Travel Teams

Most local travel teams take a break during the LL regular season from about March until mid-June only playing in holiday weekend tournaments. There are a few that play through that period also. Around your area most of the teams play year around. That doesn't mean there aren't teams that don't welcome players who stop for football.

Your best bet is to check with some of the other parents of players from your LL all-star team. It is a good bet that a few of them are playing for travel teams. It is also pretty common for a manager from a local LL to put together a tournament team made up of kids from the LL all-star team and a few others.

Costs really depend on the team. We only charge for uniforms (~$50) and tournament entry fees typically about $35 per tournament. There are also travel/select teams in our area that charge $250/month/player from what I hear.

Check with other parents and check your local newspaper (not the LA Times) to find tryouts for travel teams in your area. You are in one of the strongest baseball areas in the country and there are a lot of teams in the area.

Here's a website that has some announcements on teams looking for players:
http://www.eteamz.com/baseball/announcements/index.cfm?bpage=1&startingrow=2004%2D01%2D09%2010%3A55%3A00

Olive...First, let me welcome you to the "participation" side of HSBBWEB. You will learn loads of things on this web that will help you as much as you want it to. Second, you are about to enter the most exciting time of your young son's life. Right now you have all the options...I would first go to several tryouts with some local teams, find out which teams your son likes and which ones like him. My son played on several traveling teams...some were good experiences ...some were great. The best advice is to ask the coaches how they run the team, how much it cost,etc. As CADAD said it can vary alot. I would look at this as a time for your son to get the best coaching, best competition as he can handle while playing for a team he can have a great time with.

Olive:

You ask good questions, and in Orange County you have more choices rather than fewer. However, the choices are not easy. Check the thread in the General Forum on how many games are best for 12 year olds. Lots of food for thought.

By the way, I think you can play more than one sport, but I think Boy Scouts are nearly impossible to combine with a serious travel baseball team. Two many conflics both ways.

My son has played travel baseball since he was eight years old. As I write he just turned 15 and is playing on his HS varsity team. I would recommend searching out travel team that if at all possible does not have parent coaching team. If there is no such team I would look for coach who has played the game at college or pro level. Most former players keep the game in good perspective as opposed to parent coach with no playing experience who tend to go off deep end at times. The other most important factor is find team with "normal parents", what I mean is that you are compatible with other players parents. You will be spending a lot of time together and if you do not get along it will make for most unpleasant experience. What your son closely and make certain that HE is enjoying this, as this ia about players not parents.

I agree with most of what everyone has said here. My sons are on a 10 year old travel team. One thing to take into account is if the team has good sponsorship or not, if they don't you will either be forking out a lot of $$$ or constantly involved in some sort of fundraiser.
And yes, you will be spending many many hours with the other parents on the team, it can be a great time, or not, depending on the people involved.
But the most important thing, is to make sure you son is having fun, and is growing as a ball player. Evaluate the coaches. How do they interact with the players? Do they have post-high school baseball experience and do they actually TEACH, and is what they teach correct?

Caveman,
My son combined travel ball with boy scouts and has been successful at both. He is an Eagle Scout and a 4-year starter on his high school team. It was difficult to juggle, and the travel ball has to come first, but it can be done. Scout rank advancement and merit badges can be worked on as available time permits, but games have to be played when they are scheduled! My son did miss a lot of summer scouting activities, but he made up for for lost time in cold weather when he didn't have baseball games. He averaged playing 100 games/season, but did get down time because of the cooler Tennessee winters. Your weather may suitable for year round baseball.

Go for it!

RHSfan

Practice does not make perfect; practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect.