mjd-dad posted:1) How to maintain a proper balance? - my son who has always played sports for the pure joy of it and for the spirit of the competition - did not care what sport he was playing as long as he felt he is competitive. I know if we push to much - too hard on one sport, he will burn out or eventually resist it.
You shouldn't push at all - he should be pulling. Let it come from your son. Does he want more training? Does he have goals for high school? You can certainly present him with ideas ("If you don't train, you may be behind other kids"), but then see what he says.
2) How to know when it is time to move on from his current travel team? - if we leave the current program, our son will miss his friends, I will miss my adult friends. The current program is small while being regionally competitive, conveniently local, and nicely affordable. But, we also know staying with his current team will stunt his individual development.
What does your son want? Our son was on a local travel team with friends from age 11-12; we were happy and enjoyed the friendships, but HE wanted to move on to something more competitive, with coaches who knew what they were talking about and kids who were doing the extra training he was doing. Again, you can give your son options, but then see what he says.
3) What does it really mean to "seek out the best competition" and "play for the best team you can play on" ? - how should we help our son decide to either join a recognized 13u team with half the roster in my son's grad year and is at a PG tournament every other weekend ... OR join a local 14u team with the roster of all older kids but may not be as successful or may not travel as far to seek out the best competition in their age group?
As everyone has already said, he has to play with his grade level, regardless of how old the kids are. If he's not competitive at his grade level, he's going to have problems in high school. You sound afraid of this, but this is the clearest way to explain it to him, because it will happen next year. Join a team where he is not the best on the team (so that he has motivation to improve), but where he will get playing time. Ask specifically about how playing time is done. Hopefully where they have winter workouts, and maybe some practices, with decent coaching. This can be tricky - we found the "politics" on travel teams to be way more intense than anything we experienced at the high school.
You don't have to travel far to face good competition - there are decent teams in most states, with fairly local tournaments to match. Only "need" to travel out of state if your team is hammering all of the other local teams. PG is meaningless at this age.
Wanted also to add to what 3&2 said aout when (at what age) should my son attend his first PG Showcase?At the age where he starts to show recruitable measureables. Pitching velocity over 85 mph, Exit Velocity off the tee over 90 mph, throwing across the infield over 80 mph (maybe over 85) and a 60 time of 7.3 or less... [I'd say 7.0 or less] Any of those and preferably a combination of some of those would warrant a PG Showcase. For most kids that is during their Junior or Senior years of high school. Prior to that it is a complete & total waste of money.
Completely agree with this. Remember that if you do a PG/PBR showcase before he has these numbers, the unimpressive numbers will be posted online forever, until you do another one. Before thinking about a showcase, measure him yourself: easy to get a rough idea of a 60 time on a football field, borrow a radar gun from a high school or travel coach, etc.
