Traveling Teams

[Camarillo Brillo]

My older son was on an expensive baseball travel team from age 12 through the summer between his Jr and Sr year in highschool.  He was selected as the starting catcher on a 16-man state all-star  squad his Jr year and drew a lot of interest from D3 and some D2 colleges in the midwest.  Despite not being able to offer athletic scholarships, nearly every D3 was able to offer other very significant financial benefits.

After understanding the time commitment this would take in college and realizing he was more interested in attending a large D1 school than a D3 college that would be smaller than his highschool, he chose to not play in college.  He had 540 kids in his HS graduating class, and most D3 schools were around 1,000 to 1,600 students. 

Best decision ever.

Looking back, I never would have had him play travel ball knowing what I now know.  Baseball dominated our lives for almost a full decade.  We couldn't take spring breaks because that's when tryouts occurred; we couldn't take summer vacations because he was traveling for ball; we never strayed far from home at Christmas because he couldn't miss off-season workouts.  And the list goes on and on.

What idiots we were.  What were we thinking? 

Sure, one could argue that he learned to be a good teammate, made friendships, learned leadership, etc. etc.  Well, he would have done that anyway.  As an example, his Sr year in highschool he went out for track instead of baseball (after deciding he wouldn't play baseball in college).  He earned the MVP award on a team with over 115 boys despite not having done track before.

And he would have made good friends even if he hadn't made them through sports.

The two summers we've had since he quit baseball have been fantastic.  We've fished, boated, camped, and taken many vacations.

And don't even get me started about thinking kids will get scholarships because of their travel team involvement.  After having been through it all, I know of only a handfull of boys out of the hundreds we met that are playing D1.   A much better investment is to put the $$ in a 529 instead of paying for travel ball.

[boarder42]

My older son was on an expensive baseball travel team from age 12 through the summer between his Jr and Sr year in highschool.  He was selected as the starting catcher on a 16-man state all-star  squad his Jr year and drew a lot of interest from D3 and some D2 colleges in the midwest.  Despite not being able to offer athletic scholarships, nearly every D3 was able to offer other very significant financial benefits.

After understanding the time commitment this would take in college and realizing he was more interested in attending a large D1 school than a D3 college that would be smaller than his highschool, he chose to not play in college.  He had 540 kids in his HS graduating class, and most D3 schools were around 1,000 to 1,600 students. 

Best decision ever.

Looking back, I never would have had him play travel ball knowing what I now know.  Baseball dominated our lives for almost a full decade.  We couldn't take spring breaks because that's when tryouts occurred; we couldn't take summer vacations because he was traveling for ball; we never strayed far from home at Christmas because he couldn't miss off-season workouts.  And the list goes on and on.

What idiots we were.  What were we thinking? 

Sure, one could argue that he learned to be a good teammate, made friendships, learned leadership, etc. etc.  Well, he would have done that anyway.  As an example, his Sr year in highschool he went out for track instead of baseball (after deciding he wouldn't play baseball in college).  He earned the MVP award on a team with over 115 boys despite not having done track before.

And he would have made good friends even if he hadn't made them through sports.

The two summers we've had since he quit baseball have been fantastic.  We've fished, boated, camped, and taken many vacations.

And don't even get me started about thinking kids will get scholarships because of their travel team involvement.  After having been through it all, I know of only a handfull of boys out of the hundreds we met that are playing D1.   A much better investment is to put the $$ in a 529 instead of paying for travel ball.

thank you for this post - this while anecdotal data is the point i was trying to make - there is very little chance traveling sports are worth the time effort and energy for the individual or the family as a whole.  This is likely the norm of what happens for most families. 

Kids are such a touchy subject b/c people all want the best for them - but everyone should read this and take a few steps back and rethink the value (or lack of value) a travel sports team is really bringing to your family and your child's life. 

All the benefits discussed here of a traveling team can be obtained with rec leagues etc. - your kid is highly unlikely to play D1 ball or get a scholarship.  This isnt just about the math its about the lifestyle and IMO parents who do traveling teams are living what they didnt get thru their children and have absurd expectation of the value as has been indicated by many in this thread that it can pay for school or they can be an olympian!

[LiveLean]

I was a basketball and baseball player growing up. As an adult, I've covered Major League Baseball, the NBA and the NFL professionally for prominent media outlets. There was no shot of me playing in college or the pros. I played sports seasonally but even if I played one sport year round, I've encountered precious few guys my height (5-foot-10) or shorter in all of my years covering sports.

I have a 15-year-old son who has been swimming year-round competitively since age 6. We have no life for all of the reasons others have suggested. But in the case of swimming, where you practice 20 hours a week (9 practices, including twice a day on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday), you develop extraordinary discipline and time management. I hear other parents (of non-athletes) talk about how their kids have five hours of homework a night. BS. Your kid stares at screens for five hours and gets his 45 minutes of homework done during that period. My son takes the most rigorous academic program and gets to bed early every night, especially on Monday and Wednesday nights when he knows he has to be up at 3:45 AM for 4:45 AM practice.

My son might get a shot at college swimming. With swimming, unlike most other sports where talent can be subjective, all you have to do is compare your kid's times to what college coaches require. But even if he doesn't swim in college, he's established discipline that will carry over for life. Plus he can swim for health for the rest of his life, take up triathlon if he's so inclined, etc. Unlike baseball and soccer, few people play beyond their competitive high school years.

[littlebird]

On the body type discussion, how can you know that from a young age? I'm a good athlete, played high level volleyball in high school where most of the team went Div 1 for college, but I'm not a great athlete. I have great eye-hand coordination, but I am not fast. My father, on the other hand, was a great athlete. Quick, strong, very high vertical leap. Looking at me when I was 7 you might have thought I had his body type (or the female equivalent), but I didn't.

I expect my kids to be good athletes and maybe good enough to play travel sports. If they're interested, we will probably do that. But I don't think of it as having any possible future return on investment. In fact, I wouldn't support a child of mine trying for an athletic scholarship. College is for academics and socializing, not traveling all over tarnation to play a sport.

[MDfive21]

my D9 is a keeper for one of the big local soccer clubs in our metro.  the family enjoys it and we consider the experience an expense akin to vacation travel.  if a scholarship happens, great.  if not, we had fun following a sport we like.