rising sophomore this summer.  We waited until he was mentally, physically and emotionally ready to "show" something with a showcase team at these big events. Prior summers/falls have been with local "travel teams" and localish tournaments.  So, we haven't been spending tons of $$$$ up until now.

@ABSORBER posted:

Or you may just kick yourself later on, when your kids are grown and not playing baseball, and wish you had splurged and spent more, because those days you had with them are gone forever!

This is spot on. We've never looked at baseball as an investment. You could easily have them play rec and put the savings into a number of different stocks and make tons of cash to pay for college. We do it because he enjoys playing and we enjoy watching him play.

Can’t put a price on those all day car rides, those long conversations would never happen at home.

@BaseballMOM05 posted:

Also, I will add that this is the first year that we have spent this much money. Son is a HS freshman - will be a rising sophomore this summer.  We waited until he was mentally, physically and emotionally ready to "show" something with a showcase team at these big events. Prior summers/falls have been with local "travel teams" and localish tournaments.  So, we haven't been spending tons of $$$$ up until now.

As a rising sophmore, unless your son is a super stud, you do not have to spend that kind of money.

JMO

Prior to high school we would spend between $5,000 - $8,000 per year which went towards travel ball tournaments, private instructions, hotels, fees, etc.  Once high school hit (public high school) it rose to about $8,000 - $10,000 per year with at least 70% for public high school (practice packs, summer training, "fundraising", team meals, field maintenance, etc).  Even though it was expensive we viewed it as family time, where the entire family drove up to 6 hours away for a high school tournament.  Gave us the ideal time to talk with our kids, find out their interests, what is going on with their young lives, playing those stupid car games and such.  These events became our family vacations where we would explore cities and states we normally wouldn't have given second thoughts.  Yes it cost a lot but I would do it all over again even if son didn't continue with baseball.   I probably had more fun then son on those trips, miss those days.

all of these numbers being thrown out there kind of assume you wouldn't be spending any money leisure time and or vacation time if the boy wasn't playing ball. I am not attempting to justify or minimize the amounts just that life costs us money  and virtually nobody is sitting home lone and doing northing else if they aren't at a baseball.

I spent way to much, didn't always have a great plan, allowed him to travel as guest player to often....I have very few regrets, maybe none. I would have just bought a boat, played more golf, gone to waste money at MLB park or whatever. Now the both boys are in college (one still playing) and I have a boat, I play to much golf and I wish I could go back to Fort Myers this October and watch them play again.

I am enjoying the ride and I calculate if we went on non-sports related travel vacations the costs would be a push. I can trick myself into believing the beach in Ft. Myers is the shore of Bora Bora, the High Mueseum of Art is the Louvre, etc.

I'm not going to complain about how much I'll spend this year or next, or have for the last 21 years, because in 2 years I'll wish that I was on the road again with someone.  Going to college games is fun, but it's not the same as a trip with your high school player.

The big problem is that people first coming to this site think that they have to spend that money to get a scholarship.

Does the player have a rating from a reliable company,  a ranking or was he told (like everyone else) that he definetly has qualities to get him into a P5 program.  Is the travel organization putting him in their A team or their other teams?

These are the questions family should discuss.

And IMO it really isnt anyones' business what you spend or dont spend. Everyone seems to throw out those numbers, but very rarely mention whether their D1 player got any more than 25%

Over the course of 10 travel ball summers I spent about 40K all expenses included. Some of those summers included 2 of my kids. I coached my youngest son all of those seasons and my middle son some of them - and I did that for many reasons, not the least of which was to control the cost. Me and our other coaches never took a fee and we were smart about the travel. My ROI was about 15K of baseball money, 5K in academic money, and the pride of watching my youngest son claim a national Championship.  But what you can’t calculate is what it did for my relationships with my boys. I went thru a very acrimonious divorce in 2010 and the time I spent coaching my kids then has paid huge dividends now - especially since all the false narrative has been exposed over time. When times were the worst baseball was the bond that kept me tied to my boys and without that connection things could have turned out differently. All said, it was the best 40K I have ever spent in my life and I wish I could do it again!

If you have the money spend it as you wish. The problem is some people believe they can purchase talent by getting their kid on an expensive travel team.

I know a dad who left no dollar unspent in search of developing his son. The kid peaked in LL. He didn’t even start for a 2A high school. He played some for an academy B team through 17u that was willing to take the money. What was missing was the physical ability to excel. The kid sat on a mediocre D3 for four years.

The biggest ROI I received was when my daughter (oldest) told me when she got on the bus for her first college away game she flashed back to all the time we spent in the car together to and from travel games.

When my kid was 10 he was invited to be a guest player on a team going to a Triple Crown World Series tournament in Steamboat Springs, CO.  We thought those parents were absolutely nuts.  It took us a couple years, but we came around...

one of my favorite days ever in travel baseball was at the underclass in Ft Myers. I messed up dates and we were there a full day early. just me and 16 year with a semi attitude, he doesn't want to go to beach with the old man, we didn't bring any golf stuff...so find a little scoter rental place in Ft Myers, right on the main drag in town that will rent to a 16 yr old with lic and adult...so off we go. Get our rentals (think dumb and dumber here folks) and decide to make our trek to Sandoval Island. Items not known or not well thought at the time.

- the main road from Ft Myers to island is 4 lanes, with trucks etc.

- Helmets could have been a good idea.

- the bridge to the island is really high and windy on a scooter.

- Trucks are kind disturbing when they blow past you at 50 MPH and you on a scooter, on a bridge, with a 16 yr old who has had his lic for about 4 months.

- his mother is 100% going to kill me when we get home.

We ended up driving close to 100 miles that day on the those scooters, my butt hurt something fierce. Had lunch at little crab bar on the island. I think we drove virtually every road on the island from the light house to the golf course. We did the nature preserve roads twice...was one of the great for father son time. I sent his mom a pic of him on his scooter and the immediate response? Where is his helmet...she wasn't laughing! LOL good times.

Just a reminder, the D1 council has yet to extend the dead period past May 31 for all sports.   

Although the committe has recommended that it ends on the the 31st.  Or it may just transition to a quiet period at first. Might be different for all sports.

However, D1 programs are scheduling camps beginning in June.

Edit Make sure that you know who will be watching.

My son played on a travel team that literally the goal was to see how little we could spend. Parents put in $100 a year, town sponsors donated another $600. We did one overnight trip a year, kids got two jerseys and played tournaments in and around Des Moines.

At the end of the season, kids visited each of the sponsors in person to thank them for their support. In the last year, one sponsor (an auto body shop) donated the entire $600 because he appreciated the kids coming in to see him and because the parents hit a lot of deer on the way to and from games.

The coaches, all dads, taught our boys the importance of giving back to those who give to you, the importance of hard work and how to play baseball. It was an amazing experience. He played with a bigger travel team for a couple of years in high school, but we probably spent less than $3,000 a year.