How many games have your sons played?

About 85 for my 18-year-old son this past year -- spring, summer, and fall. I'm guessing about 70 up to age 14. He played fall and spring little league plus All Stars in the summer.

2007: High school 25
Summer/Fall Team: 50
Fall Ball League: 18

He would play more if there was anything else to play during the winter around us.

My kids not in HS yet. I got enough abuse in the pre HS thread when I said how many games he played last year at 12U. Around 100 if you include LL. If you can believe it, I know of kids that played closer to 130 games on 2 travel teams. The heat makes us crazy in the desert.

It's crazy when I think about how much baseball my oldest son has played. We're in suburban Atlanta.

12 and Under: 18 games fall season, 50 game summer season. Total: 60 to 68 games (some missed)

13-14: 18 game fall season, 18 game spring season (middle school), 50 game summer season. Total: 78-86 games (some missed)

15+: 25-30 game fall season (2 teams, HS and travel =- misses some games for each team), 28 game spring season. 60 game summer season. Total 110-118 games.

My son has been pretty active since 8.

8=30
9=45
10=57
11=62
12=63
13=75

During 2007:
High School 20 games
High School Summer League 11 games
Showcase team 5 games
Club Team 5 games

Sub Total: 41 games so far this year

Scheduled for approximately 6-10 more games before the end of the year including a tournament.

He is looking at a maximum of about 55 games.

7 - 16
8 - 16
9 - 40
10 - 40
11 - 50
12 - 60
13 - 60
14 - 82 (too many by 15-20) I can see the effect of fall ball overlapping a fall sport.

My player is now a senior in high school but here is his breakdown since Little League Majors days......

11/12 Majors LL: spring/summer 50, fall 16

13/14 travel ball: spring/summer 60, fall 25

Frosh year: (includes all 3 seasons) 98

Sophomore year: 140

Junior year: 120

Senior year: should end up around 110

I can't remember #, we are from warm weather state but some of your kids have played much more than he ever did, but that was years ago.

The most I do believe was junior year, spring and recruiting summer, 86-90 but as a pitcher it was about innings.

Go Fish
Checkers
Monopoly
Chutes and Ladders
Kerplunk
War
Crazy 8's
UNO
Super Mario
Madden 2007
Parchizzi.........

Good question CD! I would suspect from around 13-18 it was probably around 100/year. When I think about all of that, I kinda wonder what I'm doing with all my time now! It seems like I should have a lot more of it!!

Littlest Papi (9 years old) played 32 in Little League and 13 in fall league.

Middle-sized Papi (14) played 43 in summer league and 16 in fall league.

With fall ball the last few years we've played from mid April to late October (taking August off) Not too bad for Northern IL.

Yes, it is possible to get in games even if you're not from the South. Bum Jr:

17: 102
16: 96
15: 94
14: 85
13: 93
12: 48
11: 36
10: 15
9: 14
8: 12
7: 12
6: 12

My son (21 yrs old now) was a cold weather kid, and most travel teams in our area were just the better players from the community league tryouts...travel was all in-state.

Before age 12: probably about 20-25 games per summer.

Age 12-13: about 40-45 (30+ summer games plus 10-12 in the fall).

HS: about 50-55 (25 spring and 25-30 summer travel).

College: about 65 (40-45 spring games and 20-25 summer)

Now if you want to know how much hockey he played...on the ice 250 to 300 days per year during his pre-teen years...by his choice, of course.

I used to think that # of games was important when my son was younger. For the last two years of high school I didn't. And now that he is in college, they practice more than they play in the Fall. I think all the pitcher's Dads know what I mean. And for those of you who have kids that are pitchers and position players, watch out. Damage to an arm is a cumulative thing. The number of games listed here is both impressive and frightening. Consider the alternative. They can be working out with a trainer and building themselves up instead of playing baseball all the time.

True, I thought same thing. Hey, was young brod safe from the fire situation? Hope so.

brod,

I agree, training is more important than sheer number of games. Quality training -- and quality competition. In my son's case, the number of games got to the 90-100 mark only the past few years. I'm glad he didn't play a fanatical number of games at a younger age. Even now, he is a pitcher so he has time to rest between starts.

To the parents of kids just starting in highschool: Your player needs rest just as much as he needs training. Even in the offseason my kid may push real hard for 3-4 weeks training then back off a week with minimal work. Then push again. The body needs a breather once in awhile. But always throwing!

quote:

Originally posted by brod:
And for those of you who have kids that are pitchers and position players, watch out. Damage to an arm is a cumulative thing.

I totally agree. I am pretty sure my son will be a pitcher...so I have kept him off the mound for the most part.

quote:

Originally posted by brod:
I used to think that # of games was important when my son was younger. For the last two years of high school I didn't. And now that he is in college, they practice more than they play in the Fall. I think all the pitcher's Dads know what I mean. And for those of you who have kids that are pitchers and position players, watch out. Damage to an arm is a cumulative thing. The number of games listed here is both impressive and frightening. Consider the alternative. They can be working out with a trainer and building themselves up instead of playing baseball all the time.

Good posts for pitchers.

Many folks and players don't realize, how intense it becomes past HS. On a 4 day rotation in milb, I am glad mine put in limited innings when he was younger because it is accumulative. Focus should be more on conditioning when younger, tossing more than you pitch to build up the arm, only pitching when it is important. Most pitchers I know who were used very frequently when in youth ball (this includes pitching many innings and two days later into pitch the championship games) had to leave the game by HS, or switch positions, where they became average players because their strength was as pitchers.

quote:

Now if you want to know how much hockey he played...on the ice 250 to 300 days per year during his pre-teen years...by his choice, of course.

MN-MOM,

I hope you built a backyard rink, or that must have cost you a fortune!!!$$$!!!
Travel hockey is BIG BUCKS- Ice rental is $185 for an hour around here.

100+ real games a year, from age 12-21.

HaverDad/Brussels

This year was a pretty typical year....

our 13u team played 65 games (plus 10 fall ball)
our 11u team played 45 games (plus 8 fall ball)
our 8u team played 20 (plus 6 fall ball)

MN-Mom's post was fascinating. I'll bet more top hockey players come out of Minnesota than any other state and that probably pales to the numbers which are produced in Canada. Why is that?

Using conservative numbers from actual data posted in this thread, some kids play at least 30 games per year more than others. In some cases noted, the differential spread is 50 or 60 games. Using 30 as a number as an example differential between a northern player and a southern player, that amounts to 300 games over a 10 year span. To put that in perspective, some kids, before entering 9th grade will have had more game experience than some kids who are entering college. Similarily, the kids they are playing against will have had more experience. bbscout once said that there were kids who had one or two thousand more at bats than other kids and I found that hard to believe. Over time, I can see how that might occur.

What does all this mean? One may want to be very careful about judging your son's future ability by what you see today. I realize this is what scouts do but parents can afford to take a longer term view sometimes. Thus, before deciding that your son just will never be as good as some of those "studs" you just witnessed at the showcase event, please keep in mind that in time he may in fact turn out to be better. Patience is indeed a virtue.

sportsdad&fan,

Travel hockey did cost us thousands per year...probably comparable to today's baseball travel costs. We turned down several opportunities for him to play in overseas tourneys, which would have cost a few thousand at a pop.

CD,

Youth hockey is huge in Minnesota, probably the equivalent of baseball in some warmer states. My son started asking to play organized hockey when he was 4 years old. We said No then, and again when he was 5, and finally signed him up for a team when he was 6. He already knew what we didn't yet, that hockey was NOT a winter sport. It was a winter, spring, summer, and fall sport, and he begged to sign up for the next season as each season was ending. We became a hockey family for about 8 years, the same way that many of our members are baseball families.

have a friend down here whose son plays hockey. If you all think we spend on baseball, it is unbelievable as they MUST travel. They are working on getting him onto a team from up north where he will live with a family and go to HS. Having a hockey team here in south Florida has fueled passion to those who most likely would not have it otherwise. At Panther hockey games, when the season heats up, have more attending than at the Marlins games.

I have often heard for years that lots of talent comes out of FL because we can play 365 days a year. That may be true, more at bats will bring improvement. However, I tend to think a lot has to do with the really good coaching talent and large number of scouts that are found here, very good D1 camps and you will often find former ML players giving instruction and owning facilites where players can get the instruction.

That's just the way I see it, because have seen huge burnnout as well.

Anybody have information on the amount of games girls softball play a year? My daughters are starting to lean towards softball now and I was just curious.

14U- 15 so far -Fall travel ball waiting til spring
13U- 115 Full swing of travel league, 18U league and sub on a sad little B league team
12U- 52 Begining of Travel league
11U- 40 2 leagues, allstar games & tournaments
10U- 20 LL, sub another LL team and Allstar game
9U- 14 LL and Allstar game
8U- 12 LL

Can't wait til spring - he says "I thought I needed a break but I was wrong". He was glad to be off the first weekend but now its a month later and he's driving me nuts!

quote:

tpm quote:
Many folks and players don't realize, how intense it becomes past HS. On a 4 day rotation in milb, I am glad mine put in limited innings when he was younger because it is accumulative.

I feel that intensity after HS is more mental than physical (academics, scheduling, ect) and the pre-college years are for many much more physically intense. More often than not a college coach would cringe at the workloads, games, and ip younger kids do during the coarse of a season from LL through travel teams without conditioning. Yes, there are parents and coaches who watch the "useage" issues, but most don't, and that is why many good players do not take that next step. In my mind intensity is a factor of what the body can handle at that point in the bodies development and that is my basis of saying pre-college is much more physically intense. When a kid is hurt in college or does not make it that far it is not the post HS intensity, rather the intensity of the developing years. A small percentage make it to the college level, a large percentage of bodies burnout or fail to reach potential before they get there. That's intensity

As far as the milb, my son who finished his first year thought that intensity was less than college. Yes he was tired, but it was not the number of innings rather the conditioning that happened between games, his arm was saved, his body was sacrificed.....for the good of his arm. His MILB team had specific inning and pitch count limits and there was no gratis. His legs burned, his core was sore, but his arm was babied..... at least compared to the earlier segments of his life. As a player progresses through the professional ranks those innings will also go up but the body as a whole will be better adapted. That was at least my assessment after watching 1 complete season and I still may be way off base

Since nobody enjoyed my "funny" comment, I'll give the numbers.....

Best guess:
9u - 22
10u - 22
11u - 51 + 12 Fall
12u - 77 + 16 Fall
13u - 55 + 20 Fall
14u - 79 + 0 Fall

brod,
It seems that a good arm strength program along with structured pens would be more beneficial than fall ball for pitchers in many cases. After a late summer break, fall into winter is the time to build velocity for a pitcher working up through the HS "ranks". It gets difficult to do when a pitcher has to support the fall team. On the other hand the at bats are certainly good for the hitters.

However, fall ball is the reality for HS and pitchers just have to take advantage of the innings to develop their in game pitching skills and work the rest of the schedule around it.

quote:

Originally posted by CADad:
brod,
It seems that a good arm strength program along with structured pens would be more beneficial than fall ball for pitchers in many cases. After a late summer break, fall into winter is the time to build velocity for a pitcher working up through the HS "ranks". It gets difficult to do when a pitcher has to support the fall team. On the other hand the at bats are certainly good for the hitters.

However, fall ball is the reality for HS and pitchers just have to take advantage of the innings to develop their in game pitching skills and work the rest of the schedule around it.

I agree in some part that there are times which are beneficial to shut down, but the fall of the Junior and Senior years are very important time to be seen at top showcase type events by college coaches. If you are good enough to be recruited for early signing, the showcase events during the fall of the Junior year are where coaches will see you before you sign in November. Early money tends to go out to the top players at that point, mostly pitchers.

The fall of the Senior year is one of the last times to get noticed at top showcase events by the colleges and where pro scouts may continue to develop their list to follow during the school year for the June draft.

I think exposure purposes for pitchers, the fall is for quality pitches vs volume, but shut down during the winter with a good strength and throwing program.

You can't get much more North then myself so here's what I played. I can't remember under the age of 13 how many games our teams even roughly played, so I've left those out.

13- 20
14- 20
15- 36
16- 26
17- 30
18- 30

10 to 13U - around 60 games a year.
14U - August 2006 thru July 2007, 111 games.

How do y'all know all these numbers?


Until 12 he played outside or in the pool or some of the games Beezer mentioned - Parcheezi? I don't think so Mario Brothers was big though! 'Cause until 12 only played Rec - so what 10 -12 games per season? Then he played select at 12, so add maybe 11 games I think and about 6 for all stars.

from 1998 (I think) to 2004 played 20 - 24 games per year. In 2005 spring played maybe 35.


Still at 12u but playing travel, for the season from August 05 - July 06 - That jumped to maybe 80. Didn't pitch much at all this year.

at 13u, (this is when he started pitching more) a little less maybe 75. but add in 14 hs summer league games. so 90? He has played in 18 this fall, and is scheduled for 3 more weekends. But I think we are going to miss at least one weekend.

I'm kinda looking forward to my weekends when the HS season begins. No weekends. whew.

these game numbers are awesome,but how many practices a year? that is the important number to me. but i'm nobody.
just would find it interesting.

Interesting question....

I have two sons and they basically played year around except for last 2-3 weeks of August and after thanksgiving until about mid january...

So here is a rough break down...

age 8 = 50 games
age 9 = 125 games
age 10 = 125
Age 11 = 140
age 12 on its been around 150 or more...

College its around 100 games a year, (55 games + Playoffs) plus summer league around 40-45 games.)
plus Fall practice and scrimmages.

With my younger son we eventually backed off after PONY league at 12... and he only participated with one travel ball team.

Age 8 125 games
Age 9 130+ games
age 10 150+ games
age 11 150+ games
age 12 125 games
age 13 ~75 games
age 14 ~75 games
age 15 ~75-100 games
age 16 100 games
age 17 will depend on showcases next summer...

For 55Mom... When I was coaching I used to keep stats and could tell you exact number of games, but after sons's entered HS I've estimated the numbers based on tournaments and # of weekly games during the season.

Early ages you had LL but then after that Travel ball increased, to account for the 2 games a week of LL..... So for example LL team would have about 3-5 preseason games in March, then about 20 league games and 3-5 playoff games. Then there was a intercity playoffs another 3 games. then LL All-stars... Typically we would get 6-12 games... so about 40 or more total...

Then Travel ball, ... and even during during LL Season there would be at least one usually 2 games a week and there would be a couple tournaments (so 4 months = 16 weeks x 1.5 = 24 + 2 tournaments=12
thus = 36 more)

Once LL was over.. Travel would be more like 2 midweek games, and minimum 2 or 3 games each weekend. With tournaments there would be 5-6 games, on the weekend, and this would occur at least once every three weeks some times every other week. (So guessimate July into August would be minimum 1 tourny (6 games) and about 5wks x 4 = 20 more games)... thus 26 more....

Then you would get into a National tournament, sometimes having to qualify... Fortunately my son's teams would go deep into the tourney and play 9 to 11 games.

Rest until Labor day, but then start up again. and then 2-3 games a week and approx 5 tournaments thru Thanksgiving. 14x2 Plus 5x5 28+25

Grand total = 40 + 36 + 26 + 10 + 53 = 165 games...
Round off a few of those and you get a rough figure of 150 games a year.

150+ games a year? Hopefully that is your boys' totals combined for the year, then I would understand.

quote:

Originally posted by 20dad:
these game numbers are awesome,but how many practices a year? that is the important number to me. but i'm nobody.
just would find it interesting.

80-100 practices including the work he and I do. The workouts with a teammate or two are far more intense than team practices.

Homerun04 you are right! From summer of Junior year to January of Senior year it was go, go, go from Area Code to Showcase to Tournament to All Star this and that. At each stop he had to show control and velocity for college and pro scouts. I am glad those days are behind him now. As has been observed hee before, Senior year of HS can be problematical when you are under the microscope.

CADad - Fall Ball is a reality but you still have to limit the number of innings.

Iheartbb - son is fine down at the only UC in the OC. M to the double O S to the E had a much bigger scare. Thanks for asking. Some upperclassmen convinced him they had to wear their Halloween costumes out to practice yesterday. He fell for it. Coach yelled at him and he quickly changed.