The boys who love the game will have no problem playing travel and the extra time it takes. And I'm not talking about the kids under 12. That's a whole separate deal. Our lives revolved around baseball for many, many years. For the most part, my son has enjoyed it all. He's talked about not having any vacations other than on baseball trips, but he has told me it's what it takes to get to the next level and it's been a sacrifice he's willing to make. Not that it was much of a sacrifice for him as he loved being out there. The only time I saw him even slightly bummed about something was on Christmas break his junior year of HS. We went to the PG World Showcase down in Ft. Myers and he really wanted to be home. It was up to him whether he went or not and he made the decision to go because he understood it may help him with his desire to play in college. Other than that, he has a lot of fond memories growing up playing baseball.
I think part of what he does to cope with all the baseball he plays is very few of his close friends are baseball players. Don't get me wrong, he loves his teammates and he has some baseball friends that will be his friends for life. But his core group of people he hangs out with when he comes home are not baseball guys. I think that is his way to kind of get away from it all. I'm not sure if he will admit to that. He'll just say that these are the guys he's hung out with since kindergarten. I'm fine with it as he still LOVES to play. Still wants to make it to the next level. And he is a junior in college.