cabbagedad posted:3and2Fastball posted:There is a ton of adversity in Travel Ball. Especially for those who are striving to be on the top teams. The competition is fierce just to make a team and get playing time, let alone get invited to Area Codes or Perfect Game Nationals. And when you face the best competition, struggle is inevitable.
To say that kids skip high school ball to "avoid adversity" is just a hopelessly out of touch statement.
Having been immersed deeply in both over the last 15 years... I don't discount your point but the problem that people are alluding to is that once you make a travel ball team, you are often assured X amount of playing time, earned or not. As with HS, there are certainly varying degrees. But the general principals are fairly common... pay for travel ball, play x amount of innings (once you make the squad). Make the HS team, work to earn playing time.
I don't doubt this is the case, but I have never experienced it. Travel ball in 3 states and multiple teams and leagues. You always see paying kids not playing much. You lose your spot the same as in high school ball except the competition is naturally better. On average the 6-10 batters on a decent travel team are the top batters on their high school team.