I know we've got a bunch of parents on here, so I'm interested in getting people's takes, opinions, experiences, stories, and all things involved in kids' travel sports. The deeper I get into this world, the crazier it becomes. Is anyone else out there spending their lives at a baseball diamond, soccer pitch, volleyball court, or some other sports field? My older son is fully immersed in travel baseball and is playing 50-ish games/year during his Spring season. Most of the kids we play with also play "fall ball" which is another 10-15 games in August/September. This will be the first year he doesn't play fall baseball in favor of football. Last year we tried both and it was just too much. He would play a football game in the morning, get changed, grab a hot dog, then run to baseball and be the starting pitcher in a double-header. Not ideal so baseball is out this fall. My daughter is starting her first year of competitive cheer, and most of the tournaments are on weekends in October and November. Lord help me. My youngest son is only 7 and still plays "in house" baseball, but I'm sure we'll get sucked into travel by the time he's 9 or 10. Crazy times we're living in, folks.
I am so glad those days are behind me. My son played travel basketball, and football and I coached also was president of the youth football board. My daughter was busy training and showing live stock as well as competitive riding. I don't know how people do it with 3 kids or both parents working with commutes. We were never home.
I feel your pain. I'm a travel coach of an elite volleyball team (girls 16) our season starts in late Oct and runs until June 1. We just got back from a tournament in West Virginia and we are heading to Philadelphia next. It's an 8 month season and we get 2 months off before school season starts. During travel my kiddo also swims, and plays tennis for school. She is also a lawyer for the youth court. All this in an effort to get into the Air force Academy. I have seen some crazy **** coaching. It's amazing having to argue with parents that admit they don't understand the rules of the game yet scream at the Refs, kids , and me. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
I have a fun story, my girls are a rag tag group. That being said my girls are very good and super scrappy. We went to West Virginia last weekend we pulled up into the parking lot and 3 different teams were getting off of tour buses to arrive. They were national level teams. These are the style team that pays 10k+ to join have try outs of hundreds of girls. My girls pay 500 and 20 girls tried out 11 of which I took. We held our own but ultimately we were out classed. The heads of the parents and coaches exploding due to a team that has no business being on the court as their kids let alone competing and even winning some was worth the trip. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
Yeah, been there some that @Justin. We had to restrict our 5 kids to just a single extracurricular...in spite of that we did lacrosse, soccer, Tae Kwon do, gymnastics... In a few years you'll back and ask where the time went. Enjoy it in all the chaos.
My kids do not do travel sports, they will get enough of that in high school. They also do not specialize in one sport. I make them play a minimum of two sports per year. More sports variety in the younger years leads to better athleticism when they get to high school. I have a 13 year old, 12 year old, and six year old. Local rec leagues are good enough for now.
The time and $ dedicated to kids sports and the enjoyment was great but will never forget when we moved and the kids took all their awards, accolades, trophies, letter jackets etc and threw it all in a dumpster. I am very proud happy that my kids did not peak in high school.
During my oldest' trip through school she became huge into volleyball (she was a 12 season athlete, which means playing varsity every season from freshman through senior) I watched lots and lots of volleyball. I learned the sport and grew to love it. Then in her senior year her coach got sick and they asked me to step in and coach a tournament (basically just be the adult there as they knew what to do). It was fun,I got hooked. My girls were 6 years apart so when my oldest went to play in college my youngest started playing travel. They happen to need a coach so I agreed. It's been 5 years now and I have an AWESOME amount of memories with my little one that would not have been possible had I just watched. It grew a bond and even opened doors for her that would not have been possible without. At this point I pertnear run the VBC and have grown it from 1 team to 7, servicing over 90 kids and 12 school districts. I encourage everyone to learn and participate. If you can't coach( it's not for everyone) you can still help in a multitude of ways. I promise all you guys with young kids one thing. It goes fast, make and share as many memories as possible. Being an active parent in any regard is paramount in raising a well rounded child. Leadership is learned. Work ethic is learned. Pride is learned. Knowing how to lose is learned. Sports and success there-in is not the end all be all but it is beneficial. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
I've spent the last 10 plus years being part of travel sports. I cannot tell you how many aau bball and travel soccer games I've watched. I remember working all night, driving my kids to sports games, and getting 2 or 3 hrs of sleep between my next shift later that night. Down to my last one right now and I hope she makes the higher level soccer team this summer. She is worried bc it involves so much travel. She worries about me. Haha. I told her I don't care and will travel with her whenever we need to roll.
Seems like everything is full on travel in sports and way more competitive at younger ages, my girl is only 5 tho so it’s coming. I traveled for hockey all over the states and to Canada for some tournaments. I have some great memories with my family. Good on you parents for making it happen with your kids, I will do the same when the time comes.
I am out of travel sports and playing golf every weekend now. I would still do travel sports, but I would keep it more local and do more hunting and fishing with Zach. I missed that boat with him, and I regret it. I missed out on about 12 years of prime hunting time from travel soccer and basketball. If your kids to travel sports you can’t be a good hunter, or you’ll be the father that misses those moments. Zach and I went all over for travel basketball and I would trade it for some nice weekends in the wood with him or a fishing charter. I have regrets about travel sports and all we did, yes I enjoyed the time, but I feel I missed out on other moments. Just my thoughts Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That is exactly why I have not yet let my boys play travel sports. Sports are great, but there is more to life than that, especially before high school.
With travel sports, you can pick your own pace and decide how much is enough for your kids and family. At least in our area, there are probably more travel teams and organizations than rec leagues. Some of them are part-time travel or local travel teams, some range out a little bit, and others go crazy and travel all over the country. Assuming your kid is halfway decent, they can usually find a spot on a team that fits your desired level of insanity. We've decided as a family that mid-level travel programs are good enough for us. My son's team does quite a few tournaments in the spring/summer, but only two of them are overnight and require us to travel, get hotels, eat out, etc. Both are within a 2-3 hour drive from home, so they're reasonable, albeit still very expensive. But we aren't shelling out thousands of dollars to travel to Nashville to play baseball when there are plenty of teams around here that we can lose to. Our head coach listened to feedback from parents and didn't schedule tournaments or games over Memorial Day, Mother's Day or July 4th weekends, which is another huge bonus. That allows us to still go on some long weekend trips to Northern Michigan to take the kids fishing, swimming, etc. Once school is out for the summer I try and take off from work early one afternoon each week to get out fishing, take the kids tubing, etc. There's always time for those things if you make time for it. And yeah, the sports definitely cut into some of my hunting time in the fall. But I've always looked at it as sacrificing some of my selfish "me" time to spend time with my wife and kids doing things they all enjoy. When I do get time to hunt, I'm usually taking the boys with me and giving up some of my own time with a bow in my hand. When they are grown and gone, I will be a sad, lonely old dude with plenty of time to hunt.
Around here, if your kids want to make a high school team and hope to see the field, they better be pretty good. Our in-house/rec league programs are very thin in both coaching and player talent, and just don't build kids the way the travel programs do. There are, of course, exceptions to that rule, but not many. I coach an 8U rec baseball team, and I often attend practices and games for the older kids at 11-14U, the difference in skill and level of play is night and day. I watched a few innings of a 12U rec league baseball game last night and can confidently say "maybe" one of those kids would even come close to an outside chance of making a HS baseball team in 2 years. Most of those kids still couldn't properly throw a ball or swing a bat.
[QUOTE="Germ, post: 1799214, member: If your kids to travel sports you can’t be a good hunter, or you’ll be the father that misses those moments. You have said some silly and down right stupid $hit over the years but this one pisses me off to no end 1st you can't determine what's a good hunter as you are not one. 2nd you have no frame of reference about travel as you stated you didn't do it with yours. Lastly I am proof that not only can you be a good hunter and have a kid travel but you can coach said team. I apologize for giving you the benefit of the doubt and reading your post in hopes you had a valid point. Alas ... You don't. I promise to all that read this that you do not need to choose in fact I encourage all to put on their big boy pants and get active. Part of being an adult man is doing hardshit... You make time for your children, they come first but there will be time to hunt if you find time. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
Try some decaffeinated Fix, his perspective. I once had a friend tell me I have to make time, he never gave me his recipe. I did not hunt for years because I was coaching football and running a league, I did not hunt because I could not do it to my standards.
It is that way in many places. Personally, I think the travel sports shouldn't start until around age 10-12 depending on the individual's kids maturity and ability. Earlier than that, leads to a lot of negative things that ultimately reduced the number of kids playing any sport by junior high. "Whose game is it anyway?" by Amy Baltzell, Richard Ginsburg, and Stephen Durant is a fantastic book on the subject. https://www.amazon.com/Whose-Game-Anyway-Helping-Organized/dp/0618474609 So much of creating a positive sports experience for a child is dependent on the child's maturity and desire to play, not just athletic ability. That requires knowing the child well. I will use my own kids as an example: My oldest will be 13 next month, he has the maturity, the drive, and the athleticism to play travel baseball, but he does not because my wife and I do not want him to have sports dominate that much of his time right now. That will probably change next year as rec leagues around here are pretty much nonexistent once you turn 13. Most of his friends play travel ball and want him to join their team if we would allow it. My middle son is 12 (adopted, so only a few months younger than my oldest, but a grade behind in school) has the athleticism, but not the maturity or the drive. Rec league is great for him. But, I suspect this will be his last year playing baseball. My youngest is six. He has the athleticism for travel ball, but, I am not wasting time or money playing travel sports for a kid this young. His entire teenage years will be spent as the only child in the home, he will get plenty of opportunity to compete at whatever level he wants when his older brothers have grown up and moved out.
That's fine, it only becomes nonsense when you claim no one can just because you couldn't. One man's limits are not shared Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
1,000% agree with this. 1,000% agree on this as well. Although I will say I see a lot more parents forcing their kids to play rec league sports more than I see them forced to play travel sports. I can't say I know many (or any) travel sports kids that don't have a desire to play. In rec league, I would say half of the kids I have coached have zero desire to be there, to try and get better, to put in any sort of work, or to show any sort of enthusiasm for the sport. I get that parents are trying to get them off the couch and out of the house to do something good for them, but if they don't have any desire whatsoever to contribute, improve, or enjoy what they're doing, I feel like you're doing the kid a disservice. It drags them down, drags their team down, and certainly makes it hard on the coaching staff. Find something else they're in to and encourage that rather than pushing them into something they hate doing. At 5-6 I can see the kids who are enjoying it, and by 8 I can definitely tell you who doesn't want to be there.
I'm absolutely not as dedicated or as successful of a hunter because of my involvement in my kids sports lives. That's not even a question. I've given up a lot of scouting time, pre-season prep time, and hunting time to coach them, be at their events, or take them hunting when we have time. And I have no problem with that. I don't need to prove my worth as a person by how many big deer I kill. I'd rather do that by being a good coach, father, and role model. To say that giving up time that you would otherwise spend doing hunting-related things doesn't have some impact on your overall success is just foolish. Maybe "good" wasn't the correct word, but I understood the spirit of the comment.
