This is our 3rd year of travel baseball and I have quite a few observations on the experience.
Everything you heard about travel baseball is probably true.
For those who are contemplating having their kid play travel, most of what you heard about travel baseball is true. It is crazy expensive. The time committment is staggerring. Some kids really aren't ready for it. The level of play is far above what the recreational leagues have. The level of coaching is generally much better. Not all the folks involved have what I would consider a healthy attitude towards all this.
This is supposed to be fun. If it isn't, don't do it.
The thing to remember, first and foremost, is that travel baseball is sports. Sports are games. Games are supposed to be fun. Especially for little kids. My son started playing travel baseball on a 9U team when he was 8 years old. That's too young to put much pressure on a kid. I did worry more than a few times during that first year if it was a bit too much for him. In hindsight, it was probably getting close to his saturation point.
The fact that he was the youngest kid on the team probably had a lot to do with it. He's also a kid who takes things very personally. In all honesty, I wasn't always sure that it was an entirely healthy experience for him.
Those are my misgivings about travel sports. They're not for everyone. Making the city's travel teams is a big deal in our hometown. I think I was just so proud that my son was selected that I didn't think it through much farther. I should have given it a great deal more thought. Would I have decided differently? No, I don't think so. However, this is simply not a decision to be taken lightly.
It isn't ONLY supposed to be fun, is it?
There are some parents who will argue that travel sports is serious. So, it isn't always about fun. Well, there, I'm going to disagree a bit. Even though it's serious, and even though the kids should be working hard, it should always be about fun.
There are parents out there who are convinced that with the proper experiences, their kid will grow up to play in college or the major leagues. I guess, technically, that's not impossible. Figure there's maybe a few hundred major league ballplayers who grew up in the United States. If you really think that it's wise to build this much of your life around being one of a few hundred folks who succeed at the highest levels of a game that is literally played by millions of kids, then you should probably consider wisely investing your money in lottery tickets, instead.
There are precious few baseball scholarships. (Only 11.7 full-rides PER TEAM in NCAA Div I.) Also, realistically, your kid probably won't get one. In fact, most of our kids will never play an inning of baseball after the graduate High School.
Playing in High School? That's a realistic goal, in my opinion.
You Have to Play Travel Ball to Make Your High School Team.
Very few statements stir up as much controversy as this one. There are some who swear, adamantly, that it's nearly impossible to make a High School team without having played travel. There are others who swear, adamantly, that this is travel-ball snobbery and that good players can make their High School teams after years in rec.
Personally? I think both sides have a lot of merit to their argument. Neither one is entirely right, but the ones who say that travel ball greatly increases your chance of making the team are probably closer to right than those who say you don't need travel.
Yes, you can make a High School team out of rec ball. Happens every day. However, you have to battle long odds. The kids who travelled will have played three times as many games, probably practiced three times as much, and have benefitted from much better coaching every stop of the way.
I've seen kids who I thought were every bit as talented as my son back in the 2nd grade. These days, after 2 full seasons of travel and starting on a 3rd, there is no comparison. None at all. Can the rec league kids make up the gap? Sure, but it'll take a lot of work, and the most reasonable place to be able to do that work would be on a travel team.
So, if Travel is About Making the High School Team, then It's Not All About Fun.
No, it's still all about fun. The only reason to play High School baseball is that you enjoy it. If you don't, there's no law that says you have to play High School baseball. Playing high school baseball is probably considerably less important than eating green vegetables. It's not life or death. Even in High School, the only reason to play is that you enjoy it.
This isn't to say you have to enjoy every second of it, but on balance, if you don't enjoy it, there's no reason to do it.
Find a Team Your Kid Loves to Play On.
I wasn't sure how much longer my son would be playing baseball after last year. There was just something about the chemistry of his previous team that didn't work out for him. It was nobody's fault. Lots of kids on that team LOVED the experience. The coach was an awesome guy who worked tirelessly to give the kids a fantastic experience. His team-mates were great kids.
However, it was clear he wasn't enjoying it. I had resigned myself to the possibility that he may dial it back and just play recreational baseball. Or maybe he'd drop baseball entirely. Sad in a way, but then, again, this is a game and games are supposed to be fun. If he didn't want to play anymore, I'd respect that decision.
This year, my son is playing travel, but on a less competitive team and he is absolutely loving the experience. Is he getting the optimal level of development? He's clearly not playing on a team that's at the same level. They're also in an easier division of the area league with other teams that are not as competitive. On the other hand, he's getting a great opportunity to play shortstop and pitch.
So, on balance, he's getting less development in some areas (hitting against fast pitching), but getting more development in others (pitching and fielding.)
All that is beside the point, though. This year, he is truly enjoying playing baseball again.
If It's Only About Fun, Why Not Play Rec?
Good question! Why not!? If your kid would enjoy playing rec, then they should play rec. I think my son would enjoy playing rec, but the season is much shorter. The caliber of play is usually not as good, either. However, I would have no problem with my son playing rec. if that's what he wanted.
Travel is fun in ways that rec isn't, though. You travel to different cities. It's a far tighter bonding experience. The kids have to work much harder. So, there's a bonding that takes place from sharing a common difficult task. There are tournaments. Kids get a lot more games and a that means a lot more chances to make memorable plays or hit memorable shots.
In basketball, my son plays on a travel team, but then plays a short rec season in the Spring. He loves doing both. Trouble is, in baseball, logistically, it's hard to play on two teams at once. Heck, keeping up with the travel schedule is a trick in and of itself. By the time the travel season is over, my son has usually had more than enough of baseball to last him until the next Spring.
Am I Glad We Play Travel Ball?
On balance, yes, I am. I truly believe that years from now, he'll look back on these years as the most fun he ever head. He's just too young to understand that right now.
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