When is to young

IEBSL,

I agree with you... I don't believe in playing year around at any age. But if someone chooses to do that I would hope they were much older than your son. Young kids might miss the best path if they narrow their choice to just one path.

I like the 12 yr old range.

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Your young son needs to spend his Saturday mornings at home feasting on this...



Seriously...seven, in my opinion, is too young. Of course he should play the game, but not year round. Twelve to fourteen perhaps. But, remember this, any age is appropriate for a wholesome bowl of oatmeal!



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I hate to say this, because I think there is more competition in travel ball, but I think all kids should be playing Little League Baseball at least till they are 12 to 13 years old. The main reason for this is the cost $70 for the season instead of $1700. Secondly with travel ball there is no rest, and with no rest comes resentment. Burn them out too early and they never come back.
Bad thing around here where I live is that the High School Coaches Tell EVERYONE NOT to play Little League to get on a travel team. The problem with the little league programs are that there aren't enough volenteers so you have 1 or 2 coaches per team and they dont learn enough by the time high school baseball begins.
The major unfortunate thing about travel ball is there are no options. Sign a contract and your stuck.
There was a kid on a 16U travel Tournament team, cost the dad $1500 for the 3 weeks of play and the kid NEVER saw the field. $1500 for some uniforms and a cramp in his butt! Weigh the options first.

My son played travel at nine and ten in the summer to extend the season past CR. But it was community based and "travel" wasn't any further than the surrounding towns. At eleven and twelve he played in a USSSA Sunday doubleheader league as prep for LL all-stars. All-stars played into August. Travel was only seen as additional play until thirteen when it became fulltime.

Answers to the question may vary. Some areas have atrocious rec (LL, CR, etc) programs. Each person has to decide what is atrocious.

In the preteen years the most important thing is a kid learns the basic fundamentals of the game and develops a passion for the game. If your son can get this in rec ball, stay in rec ball.

Getting away from baseball, if your son becomes a good baseball player (chances are the son of a high school coach will) there will be a point where baseball consumes him. Before that point in time make sure you're getting in other summer experiences like the lake, the beach, fishing, camping, visiting cities and landmarks and special vacations. A lot of this mostly went out the window when my kids got serious about baseball and softball. Yet my kids (23&19) still talk about these vacations.

My son also played football, s0ccer and basketball until high school when he settled on baseball and s0ccer. My daughter played a different sport every season through high school. In high school tney found time to train year round for baseball and softball.

I think the summer after the last year of little league (12-13) to help transition to the "big field".

It is my observation that any athletic person takes about one season to "catch up" to the playing level of the other players.

So with that in mind, starting at an earilier doesn't, IMO, give a player any real advantage in the long run.

I would advise any parent to play the level of baseball where the player is enjoying what they are doing, learning the game and isn't breaking the bank.

To me, taking my son to the field or playing in our yard on our own, when he wanted to, was more valuable then any travel or rec ball he played!

Agree with d8. 13-14 about 1-2 years away from HS is fine. Mine went full time travel at 13 and missed league so much he went back to league with some travel mixed in at 14. I think a mixed approach is actually better. (as long as you don't get into overuse issues)

If I was doing it again I would spend the time and money on better instruction over travel at younger ages. Travel is actually more important in HS if he plans on moving into college ball.

Thank you guys. You guys have confirmed and affirmed my feelings. Got wood...I liked your picture and it made me laugh. Every Saturday morning, before we go to the little league park for the game, I wake up and make pancakes for him. During the season it is about the one day I have to fully give to him. My son is a typical 7 year old who still plays made up games and watches Curious George. I find in saddening that people are out there already putting pressure on these kids.

Couple of caveats: 1) Each part of the country may have different expectations regarding time commitment ie, apparently some are year round and others permit less than a one year commitment, and 2) I have not been through this yet as my boy is young.

But I stay in close contact with the high school athletes here. I estimate that of those who go on to play college ball (NAIA to D1), about one half of them are two sport athletes (typically football and baseball). In this year's class, the kid going on to play ACC baseball played four years of high school football, the JUCO kid and NAIA kid were each baseball only. This will vary in the opposite direction at times. So it seems that year round is surely not necessary as football here would preclude it.

I would put off year round baseball as long as possible. My boy is nine and will continue to play football and basketball as long as he can and that will mostly be his decision. Our travel ball commitment is of the local type that RJM references where travelling means a 30 minute to hour drive, March through June with limited fall practice (five or six times) and weekly practice beginning in January, going to twice weekly in March.

Texas brought up a great point I missed. DO NOT do full time travel ball. Play multiple sports up to and into HS. Best players were usually the multisport athletes.

Yeah, I agree with the 11-13 y.o. range. Ideally, the first year or two are a more localized "travel on training wheels" with no lengthy commitments or extensive travel and expenses. By this age, most boys will have experienced several other sports and activities and will be better equipped to decide if they want to up the baseball commitment level.

Our experience is similar to Rjm's....I would vote for never playing one sport year round until college...my son played football all four years of high school his friends and him still talk about their football games.....baseball is his first love but football was a close second. I really believe His days off from baseball playing QB helped him become a better baseball player

quote:

Originally posted by lefthookdad:
I like the 12 yr old range.

I agree, this is a good time to begin considering it.

quote:

Originally posted by IEBSBL:
I am a head varsity baseball coach who has now crossed into the realm of being a parent of a son who plays baseball. My son is 7 has played for 3 years and I was just approached by a travel ball coach for him to play. Now, I believe a couple of things. 1)A 7 year old has no business playing baseball year aroung. 2)I think 7 is way to young to do that. My question to both Parents, Coaches, and I really hope I hear from PG. What do you feel is an appropriate age to start playing year around and going the travel ball route?

I agree with others that 7 is too early for travel ball. My son started in LL (T-ball, coach pitch, minors, majors, Juniors). After his 2nd year in minors (he was 10 at the time) we were approached by a gentleman who was forming a local travel team (11U at the time). After a few parent meetings we officially formed the team. The stated long term goal was to prepare the boys for HS level ball. Short term goals included preparing for a week at Cooperstown as a 12U team. In the meantime they played many doubleheaders against other travel teams with a few tournaments mixed in along the way. The team's last year was as a 17U two years ago. My son is now a senior and they are having a great year. Oh and just about every member of the travel team went on to play at the HS level.

Knowing what I do now, I'm glad we got his feet "wet" before committing to a travel team.