advice on upcoming season

To explain, our LL experience was much the same, dad's volunteering and not knowing much about the game other than what they saw on TV.

We then moved to a local travel team that had a light fall schedule, some Sunday only tourneys in the fall because kids were playing basketball etc, maybe 1 workout a week indoors over winter, then 3 practices a week during spring/summer.  This is the type of program I am thinking would be the stepping stone from LL to what we are in now.

Our previous Travel ball team was AA/AAA and we got to experience the full year travel ball at a slower pace than the all out version we are experiencing now.  We are at an academy program now, it's pretty much a dynasty in the South, and it's beyond intense...but my kid loves all the practices and usually does 5 home workouts a week, and has asked the coach if he can hold MORE workouts...*shaking my head*...my kid loves it, he is thriving and he is learning proper fundamentals, so as long as he is happy I am happy....I just don't think either of us would have been so gun-ho going from LL to this type of travel ball environment straight away, that was my point to the OP, because from his post I would suspect the team he is considering is much like the program we are in now.

Looking back, as some have said already, where your son plays now means very little in his skills development. What really matters is how much fun he is having. PO jr's path was a bit different, didn't play TB until 13 year old and even then, limited play. He played other sports. A lot of his buddies that played 24/7 in every tourney available are now finished. Some never played in HS. You better love the game if you are lucky enough to play in college. Baseball becomes a full time job. My son still talks about his LL days and how much fun it was compared to now. Three LL guys out of thirteen still play baseball, 1 DI, 1 DII(last year champions) & 1 JC guy. One other kid plays football for the #2 team in the country, Go Ducks. All four of those kids didn't play TB full time. Relax, enjoy the game as it all goes by so fast.

I hesitantly disagree with the posters who claim where your son plays mean little to his future.  IMO, the three main factors (outside of talent) are coaching, practice, and competition.  If you can get those in LL, then by all means stick with it.  But the reality is that it is difficult to get in your average LL (or Rec ball) organization.  They generally don't have the resources to provide it. 

While there are some really bad travel teams out there, many aim to provide the coaching, practice, and competition at various levels.  They can pick their players.  Pick their coaches/trainers.  Pick who the play against.  And basically design a program to get the most out of the players.   

Now travel doesn't automatically equal future success. Nor does LL equal failure.   There are many bad travel programs and players who weed out.  Likewise there are LL studs who advance.  The bottom line is you need to find that level of coaching, practicing and competition which suits your kid.  Good luck.      

My boys are currently playing travel ball at 10 and 13. Moved on from LL to find better coaching and skill development since both of their passion is baseball. I will say finding the right coaching does take some time to find the right fit! Our LL did not offer that level of coaching or competition. Since both want to play at the next level (HS), I felt it worth the investment to make the move to travel ball. If the competition and skill development was at LL, we would have stayed. Had some great experiences at LL, but travel is very enjoyable as well.

Playing travel before the big field will not make your son better. Talent is talent and hard work is hard work regardless of the league you play in especially at a young age. People that play travel at young ages thinking that it is advantages to their kids development IMO are wasting their money. Now if you are doing it because your son gets more enjoyment out of it, okay.

 I will echo these two statements.  It is different for every kid.  Lefthook played one season of travel ball(12u).  We figured out it was pretty much a money grab for the local "baseball guru" and we were out.  He did not play again until HS, a 16u team.  He did jump in here and there to help a team out for a weekend, but was never a regular roster player.  We spent a lot of time talking baseball, playing catch, taking BP and working on fly balls.  He made to JUCO without going the expensive and extensive small field daddy travel ball.  While that journey is not for everyone, when I talk to the parents of young kids and they ask about it, I recommend that that find a local, reputable private Coach to work with and spend the money there, unless they have some disposable income and just want to do travel ball inflate their kids resume.

I agree with those that say let them have fun, play other sports if the choose.  But, which ever direction they go, it is no big deal, no contracts to earn, no money to be made.....hopefully they are doing it for the love and passion for the game

Talent is developed thru good coaching and repetition. Where you find that coaching depends on what your local area provides. For us that coaching exists in travel ball. I will take my chances on developing my boys before the big field. For now they love baseball- cannot get enough of it. I will support them. Not a waste of money IMO.

I don't think the facts support this.  If you look, you will see that the best HS teams in your area (Mater Dei, JSerra, El Toro, etc) are stocked with kids that grew up playing travel ball.  Kids that started travel ball at 13/14 seem behind the 8 ball.

Because those kids are already very talented. TB at the early ages did not make them better players. Until puberty you don't really know. There are thousands of kids that start early and don't play HS, what about them?

My contention is that getting good coaching and developing good skills early will help in the long run.  Puberty will get you bigger, stronger, faster but won't suddenly make a swing better or a more skilled catcher, etc.  I suppose skills can develop anywhere but I think high level travel ball is an excellent way to go to get this training.

I have to agree with standball on this one. This is more of the very Talented were playing Travel Ball. How many of these Kids TB team mates are still playing?

In agreement here with Smitty. No reason to wait around until 14 and or puberty. Why not gain the skills before? TB is not the only avenue to gain the skill and development. 

It is not all or nothing!  The 12 year old KID (remember he is 12 and probably in 6th or maybe 7th grade) has the chance to play for the relatively successful LL or drive 30 minutes further away for each practice to play on a travel club that is relatively unknown in terms of coaching/playing time/etc.  This kid is a few years away from high school ball!  Moreover, the parent mentions that the kid has and does play travel as well, just not for this new slick team that practices at a college facility! 

Those with older kids know that your persepctive changes as you go through the process, and you have the value of hindsight.  Very few of us have the luxury of thinking we did everything perfectly!  My own 2 cents is that you cannot play LL forever and this is the year for this kid.  In our case, as I mentioned, mine was able to follow his dream to help lead his team to the regional finals.  Some coaches hate LL with the rules and dimensions, but it is still baseball.  it isn't as if you are not practicing or developing. 

Our boys made friends on any team or any sport they ever played.  That isn't really the issue.  I think there is a convenience factor here as well everyone has missed -- one hour a day in the car adds up over time.  It means one hour more of driving but also one hour less of something else (homework, other sports, downtime, etc.).  We had great advice (not from this site as we didn't find this site until recently) that we had competitive baseball locally and we did not need to drive far to get our second son to a different travel team when he was younger. 

Indeed, LL does not have a monopoly on magical baseball memories, but if you have not ever been to Williamsport or Bristol or any other LL serious tournament, it really is once in a lifetime. 

My son is a catcher, did not start catching until 13 yrs old. Why do you think you see a lot of players switch to positions they never or barely played when they get into HS, college and pro ball?

They can play different positions because they are good athletes and good ball players.  Is this meant to refute my contention that good early training will help in the long run?  We can agree to disagree on this one.

Though 8th grade my son only played baseball from March through August. He played other sports in the fall and winter. In high school and understanding what the future could bring baseball became a year round effort despite playing two additional sports freshman year and a second varsity sport through high school. I wouldn't have wanted him to focus on one sport.

Being on an academy team at age twelve does not drive the passion and guarantee success. I saw plenty of kids play academy travel ball through 14u fail in high school, much less play college ball. The drive comes from within, not where the kid plays.

A friend of mine has a son that was in the same situation as you are. Except that he thinks his kid is the next coming of Derek Jeter, Mike Trout and Bryce Harper put together. His son played on a competitive (way to serious) U11 team. The coach said that no one would be allowed to play rec when they moved up to U12. After many cold beverages I convinced him to let his son play his last year of rec. The all star team made it to the Southeast regional and his kid was on Sports Center top ten. Priceless!!! 

JMO does not matter where your son plays U12. Just make sure he is having fun! My son never played for an academy team and played Rec in spring and travel lite daddy ball in the fall till he was 15. He just signed with a top 5 college team. 

OK I just read through the  comments one more time  Thank you everyone for your advice.   We are getting close to do or die time in our decision.   I have been dropping hints and trying to nudge him back to little league.  Everything dropped off from the travel team during the holiday and with basketball season.    Practice starts up next week though and he will get a taste of the routine and see what its like.   I don't know any of the kids or their parents so its very unknown situation for both of us( his friend that he did know on the team moved away) but its what he still wants to do.  Little League tryouts are in two weeks so depending on how next week goes will either tell them to take him off the list or we go back.  I am going to chat up the coaches and figure out the philosophy etc, that was great advice.  I am confident though that the coaching will be good from what I saw at the one practice he attended as a kind of tryout.   The main coach is the grandson of one of the top 5 college coaches of all time and currently is an assistant for another future no doubt college hall of fame coach.  How much time we will get with him once the college season gets rolling will be interesting so we shall see.   Oh and to add to the confusion another travel team has popped up that we have played with before and he knows most of the kids on the team is being quite persistent in trying to get us to play with them this spring,  a good compromise as many of the kids play little league but spread around the 2 or 3 very strong programs in our district.  

Rookie,

Sounds like you have options which is good. I would suggest letting him make the decision and give him the facts as you know it about the team options.. Ie. Pro's and Con's of each of them. It's OK to walk into a team not knowing anyone. We have done it a few times. Never going to find the perfect fit with a group of 11 families!

As you mentioned- ask a lot of questions to coaching staff and other parents.

I believe its all about finding the right coaching fit. By that I mean: style,knowledge of baseball fundamentals,practice time, how they teach the game, etc. 

Good luck with your decision. In the end make sure to have fun along the way!

The main coach is the grandson of one of the top 5 college coaches of all time and currently is an assistant for another future no doubt college hall of fame coach. 

This means nothing. One of my son's basketball coaches was the son of one of the most heralded basketball coaches in the country. He was a stud basketball player. He was a terrible coach and an arse.