u10 travel A or B

Where is he: A) having fun playing baseball..B)learning the game of baseball ...C) his friends are playing D)having his parents less stressed.

You can play in all the same tournament and teams on the B team. 

My son who is a freshman in college is home for 2 weeks before going to sumer ball.  He called me up and wanted to go to lunch today.  So we were sitting there and he said, "Dad, 10 years ago I was playing 9u baseball for Team X." He said who would have thought I would have been the only player on that team that went 43-9 that would have played college baseball or any other college sport."

The team carried 11 players and I think he got invited because I am real good with administration stuff and the other dads weren't.

Anyways, the point of the story is let him have fun and let him grow and play at level that will allow him chance to play every position on the field. You never know what is in the cards.

Our local All-Star team has an A team and a B team and from what I have seen the B team always has more fun.

In my opinion, at 10 the best thing you can do is leave him where he has the most fun with the least amount of pressure to nurture the love of the game.  If he's got talent the pressure will arrive sooner than you think....for now, let him have fun and be the star of the B team.

Thanks for the replies.  I think I will let the b coach know to hang on to him.  I like the idea of just having fun and being one of top players on the team.  I agree, at age 10 it doesn't really matter.  He has been called up in rec a few times now to fill in for some missing players on the 11-12 team and has really excelled.  His level of excitement is so much more and is having a ton of fun.  And like so many of you have mentioned in other posts, he might not even pursue baseball during highschool.  

Agree wholeheartedly that having fun is at the top of the list of priorities at age 10. However, a close second (if not equally important) is playing for coaches who are good at teaching the fundamentals and serving as good role models on and off the field. 

I know that it's not always easy to find that combination; but, as a parent, I still think one has the responsibility of finding the best situation possible. Beginning to learn the game and at least its first-level intricacies can really aid in making the player passionate about the game and better capable of having fun playing it. 

Best of luck to your son! 

As a former asst. coach/stats/admin guy for two separate travel teams that was involved with at least 30 separate families during the 7 years of travel ball the three C's to look for are:

1) Compatibility - Kids with players & coach and you with the other parents.  Without this everything else is almost meaningless.  I think this is being noted as fun by other posters.

2) Competition - Your son should not be wiping the floor with inferior competition if there is better available.  Find the right level so he has to work at it and is challenged.

3)  Cost - Do not get sucked into spending thousands were hundreds will do unless money is no object.  We tended to have a "big deal" tournament at the end of the season that ended up doubling as family vacations.  Cooperstown or Disney etc.  Planned at least a year in advance.  We played a few less tournaments as a result.  A lot of teams in our area played 10-12 in spring we played about 7 + the biggie.

You may have noticed I did not mention coaching.  If you can have the other 3 and get the great coach then you have hit the jackpot.  Taking a great coach but spending a fortune on a team that you or your kid hate really is not worth it.  Spend less money on travel and hire a good instructor.

At ten what is most important is 1) have fun 2) playing time and 3) instruction. What your son should get out of preteen baseball is learn how to play properly and develop a love for the game. As a teen he will find out if he can actually play the game when he's on the 60/90 field.

At 10, play where he will have the best coaching and learn the most.  Friends and fun are important, but you want to make sure he is learning the right way to play the game.  That will lead to future success. 

Doesnt matter, for a time my son always played on lesser teams because that was were his friends played, and played little league.    He always one of the better players and my only complaint was that he was gettting over pitched.    This year at 12 he played in a few events and made friends with some better players and decided he was ready to move on so we joined a premier team and he has still been the best player on the team,   main pitcher and 3rd or 4th batter,  so it didnt hurt his development at all.  All of the other kids can pitch so he doesnt get over worked and more importantly they dont make as many errors.  He does miss his friends but feels like he made the right decision to move on.  

Good to hear.  All the replies have helped make up my mind.  Thanks!

Agree with fun and hopefully good coaching at 10 y/o.  I can say that at 12U, my son was excelling and doing well.  We decided to try out for a decent travel team.  This was a new world.  What it showed him (and myself) was that he was behind a bit.  He was one of the last kids to be accepted.  The great thing was that he figured out himself, by watching the other kids, that he needed to catch up.  Even at 12, he could see he was behind.  So he worked.  Athletically, he had all the tools, he was just behind on the skills of baseball.  The coaching was better with this travel club (not always the case), and it helped us both realize that being a top player takes work from an early age.  Some hitting lessons, a few pitching lessons, and eventually taking to catching and getting some catcher training.  The process continues.  The game can be humbling real quick.  So, yes to fun at 10U.  Yes to good coaching.  Yes to playing at the highest level you can find (as he gets older), so you can start to figure things out. Each year it gets tougher to compete.   

I look at this slightly different.  Although having fun and instruction are important, it is most important to let your son decide with everything else being equal.  If he gets to choose, he will have some skin in the game, and this can be a learning experience for him.   Having fun means different things to different people at 10 years old, so I would defer to your son on this decision.  JMO.

Compete against what Ohio Dad?

My kid is 12u right now and there are 4 divisions of travel teams near us, A, AA, AAA, and Major so that each kid can find their grove and the level of baseball they want to for themselves....but if you had to take your kid for hitting, pitching, catching lessons at 12u it sounds like he was on too high of a team for his level.

The paid lesson thing is rampant for my neck of the woods and I just don't get it for under high school age/pre-puberty kids UNLESS the player is hurting himself due to poor pitching mechanics, and even then once maybe twice a month at most. 

You said each year it gets tougher to compete...I have to ask who is a 12 year old competing against?

The funnel.  12U has the most "travel" teams at any age group.  They start to fall off at 13/14U and by 15U you're way down in numbers.  Freshman year of HS is the first great separator -- many players leave the game. 

And there is nothing wrong with paid lessons and good coaching at the younger levels.  Learning proper mechanics at an early age is important.  After 12U it is a sprint to HS.  Kids who had proper coaching/instruction will have a head start on that sprint.       

Roster spots, playing time and pluses in the Win column are the results of sound instruction in the fundamentals and nuances of baseball from the first time a kid picks up a bat, ball and glove and strides onto a field. At 12 most kids are no more than 2-3 years away from high school where the decisions for roster spots and playing time are made without regard to the comfortable surroundings of family-centric rec and travel ball team structuring. Developed fundamentals, game knowledge, athleticism, position skill sets, hitting strength, pitching mechanics...all make the instruction for 9U-and-up worthwhile.

We were lucky with our now 2016 who will play college ball at one of several schools once he makes up his mind. His 8U rec ball coach recognized his and others' talents and took the step to approach the parents to "hire" truly gifted instructors to teach specific aspects of the game to the team as a whole. Additionally, he advised each family as to the instructors who could be specifically helpful on a skill set basis.

That coach met our key criterion as a coach for our son: he did not have a son on the team. His assistants were dads AND moms, but he was the HC. That had been our mantra in looking at the travel ball world and we took great pains to avoid instances of "Daddy Ball".

That 8U rec team morphed into a 9U travel team and with some significant roster changes won a large number of prestigious (remember it's a 10U universe when you use the term prestigious) regional tournaments including a State Championship. All the while our son continued to play in the local rec leagues (although they passed a rule limiting travel ball team members to a maximum of 2 innings of pitching per game.)

Our son enjoyed his pals on the rec league and the travel teams, parental drama was generally confined to minor grumbling and the core group of 5-6 players stayed together until they completed a highly successful foray as 12Us to Cooperstown. Our son was the object of many attempts by other teams to include him on their rosters and we discussed the advantages/disadvantages of each opportunity. Any time he was asked to play up as a guest player for a specific game or tournament, regardless of the age level of the inviting team, we not only allowed it, we encouraged it. Prior to his 12U year he was asked to join a very powerful 12U team but declined out of a sense of commitment and loyalty. After Cooperstown he said his goodbyes and joined the new team as it entered the 13U wars.

Paid lessons were critical to our son's development and to this day we owe a debt of gratitude to that devoted rec/travel ball coach who realized his shortcomings and was able to expose our son and his teammates to gifted instructors at a group rate which was very affordable.

Simply put, a 12 year old is competing with himself and with his contemporaries locally, regionally and nationally for a spot on his high school team, a college roster, or the Bigs.

Regarding preteen years I believe a lot of people confuse instruction and travel making the talented ball player with the talented ball player making the instruction and travel ball appear to help. Regardless, the talent will rise to the top. Then it becomes more about desire and work ethic.

My kids didn't have any paid lessons until after 8th grade. At that point my daughter was physically mature. My son was on his way. I had a decent idea of their potential, and their motivation.

I played college baseball. I had already coached 13-15yo before having kids. But I did little adjusting with their mechanics before they were teens. Once teens they played for well coached high end travel teams with quality instruction. Once in high school they received individual paid instruction.

Howdy,

Son is 15U now, and on one of the top travel teams in our area.  He has a legitimate shot at playing after HS.  At 12U, I knew very little about the game, so I invested in some knowledge for both of us.  I was not going to teach a talented kid how to do things incorrectly.  We did not go nuts on lessons, but the lessons gave us a good foundation.  From 13U to just recently, we were able to do things on our own.  Using what we had learned, and studying on our own (the internet is awesome for just about anything).  He recently received his first professional hitting lesson in about 2.5 years.  I just wasn't seeing the little flaw that the pro guy picked up instantly.  The pro helped him correct that flaw, and he was back on track.  Good coaching is priceless.  Getting started with that coaching (and not going crazy with it) at 12U was well worth it in my mind.  I guess it depends on what goals your son has, and his God given talent.  Some guidance is needed earlier.  He has taken control of his progress more as he has gotten older.  He knows when he needs help.  Most of the time, we can figure it out.  When we can't, we get some help.  It does get tougher each year.  As said earlier, where there were bunches of teams at 12U, there are now very few teams.