Not worried about exposure he has no desire to play past high school he’s going to learn a trade not go to college.

I thought I was doing everyone a favor by not forcing my kid into any sport. He played everything and liked a few sports but finally settled on riding dirt bikes. Good Lord, I’d rather be paying for travel ball for what this little dude is costing me just in fuel.

The last year my son played baseball he was 13 years old. That year he was on 3 teams. I had a travel team but we didn't play every weekend (I was head coach), he played full time on another team (I was an assistant coach) and he played pick up for 2-3 other travel teams when he wasn't playing on one of the other teams.

When he came to me and said he was done with baseball it was the happiest/saddest day of my life.

My son played from 4 years old to 20. From rec ball to travel ball to school ball to JUCO. He loved every minute of it. The only reason he gave it up was because the Lord called him into the ministry and he switched colleges. Toughest decision he ever made. Some kids love it, some kids don’t. When he was little he would get home from practice or a game and turn the back yard lights on and hit off the tee or throw into a net till we made him come inside. He just didn’t have enough talent to go with the heart lol. But most of the guys in here are right, it ain’t for everyone. You don’t have to do it. If a kid wants to play college ball and he is good enough he will get noticed at a showcase or something. But don’t expect any scholarship money outside of JUCO. That’s a tough row to hoe.

Competitive sports taught my son and daughter a lot about hard work, listening to authority, working as a team, holding yourself accountable. It’s not all bad. It’s like most things, it is what you make it.

The best player I’ve ever seen or played with is on this forum, Tailwalk7.

I didn’t play what everyone thinks of as modern travel ball until I was a junior in high school still got a Div. 1 scholarship. If your good they will find you. IMO pointless to play until your in high school.

Same here

Our son is playing rec ball this year for the first time. I'm blown away by the commitment so far. 2-3 practices and 2 games a week. I feel like I've done him wrong by keeping him away from the game until now, but he's doing pretty well actually. It is also unlocking a love for the game I've forgotten I had. It is my understanding that attending camps at the older ages is the thing to do if there is potential. I think I'll stay away from travel ball, as it seems to be more about the parents. I hope I don't fall into that trap.

lot of unsubstantiated comments in this thread. wld be interesting to compare commenters and the comments with those who actually have kids/players that could be playing higher level travel ball. an easy button is if ain’t for you or your player then don’t play but don’t bring the dubious rhetoric to the conversation.

Its only about the parents if you dont have the right group of parents. my son is 9 has been in travel ball for 3 years. started in rec ball and he was having to play down because to the other kids level because he was way more advanced then the rest of the kids on his team and in the league... when the rec ball director comes to the coach and tells him to tell my kid he needs to "tone the hitting down" for safety of the other players then something had to give.. he played/plays short stop and when he would throw the ball to first base in rec ball he casue quite a few bloody mouths for the simple reason the first baseman couldnt catch. our coach at the time simply told him to run to second base and call time to kill the play. since that time we have joined a local travel team and he has had the opportunity to truly show his talent and love for the game .. the team practices 2 days a week and we play most weekends one day tournaments on saturdays. when the team is not practicing he is either at home hitting off a tee or we are at the fields taking ground balls at short stop and mom catching at first, or in the cages hitting bucket after bucket of balls.. and before anyone has a comment about burn out this is all his decision and as long as he wants to do it i will be there doing it with him. never once do i ask him if he wants to do extra outside of the 2 days of practice .. the friendships that he has had the opportunity to form with the other players and coaches is amazing. these pics say it all to me. he ABSOLUTLEY LOVES the game

thats my take on it . like it or hate it

not nearly all the rings he has.. 6 in this pic and we are now up to 11 or 12 plus a belt buckle or 22








he even supports his team when he was out for the 2021 fall season with a sprained ACL

1000% agree with this statement

This has been an interesting thread. I’m glad to see some push back on the whole travel ball lunacy. I got blasted into oblivion some years back on this very forum for daring to say folks should really consider reining it in a bit. Unfortunately it’s only grown worse. Families are WAY to obsessed with Little Johnny’s and Jane’s ball “career”. I was stupid enough to get sucked in nearly 20 years ago now and it was nothing compared to now.

If you and your family are ball field junkies and nothing else matters, including Church, fine, have fun but please loose the illusion that it’s going to catapult your child into a college scholarship. It’s not. Especially if we’re talking about kids pre-high school age. That list posted above should’ve started with travel ball kids at the top with an easy million kids playing now yet only only less than 20% even making it to be a senior on their high school team.

As mentioned above, my daughter also started playing travel ball when only the top few kids from each county came together and formed a team and still half of them never played through high school. My kid had a spot on the 16u Bama Gold team which all but assured her of at least a few scholarship offers and she walked away. Tore this ole boy up at the time but reflecting back I seen it as a grind that wore her down. Luckily, she stuck it out with school ball but really only to not let her friends down. But after that she was done. If I had it to do all over again we’d have never seen a travel ball tourney till she was at least 14 and as a parent I should have seen it before it was too late. My time and money would have been much better spent on weekly hitting/pitching classes and maybe spearheading an effort for a local rec type league that played through the week all summer and kept things lighter yet still competitive, and quite honestly that would’ve given some opportunities to those who have a desire to play but don’t have the means for the travel ball life. I look back and see several that could/would have helped and I was in a position to affect that and I didn’t. I deeply regret that.

so if i dont go to church then im a bad person or what ever you want to call it.. you do realize that you dont have to go to church to worship and be a Christian.

Camps help. But there isn’t an alternative to showcase ball during the high school years. My son graduated high school in 2016. Never saw a college coach at any of his school games. Never. And he did play 5 years in college. There’s a difference in showcase ball and travel ball.

There’s never a full ride for baseball. 11.4 scholarships to be split between all the recruits. Pitchers get the most percentage and then what’s left will trickle to position players. Now if you are a round 2 or better draft pick out of high school and choose to forgo the pros to go to college then you might get a full ride. Maybe. Other than that it will never happen.

True, but if you’re good enough they will find a way to pay for your school through various other scholarships or grants to supplement what baseball doesn’t pay for. I thought you fellas were talking about travel ball for college exposure. Until the kids have all hit puberty those tournaments are just for fun but there’s nothing wrong with that either. I will say those kids from the Dominican aren’t playing for fun, they are playing to get their families out of poverty.

As one who endured the travel ball hardships, realistically, it’s value is for that small percentage of kids who have outstanding talent and size. My son was born a big strong left handed/ first baseman/ pitcher who was “ drafted” by an elite travel team, played in the elite invitation only tournaments and played smaller Div-1 college ball. He was a 6’5 90mph left handed, fast first baseman with power. At least 75% of his teammates played college ball, minority made D-1. Travel ball , as I described above, was a grind, very expensive but necessary if your kid has ability and desire to make it, there is no other really good showcase. In the most rare of circumstances if your kid is a pitcher and big and throws in the 90’s ( less if lefty) , with 2 good secondary pitches, you could go to a specific schools showcase and get noticed, but coaches still want to see your kid compete against good hitters. Sorry for the long post.

The Mlb rosters tell the story of how "good" travel ball is playing at the highest level. Your 13 year old is NOT striking out Freddie Freeman nor is he going 3 for 4 against Gerit Cole. "Dave that's silly" As an umpire I've seen hundreds of parents with that fantasy. I'm all for parents organizing teams/tournaments having good time eating hot dogs camaraderie joy feel good moments family time great. If your child under 12 wants to that's great but your highschooler would already be on a scouts radar if the skill could be developed into a mlb player. The hard slider down 98 on the corner the 12-6 curve and batspeed maintain mlb being the best on the planet.

You do you dude. But Id have to kick my own arse if I was posing like that. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

So conversations I hear about scouts already looking at travel team kids is not true?

A friend had one of his sons make it to the minor leagues as a pitcher. He did pitch a few MLB games but ran out of time, age wise I guess. I know there several academy’s around here from teaching fundamentals on up and they’re covered up with business.

I think the backlash is that it has become very BIG business, like all things popular. It ends up ending itself.

11 years ago I was impressed being at a tournament and for the first time seeing the caliber of players that were well beyond what we were when I played.