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Reply to "Travel Ball - Good and Bad......."

I am not acquainted with the Canadian system of youth play. In the US system there are small diamond leagues such as Little League, etc.

There are boys who are physically maturing and so have better eye hand coordination and strength than their prepubescent peers.

There are those who believe that these more mature kids who are pitching in the 70's and whacking the ball out of the park while competing on the small diamonds are the next coming of The Babe. I am not one of them.

In the US, kids usually advance to the full sized diamond at age 13 but there are leagues that use the intermediate (80'/54') for age 13/14.

Thus my position on travel before reaching the full sized diamond. Until a player can show that he can compete successfully on the full sized diamond, travel is not relevent to his develoment. There is usually one year on the full sized diamond before HS tryouts. My contention is that a rec player can close the gap with a travel player in that year assuming the innate attributes are comparable.

Let me give you a for instance from here in the Guadalajara area. A 12 year old pretty good pitcher playing LL, Inc. was asked by a 13/14 manager to fill in on his team during a tournament and pitch. The boy asked for my help on pick off moves, pitching from the set position and balks.

After a 30 to 45 minute clinic, the next day he went to the tournament and pitched 3 successful innings.

Skills are easily learned and perfected by a playere with the innate ability. Of course, he must be able and willing to learn, and the biggie, a willingness to change things that he has been successful with in munchkin ball.

There are many kids who would not be able to play ball at age 10 on the full sized diamond. The small diamond allows weaker/younger players to learn the game. The reduced sized diamonds allow for a crisper game.

It sounds as though your system has the culling process at an earlier age than in the US. In the US, the first major step is the ability to compete on the full sized diamond and the second major step is making the HS team. HS ball is still strong here but travel will soon be more important in advancing a player's career.

So while your players move on at age 12, the US kids do so at 13. I am getting the message that HS ball is not as important as it is in the US but that too is changing with more and more select teams for 15 and older.

Is one system better than another? Probably not as the funnel narrows. Once you get to Division I university baseball, everyone on the team has great innate ability. The mental game and passion is what makes the diffeence. Not so at the HS level.

Your draw is from a wider area than most teams in the US and so I can believe that all players at all levels have great innate ability. There are just less such teams. And if they are all playing on the full sized diamond compete successfully, then your position makes sense to me. Our points of reference are merely different.
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