Travel Ball or No Travel Ball

We live in a big enough area were the TB do not travel too much. Maybe 1 overnight tournament for the youngsters.

It just gets like minded players together.

If you make the jump make sure her Team has some pitchers, no fun not having pitchers.

We jumped to travel ball and started with a "c" level team for the first couple years. DD was completely bored and frustrated with not being able to throw a ball to a team mate without worrying about hurting them. It was obvious it was time to go. It can't hurt to take her to some tryouts so she can see what is out there, and how the higher level teams operate.

My oldest daughter had been a so-so rec player at ages 10 and 11. When she was chosen to play in the All Star game we figured it must have been based on who was going to be in town when the game was being played.

After that game she told us she wanted to play travel ball. We were pretty leery about it because we were afraid she wouldn't be able to keep up and that she'd spend most of her time on the bench, but we let her sign up. Also made her sign up for rec ball just in case we were right about the playing time.

She loved travel ball, and by midway through the rec ball season it was clear she had no interest (or need) for it. She wasn't an every inning player, but she could compete with the rest of the girls and kept getting better.

After that first year she became a starter, and eventually became a pitcher. It was definitely the right move. And by the way, she wasn't exactly "Miss Dedicated to Practice" either.

So if your daughter wants to try it, I say give it a shot. Maybe she steps up, maybe she finds it's not for her. Either way, you'll have an answer.

Update: Past couple of weeks DD has hounded me everyday to practice. Which I think is awesome. I let her tell me when she wants to practice instead of forcing her. Took her to her first tryout and she was a nervous wreck on the way there. I told her that no matter what I was proud of her and that it is no different than any other practice. Good attitude, Good effort, Throw the ball, catch the ball, hit the ball. She performed great. Enjoyed herself and had a smile on her face the whole time. She was tired when it was over but she was pumped up because she knew she had done well. There are a couple of other teams having tryouts coming up as well and has already asked to go to those as well. So it begins......

christopher52 said:

Update: Past couple of weeks DD has hounded me everyday to practice. Which I think is awesome. I let her tell me when she wants to practice instead of forcing her. Took her to her first tryout and she was a nervous wreck on the way there. I told her that no matter what I was proud of her and that it is no different than any other practice. Good attitude, Good effort, Throw the ball, catch the ball, hit the ball. She performed great. Enjoyed herself and had a smile on her face the whole time. She was tired when it was over but she was pumped up because she knew she had done well. There are a couple of other teams having tryouts coming up as well and has already asked to go to those as well. So it begins......

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That first tryout is a big deal. My DD didn't want to get out of the car when we got to the field. Once she was out on the field, she quickly realized that it's not really any different than the game she already knew how to play. At her second tryout (first team was not a fit for us for many reasons), she walked out on the field with confidence. We are still with the same team more than 2 years later.

She was a nervous wreck on the way there. Completely different on the way home.

MNDad said:

It’s easy to forget that kids sometimes need parents support more than our pushing them.

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That is so true.