Should Pre-High School players and teams be travelling so much

quote:

Originally posted by Tiger Paw Mom:
rz was responding to what you said. You brought it up.

TPM and rz1, I did not bring it up, I was responding to a question from infielddad and topic was development of kids in one environment or another. Desire to play is a factor at any age and for many reasons.

We agree on a few points, 10, 11, 12 is definitly about fun, development, and developing love for the game. Even at that age though, I saw some kids playing REC ball that have no desire to be there, yet their parents take them to play anyway (good for the kid to get out in the sun and all that). Park rules usually require a couple innings play time for all players and a lot of coaches are moving kids around to different positions without regard to the outcome of the game. THIS IS ALL GOOD! Some kids improve and would improve in any environment. Many just do not have the desire to throw at home or otherwise practice unless they are with the team. All this adds up to be baseball that is usually not very competative. WHICH IS OK. After all they are only 10 -12.

Travel ball offers PARENTS an alternative to this and a place to put their kids with others kids that, like mine wanted to throw every day and play with other kids that have that kind of desire. YES, I do believe you can see that kind of desire in kids at 10, 11, and 12. Is this a function of the interaction with their parents, you bet it is. Some kids may develop this desire without the parents involvement but not the majority. When he was 11 I could not let some kids play catch with my son at practice because he threw much harder than some and I was afraid they would get hurt from not being able to catch it, and some kids even avoided throwing with him.

Many parks are loosing talented kids to travel ball because those parks do not support travel ball and many sactioning bodies (Dixie Youth, LL, etc) actually prohibit such teams under their charters or rules. We had this situation and decided it would be bettter to play with kids that had the same desires as our kids (and parents)

Even though my son is now 17, I can still see him at 10 and 12 playing on teams that could turn double plays, get the throw to second for an out on a steal, and that "ear-to-ear" smile on his face the first game he was able to lead off while on the base (at age 10). These things would not have been a part of REC ball at 10 and 12.

Did it make a difference in the player he is today? I can't say for sure, but after playing back in the park at 11, HE preferred travel ball at 12 and beyond. I am certainly glad we had that option.

TPM,
This has to be a great example of how different youth baseball is from one area to the next. The parent of a baseball player in Florida (where baseball can be all year long) might encourage their sons to play other sports, while parents up north are trying to find ways to keep their sons focused on baseball. I have noticed the farther north you go the more intense the summer activities become and one would think a real baseball player up north would never let a summer slip by without playing baseball. Good post.
Fungo

Fungo,
You are right that is why there are no set rules, lots depends on location, IMO. It's hot in the summer, but here in FL the heat can last for 6 months. Rain in the late afternoons forces early games. Bowling and indoor basketball was much enjoyed by son in the summertime.

Alma,
I understand your point. Here's mine. Parents have to do what is best for their families and themselves. There is no set of rules. I get lots of pms from folks asking about should they do this or that, I can never tell them how to spend their money and first question I ask is where do you live?
I never want parent to feel, that you HAVE to do this and you HAVE to do that. Those "have 2s" do get more important as you enter HS.JMO.

Our situation was different, we knew very early on ours would most likely pitch, so we limited his mound time. My feeling is that injuries usually are accumulative, wwe wanted a healthy pitcher in HS. Maybe our path may have been different if we didn't feel he would end up a pitcher.

The bottom line, for me, is getting a good foundation for baseball skills and understanding the game. It doesn't matter where or when it happens, as long as it happens.

As someone said once, it's not where you begin but where you end up. Everyone has a different path to take, there are no set rules. In college, my sons teammates were from all over the country, and they were good, north, south, east, west. I am sure they all had different experiences but in the end they all ended up in the same place.

And it really doesn't matter if someone gets off topic a little bit, I understood the point rz was making and why.

Since we have a player at this level, here is what we have discovered so far, listen to the kid, they know when enough is enough. As a 10 yo we did local travel, 1 tourney 1 state away, then CDP. Following CDP he had an opportunity to continue with other "National" tourneys. HE decided not to participate, said it all was a bit stressful. At 11 yo, much the same sched, he is constantly after us looking for other opportunities to, as he puts it, play with kids who can really play. Even if the rec league competition was good a number of kids really seem to enjoy some travel, hotels, new ballfields, etc... He has made many new friends thru the little travel we do that he would not have otherwise. Just like most things, enjoy in moderation. And for those who claim the rec leagues are being hurt, the same bunch likely would be crying "politics" when these travel players took away their kids all-star spots if they had stayed.

The traveling can be tough. My son has been on a full time travel team for about 3 years and he is 11.

We would have loved to stay local but the leagues are soo lame. The games become walk fests since all the decent pitchers are on some type of select team.

If the leagues had not become such Mommy and Daddy leagues here in MD, I think all the boys and leagues would be better off. There just are not a lot of good options in Maryland so we felt like our only option was travel ball. Especially once we played teams down south and saw what we were up against down the road.

All that said, I do not think either my son or daughter would trade the memories we are storing up playing kids from all over the country. It is a blast but it is expensive and very very tiring at times. However,I cannot take it with me so why not play ball?

Yes I am broke but when I see my son and daughter smiling, laughing and having a great time playing ball, I am the richest man on earth.


Bill

Travel ball in WI for pre-HS is dominated by the LL and that only happens in July and August when the All-Star season starts. WI has a split HS season with 2/3 playing in the Spring and the rest having a summer season. The summer HS travel is pretty defined as Legion and NBC adult teams. The kicker is that WI has only 1 premier AAU team that makes the Wood bat circuit. There is a WI PG Fall league that plays in Milw but that is a big step below the other so called travel teams.

The misconception on this site is that Northern travel teams play to be seen by warm weather schools. Not always so. Jupiter is the Southern trip, but the Fall weekend trips don't get too far out of the mid-west and that season lasts 2 months of weekends. A travel team in WI plays not only for college exposure, but the opportunity to play equally talented teams. Imagine a Southern team that would have to go to another State to find a good game.

In conclusion. We have 3 months of "full population" baseball and those three months are also called summer where us snow-birds get to go outside and catch up on other things, like breathing air that doesn't crystalize in your lungs. Then HS football starts and that Friday night game puts a damper on weekend Fall travel teams. This is my perspective of the "State of WI baseball".

PG, TR, and/or Blazer25 who is not only the Midwest Blazer AAU coach but also a HSBBW poster could give a better assessment of where Northern baseball is in comparison to it's Southern counterparts in regard to travel ball. It would be very interesting to see PG/TR's thoughts on the differences because they have had their finger on the pulse for a long time and and would be a much better assessor than myself.

You there PG, TR, and/or Blazer

rz,
That is a great idea.

In HS when we did play tournaments during vacation periods, we always had northern teams join us, mostly from Michigan, ILL., NJ and NY. They combined their winter vacations with a trip to sunny Florida with baseball. I remember one dad telling me that it was in perparation to the coming season. Occasionally there would be scouts present and tehy got a kick out of that.

I don't consider this travel ball really, just a family trying to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. An opportunity to sharpen your skills before the season.