HS travel ball is a great topic, and doesn't get discussed much here. There are different ways to run a HS-age travel ball team, and it's important to set your expectations before you sign on.
- coach can have the policy that everyone plays equally, either in the name of development for all, or because they had tryouts so they must all be good, or because everyone is paying equally.
- coach can have the policy that some players play all the time, and everyone else rotates the other spots - this is in the name of development or recruitment for those particular players (or because it's the coach's son)
- coach can run it like a HS team, where the best 9 play, and everyone else gets spot time. This can also be in the name of recruitment of the better players, or because he wants to win
Regardless of where your son fits in the pecking order, he's going to be affected by the team philosophy. If he's not one of the top players, he may rarely play. Or, if he is one of the top players, he may get frustrated at losing because of errors by other players if they rotate evenly. Or, his arm might be over-used. Or, (fill in the blank)... We saw many kids drop out of travel teams for one of these reasons, and when that happens, the rest of the team is also affected.