I am truly too poor for travel baseball. We cut corners in every way possible. Normally we camp unless I can get a $40 room or something on Priceline. Always eat our own food. A grill is a must. Sometimes though we just being our George Forman. Do you have stores by you that sell their meat ends/scraps from deli? 1.99 a pound around here. I have knives and know how to slice meat!! We also watch sales closely. Got honey turkey oscar Mayer one pound .89 I think cause they were near sell by date. Bought every single one the store had and threw them in the freezer. Get Jimmy John's day old bread for .40 a loaf. The loaf is three standard subs. So our subs we eat on trips probably cost us around a dollar to make. At that price it's eat up! Agree with others water is best. We bring water bottles and fill em up. =Free. If we have a microwave we bring prepared meals from home that can be warmed up. We sometimes bring our electric griddle and make pancakes. Pack the crock pot. Put the ceramic portion right in the cooler and throw the outer shell in the trunk. Plug it in and warm it up. Key is always to have food like subs and fruit you can eat without electricity as well as stuff for back at the campground where you do. And of course cooking in the cast iron over an open fire can't be beat! We can do a four day tournament on less than $200 total expenses. Depends on distance of course. But three nights in a campground are $75 to $90. Gas if we tent camp and take the 30mpg Camry is maybe $40 - $50? Food is maybe $10 a day if that. So let's say $40. So even taking high end for campground and gas that's $180. For the longer trips sometimes it makes sense to pony up the higher gas bill to pull our travel trailer. Then we have all the conveniences of home right there. And unlimited AC cause it's on the campgrounds electricity!! If we had to stay in team hotels we could never ever do this. You have to not be embarrassed easily though to do this when you are not well off. Can't feel obligated to expensive team dinners or nights out at the go carts place that will cost you $50 or more etc. everyone on our team knows we are low budget. Not trying to hide it or pretend to be something we are not. Even at $250 a trip let's say (yes we can do it under $200 but not every time) times 8 trips that's $2,000 plus the $3200 team fees plus just throw in a few hundred for equipment and misc. That's $5500 a year. I know less frugal people are spending twice that. Imagine $10000 a season. It's a shame we have all fallen victim to the scam that is youth baseball now. But it is what it is. And we really have close to a zero percent chance at a scholarship. It's all just for him to enjoy and have memories. I think we are certifiably insane. Even if he did somehow run into a coach who bumped his head or something and offered him a 50% scholarship... we would have to turn it down! Can't combine aid with athletic scholarship and we would get more aid than that! I suppose if he got grades and got academic money... but more likely he is going to play football. Football = free college. And a whole lot of perks. Two more years of this. And finally the expense will be gone. I am burned out and can't wait. Problem is he is not burned out!! Don't want to make him quit with two years left so we will forge ahead. And I suppose the memories will be worth it. We joined a new team for next year and they unlike his old team play all the big tournaments. So someday when the big time 2020 kids (some represented on this site) are in the big leagues he will be able to point at the TV and say - hey I played against him at the WWBA when I was 16... and I guess that is why we do it. But buckle up cause it ain't cheap!
