So why doesn't anybody get on here and talk about the politics that go on with travel ball? All we hear and see is the bashing of high school coaches but I'm sure the vast majority of us will agree that there are good HS coaches, bad HS coaches and same for travel. So why do we only bash the HS coaches on here?
The obvious answer is that in the summer / fall the players are free to pursue whatever team they want to play (or afford) but I believe it goes deepr than this. People are brought up on the idea they can switch to whatever team they want when it's proven they are not good enough for a certain team. They get the idea to solve their problems to just move on instead of learning to fight through adversity and just get better. Then they get to high school and it's the first true test of "Am I good enough to play here" and when Johnny Super Star finds out he was a big fish in a very small pond he (or better yet his dad) can't handle it. So instead of striving to get better and proving he belongs on the field it's easier to get on a computer like this and bash a guy who is getting paid very little to do a job to the best of his ability.
Obviously we need travel / fall ball because of recruiting purposes. I realize that high school is not a great place to be seen and recruited but there are so many other lessons to learn about baseball and life in general that are being missed. What's wrong with competing for a job? Won't these same kids who move team to team have to compete when they become adults for a job?
I'm not here to bash travel nor am I here to say that HS is the greatest thing since sliced bread for baseball. I'm here to defend the concept that you learn to fight and improve instead of gripe, complain and become a "victim" because the world is a bad place. Specifically talking about this poster he's complaining about his son not playing but the team is winning and successful. So shouldn't that lead someone to think that there are good players already on the field and maybe his son isn't as good as they are. The solution would be to work harder instead of complain to a bunch of people who cannot do a single solitary thing to help him. The poster says people tell him his son is the best one in that area as justification for him to play more on a team that's already winning. But why isn't the first thought here - what are your credentials for making that statement? Is this someone who knows how to evaluate talent, college coach, pro scout, a good local coach at some level or is this just some guy who likes baseball and is being nice by paying a compliment?
Come on people you got to be more productive with the odds you are facing. Yes there are kids on the bench who probably should play more but what is complaining going to get you? It won't get you in the lineup and if it does then you're still shortchanging yourself into false confidence that leads you to not getting better. So at the end of the day you're still not getting better. When you face being put on the bench because you're truly not good enough or because your dad isn't booster club president then get to work. Get to work on fielding, throwing, hitting, knowing the game, running, strength, being a great team mate, being a competitor and a whole bunch of other things. But instead we get people who get on here and bash a guy who's probably (but could be) not that bad. Then we get people who don't agree with the poster but comment with things that trivialize HS baseball. Come on people we are better than this.
This is a link that another AD in our county sent to all the ADs in our district. It's a little off topic on the subject at hand but you can get some great life lessons and life direction in regards to this topic. Just wanted to share this with everyone.