DAQUE, Just read your public profile. You are obviously a long time veteran of being around the game of baseball, be it a fan, a coach, a parent.
Just thought I would share a little insight into youth baseball. By no means, do I claim to be an expert but the rise of club/travel year round baseball is somewhat new (at least within Arizona). It has always been there in some form or another, but it has grown tremendosuly and exploded in popularity during the last 12 years. It is a fact, just check out the USSSA baseball site and view the thousands of teams in all age divisons, levels, and states...IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND....And there are dozens of other sanctioned youth baseball organizations....Little League does not have the market share it once had back in the day!
To give you an example of how different organized baseball was between my 21yr old and 13 yr old. My older son didn't have the travel/club opportunities that my younger son has and enjoys currently.
They are only 8 years apart....Older one played LL, 15 games a year, fall ball was just getting popular and that was real recreational. You had middle school, and high school. The talented players got noticed out of HS, and offered some summer travel teams with American Legion, etc.....
My younger son started T-ball at 4, when my older son at age 12 went the s****r route.
Younger son went to USSSA World Series 8U Kid Pitch tournament in california. Then played an average of 70 games a year until age 11. Went to Cooperstown 3 years in a row, played in vegas 4 times, played in California 4 times, played in Dominican Republic last year for a week. This past summer, played in Colorado, Omaha, and turned down an invite to play in Florida, and Cooperstown again. LEft Little league when he was in the 2nd grade, and have played exclusively club/travel, about 100-120 games annually - we shut down for 2 mandatory rest cycles that last 6-8 weeks each. Our fall season is short by design to refine and work on the game. The Spring and Summer, our team is coming for you "mentality".
Just recently, he just recieved an invite to play more international baseball for a 14U team. Obviously, a great honor. Guess what, he never has played 60/90 before. Guess what again, the experience he has as a 12U on 50/80, along with some PONY experience playing up 13U on 54/80 has in fact prepared him for the bigger diamond. YEs, he will have to make an adjustment, but his skill set that has been developed over the last 6-7 yrs is what the coaches see. We all know all kids will have to make the adjustment to the bigger field.
Bragging, sure I am, very proud of him, of course. God bless his energy and desire. Glad I can support it, and sacrifice for what my son wants. But the point is my older son didn't have these opportunites, they didn't exist in our area. There weren;t websites and message boards when my older son was going through his little league days. That is how much Club/travel ball has EXPLODED.
Do you think for one moment, that a rec player (and I will use my older son as an example) would fare well showing up only playing 15-20 games a year in a more relaxed, average competitive atmosphere, diamond size aside????
The world has changed, the famous rec player that you may have known 10, 20, 3o yrs ago that was just a great athlete, and could compete for a spot is not the reality today with the type of players coming out of the club side of the business.....Yes, its a business...and I think that your belief system would be ideal, if this was the same sport you grew up with. It has changed on so many levels thanks to the club explosion!
This is true for ALL sports, not just youth baseball....Geez, have you seen what they are doing with 3 yr girls and beauty pageants??? The whole Society has blown up.....At least the baseball moms and dads that support club ball aren;t on that level yet!!!!!