do travel team players parents have jobs

Dibs...

Usually self-employed people or people who simply schedule their summer vacations to enjoy their sons/daughters in summer tournaments!

Some of us just elect to enjoy the games - and go bankrupt.

Full time university faculty. 3 months off in the summer. Weekends free. Some would say we don't have jobs

It certainly would seem like no one has time to work. My son's team played every night last week and 4 games this weekend at a tournament 100 miles from home. Semi finals Monday night and hopefully championship game Tuesday night....

Fire Lieutenant who works alot of shifts for the skiing or basketball parents during the winter months. Swap of tours works well when combined with vacation time. Games are vacation......Especially with two boys playing in different age groups. Will have to go and reintroduce myself to my wife and daughter on Tuesday. We've been on the road since June 29.

Before the summer between my son's HS Junior and Senior season I went to my boss and explained that this seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime experience and could I take a lot of time off to follow this? I had saved up a lot of vacation time. His answer? "If I were you I'd do it!" He has kids too. Thats the kind of boss you love to have.

For the last several years, our vacations have revolved around baseball...we have a younger son too (12) whose team is pretty successful. I'm lucky to have a wife who enjoys it as much as me. We don't take much other time off from work...and the last 6 months at work I've really paid them back, so I'm not feeling guilty either.

A friend of ours summed it up best to my wife a year or so ago...this friend said, "just think about when your son is 30/40/50 and how he'll remember the summer he and his dad travelled the country playing and watching baseball...how much better can it get?" That kind of sums it up. Wouldn't wanted to have missed any of it!

As a business owner of over 20 years I come and go as I please but I remain responsible to 40 employees and two partners. I’m not sure how you classify my employment. I guess I fall into one of two categories. I either work all the time or never work. Most would say the latter. There are only a few times I can’t find time to watch a ballgame or practice but it hasn’t always been that way. The first five years I would spend 15-20 hour a day working to establish my business.
As a business owner I have seen a big change over the years from when I first started. Today’s businesses do what they can to accommodate their employees. I offer flex schedules so parents can adjust their work schedule to their families needs. I allow compensatory time off for overtime worked and we allow time off without pay for non-emergency personal reasons.
My wife is a legal secretary and she juggled her schedule to match our son’s college schedule. She would plan the whole year in advance to maximize her vacation. Toward the end of the season she would run out of vacation and would take time off without pay. It takes money to fund the player (and the parents) that are involved in travel baseball and it usually takes a job (or two) to provide the funds. It’s a real challenge for most!
Fungo

Fungo, I think you need to add a nurse to your employees and I've got a resume for ya!

Do the college coaches ask the same of the summer team coaches?

Many parents of baseball players who are on travel teams do work. However, it's all in how you set your priorities. My wife and I are nearing retirement so we have plenty of leave saved up and we have excellent track records with our jobs. We also have employers who are family oriented and allow us to take our leave as we see fit. We have found that is you are a good employee, many employers will give you wide latitude in scheduling your leave.

When our son was in high school, my wife's boss would often ask her which days during "this week" would our son be having a game and he would schedule the staff meeting accordingly. He wanted to assure that she would be at the meeting. Now that's what you call an employer who is sensitive to the needs of their employees. As a result, we can count on one hand the number of times we have missed one of his games since he started playing T-ball through high school.

Work overtime and take it when my sons are playing. Save all my vacation and holidays and use them to see them play. Get off work early on Friday and play all weekend and then drive back late on Sunday. And then get up bright and early on Monday morning for work. Get a job that allows you to go in early and get off early so you can be at the games. Get a job that allows you to work your own hours. Start your own business. Etc Etc Etc. You sacrifice for your kids and yourself. You do whatever it takes to be a part of the most special time in your kids life and yours as well in my opinion. This is what many parents do and I think its awesome that they have made the choice to be there and be around it.

Hubby is a government employee ... that 'bout 'splains it for us

Same situation here, FutureBack.Mom.

HEY FBM,

I resemble that remark!

I am a nurse who works Monday thru Wednesday. Then travel Thurs - Sun. It's about got me beat - but wouldn't give it up for the world. My son will be a HS junior next year.

My neighbors just love my front yard! My back yard...forgetaboutit. I'll get use to the jungle noises.

Bullwinkle is self employeed, but I have noticed the higher up the baseball ladder Bullwinkle Jr goes, the fewer games I can attend. It drives me nuts, thank the Lord for stats, internet radio, and game tracker.

College coaches and MLB scouts are worried about whether someone else is gainfully employed???

Work?...Work?...We don't need no stinking work! We'll work AFTER.

Teacher ~ so, have summers and weekends free for baseball. Even able to make varsity games during the spring. Agree with observer 44 and Coach May, you do what you have to in order to enjoy this special time, because it goes by all too fast!!

I live on the left coast but work right coast hours I am home every day by 3:30. This allows me lots of time for my kids, baseball, and my wife's horses. But they both leave me broke!

Driver carries no cash! He is married and has kids.

First I must applaud all of the parents that took the time to respond to this post. The responses were, I believe, much more genuine than the original question. While it seems really unlikely that a professional, sensible group of college coaches and MLB scouts would take the time to contemplate the employment status of the parents of the players it did, however, give me pause.

Maybe the coaches and scouts should consider something else. If you think we, the parents, put in a lot of time watching our sons play imagine how much time we invest in hitting fly balls/grounders, throwing BP, playing catch (yeah, as in catcher) and long toss. Don't even consider the baseball games we go to that his buddies are playing in.

Maybe the coaches and scouts are unaware of the incredible number of miles that some of these parents are willing to travel. It is not unheard of for a parent(s) to leave work as early as possible during the work week to travel hundreds of miles to catch a game or two and still be back at work ON TIME the next morning. My son is playing in an IBC tournament in Clearwater this week. There are coaches and parents who are traveling back and forth everyday from Orlando, Venice/Port Charlotte and Sarasota to the games. These people are going to work, taking care of business, managing things on the home front and still are on the bench or in the stands for every game. Still others are working on laptops or Blackberrys during the week and everyone, it seems, is working the cell phones.

Maybe the coaches and scouts are simply unaware of the sacrifices that a parent is willing to make so they can watch their sons play the game! How many parents could have a better paying job but NOT have such a flexible schedule? How many parents, after using up paid vacation days take days off with no pay just to travel to games?

Maybe the coaches and scouts don't realize the work we put in to make the jobs of the coaches that much easier.

Maybe the coaches and scouts don't remember the time their parents dedicated to their own baseball careers.

Admittedly, I was annoyed by the original post from dibble. For anyone to infer that the efforts and intentions of baseball parents is anything less than noble fires me up. These moments of youth that we are so fortunate to be able to share with our children are, without question, once in a lifetime opportunities.

Please explain how Dibble inferred "that the efforts and intentions of baseball parents is anything less than noble". I honestly don't see it. What are you fired up about?

Dibbs opened up a good discussion thats all. I dont think scouts or coaches look down on parents that get envolved in their kids baseball. I think they are glad to see it. I know as a coach I am. I think it is awesome that parents sacrifice so their kids can play baseball at a higher level at a younger age.

This family just makes it a priority and schedules time-off around the baseball schedule!

I started my own company three years ago when my son was a junior. While it wasn't the only reason, having the flexibility to be at as many of his games as possible was definitely a contributing factor. Miss the steady paycheck, the bonuses and the benefits, but have no regrets. This time will be over way too soon for me.

My supervisors and managers over the years have all been very flexible about time off for baseball. I was told that as long as I stayed on top of my projects and was available by phone or pager in case of an emergency I could take off for all of the games. Vacations the last four years were spent traveling to tournaments. I love technology!!!

And better yet...as of this year, my company just added an additional week's vacation for all employees with 15+ years of service!!!