If your All Star team is getting tired of softball .....

[Amy in AZ.]

It is probably not a good time to jump into travel ball. I only see one girl that is ready to go to travel. But, parents don't seem to understand the commitment. They have been practicing 3-4 nights a week and play one game per day or every other day. And many of the girls are acting like this schedule has really crimped their style. LOL

But, yet the parents are looking ahead to HS ball (the girls will be in 7th grade) and are wanting to start a TB team. I have to wonder, do they see what I see?

 

[quincy]

What I have to practice or have 5 games a week?

What I am able to practice and play 5 games a week!

 

[Amy in AZ.]

^ Exactly. And you can't go to Alex's birthday party and we are all going to Julie's wedding, but you.

 

[quandofloo]

My 11 year old just got done with her all star state tournament yesterday. We played 3 back-to-back-to-back. The girls were all fried and ready to head home. When we got to the car mine asked me to make sure we were still going to meet with the potential travel coach today and woke up complaining that she didn't have a game.

I'm glad to not be playing today though.

 

[1696]

Amy, you probably already know a typical schedule. But if your rec parents doubt you, here is our '99s schedule of late: wed 3 hour practice home at 10 PM, wed 2 games home at 9:30 PM, Thurs 2.5 hour practice home at 8:30 PM, fri 3 pool games first at 8 AM, cleats on warming up at 6:45 AM means out the door at 5:45 AM, home at 8:30 PM, sat again out at 5:45 AM last pool game at 8, single elim 4 bracket games, final 4, home at 7:30 PM. Sunday off, DD and I just came off the HS field after 30 min fielding and an hour hitting. Practice mon. 2 games tues. practice wed and thurs. 8 AM game Fri July 4 tourney 7 game minimum (5 pool games, double elim) fri-sun and our goal is to be playing sun until 7:30 PM.

And we're already looking forward to a week in Chatanooga at ASAs.

 

[Coachw01]

I had our tech guy at school stop me in the hallway laughing and told his little league DD (5th grader) to tell me what she just said to him. She said "I told my dad that I have to play a game on Thursday and Friday night, I'm going to be tired...

I laughed along with him and then he asked me to tell her what I told him earlier. I told her that DD (10u) had played 16 games in the last 9 days. Her eyes got huge and her dad just kept laughing. Fortunately he understands the difference between the two and knows his DD is no where near ready. Those parents who don't understand what kind of time and commitment this is will soon find out!!

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Thanks. No. They don't believe me. The most recent start up TB team, isn't going to charge a monthly fee. So, I asked the mom how they were going to enter any tournaments. She said that they are all going to pitch in, for each tournament. I told her that that might get rather expensive, plus paying the gate fee for yourself and 3 kids. She said "Do we have to pay to get in?"

 

[canyonjoe]

The difference between a rec parent and TB parent is that when they tell a coworker on Monday that they just stat through 6 game this weekend and the worker says "That must have sucked".

The rec parent says "It killed my weekend"

The TB parent says "You're right we really blew that semi game"

 

[grcsftbll]

The difference between a rec parent and TB parent is that when they tell a coworker on Monday that they just stat through 6 game this weekend and the worker says "That must have sucked".

The rec parent says "It killed my weekend"

The TB parent says "You're right we really blew that semi game"

So true! And you really can't understand the insane commitment of travel ball til you're in it. Then, you either love it or hate it. I can't even imagine going back to rec though. We'd play our one game and just be gearing up, only to have to go home and wait for the next weekend to play one more. No thanks!

We've played travel for the first time this year and we definitely had some girls who were playing because their parents put them on the team, not because they really wanted to. They're the ones who are whining and tired after 2 games. When we finished game 4 Saturday, our last game with this particular team, mine cried because it was over, even though we had 2 more games that night with another team. When we finished those 2, at 9:45 pm, she said, "I wish we had another game." She's definitely got the soul of a travel ball player.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Here is a text, I got last week, from a LL All Star parent. "It was a brutal season, traveling that far." (They entered a Little League district that played some games 30 minutes from them.)