# of Travel Teams

[Gambler Bob]

I had two friends growing up who never played organized ball..they were poor and had family issues. They would play ball in the playground with us every day.. baseball and basketball in the summer and basketball in the winter. One kid made the HS basketball team and one made the HS baseball team. They were not stars but contributed on decent teams.

Imagine that happening in 2021?

I don't see that happening in the area I live. Biggest reason being that I can't remember the last time I saw a group of kids playing a game baseball on their own, or even a game of strike out.

A couple other reasons are the population is too big, all the high schools have 2,000 kids and some of them are pushing 3,000 kids. Just too much competition. Also, too many parents with plenty of money to development talent. I consider baseball and softball to be a skill oriented sports, you don't have to be a great athlete to play baseball or softball. Many of the skills can be developed with time and money. Don't get me wrong, the best players are athletic or very athletic in some instances.

 

[_MIA_]

I don't see that happening in the area I live. Biggest reason being that I can't remember the last time I saw a group of kids playing a game baseball on their own, or even a game of strike out.

A couple other reasons are the population is too big, all the high schools have 2,000 kids and some of them are pushing 3,000 kids. Just too much competition. Also, too many parents with plenty of money to development talent. I consider baseball and softball to be a skill oriented sports, you don't have to be a great athlete to play baseball or softball. Many of the skills can be developed with time and money. Don't get me wrong, the best players are athletic or very athletic in some instances.

These kids were not super athletic but we literally played from mid morning to evening. They would have certainly been better had they had somebody working with them like I did (my father) but if you play enough ball you can develop a pretty good skillset. Part of what I was getting is that some parents nowadays think that throwing money at a problem (developing their kid) will solve it..money on TB, money on lessons, money on bats…all of that helps obviously but for most of the population additional work is needed.

 

[uncdrew]

Here's what happens in our hometown.

The local rec league has an all star program. And a travel program. And it works very nicely for rec standouts to get to play all stars, and then the all stars form a 10U travel team. And it all stays in the program, uses the same fields, helps make $$$ for the org while keeping costs well below other travel teams.

But it never fails that the travel teams get good and are lured away to known Big Orgs. And they leave. They find a new field, get their new jerseys, fees go up a ton...

and then within a week one of the dads whose DD didn't make the travel team quickly fills the void.

 

[bmakj]

Here's what happens in our hometown.

The local rec league has an all star program. And a travel program. And it works very nicely for rec standouts to get to play all stars, and then the all stars form a 10U travel team. And it all stays in the program, uses the same fields, helps make $$$ for the org while keeping costs well below other travel teams.

But it never fails that the travel teams get good and are lured away to known Big Orgs. And they leave. They find a new field, get their new jerseys, fees go up a ton...

and then with a week one of the dads who's DD didn't make the travel team quickly fills the void.

and the whole process starts again.

 

[Greatdaytobeawildcat]

These kids were not super athletic but we literally played from mid morning to evening. They would have certainly been better had they had somebody working with them like I did (my father) but if you play enough ball you can develop a pretty good skillset. Part of what I was getting is that some parents nowadays think that throwing money at a problem (developing their kid) will solve it..money on TB, money on lessons, money on bats…all of that helps obviously but for most of the population additional work is needed.

Yep. Where I grew up, if you weren’t at practice you were playing wiffle ball, or tennis baseball, or touch football, or street hockey, or kill the carrier, or home run derby, or butts up, or kickball, or your dad threw bp, or your brother threw bp, or you threw to him, or you threw a ball against a wall, and eventually it got dark. I never had a private lesson in anything, until I guess I was in high school and I went to a baseball camp in Florida (technically not private, but “paid lesson”). I realize this is not how most kids grow up these days (including mine) which is kind of a bummer

 

[JayW]

I can remember the kids in my neighborhood getting together and doing an Olympics style decathlon (excluding the pole vault for logistical reasons). No parents, no teachers, no coaches. Our most popular sports were probably cul-de-sac kickball, 2 on 2 Nerf football, kill the man with the ball, 500 and 21 in basketball. No specialization. Probably played at least 5 sports in various leagues growing up. No private lessons but definitely attended some summer camps at Florida State.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[_MIA_]

Talented kids who put in the work at home and do all the stuff I mentioned are better than most talented kids in my day..I am not dumb enough to dispute that.

 

[Gtrips07]

These kids were not super athletic but we literally played from mid morning to evening. They would have certainly been better had they had somebody working with them like I did (my father) but if you play enough ball you can develop a pretty good skillset. Part of what I was getting is that some parents nowadays think that throwing money at a problem (developing their kid) will solve it..money on TB, money on lessons, money on bats…all of that helps obviously but for most of the population additional work is needed.

I'd add that there no substitute for the number of games you play. When I was a kid back with the danasours we played wiffleball, baseball, or softball every day in the summer. You learn some things like knowing based on the pitch and when the ball makes contact with the bat where to move as a fielder. We didn't have coaching but we had plenty of reps to pick this up. This isn't taught much at all even in high level travel ball or in lessons.

One of my DD's old teammates is probably one of the best shortstop in the state. She's not super fast but very rangy. Her Grandfather, who played pro ball, is her coach. He was asked one time how it always seems like she knows where the ball is going and gets to it. he responded to the person that she takes more reps identifying where the ball is going than actually fielding the ball and throwing.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

 

[uncdrew]

Yep. Where I grew up, if you weren’t at practice you were playing wiffle ball, or tennis baseball, or touch football, or street hockey, or kill the carrier, or home run derby, or butts up, or kickball, or your dad threw bp, or your brother threw bp, or you threw to him, or you threw a ball against a wall, and eventually it got dark. I never had a private lesson in anything, until I guess I was in high school and I went to a baseball camp in Florida (technically not private, but “paid lesson”). I realize this is not how most kids grow up these days (including mine) which is kind of a bummer

Yeah, it's odd. No one ever taught me anything. You just did it until it worked.

 

[uncdrew]

Talented kids who put in the work at home and do all the stuff I mentioned are better than most talented kids in my day..I am not dumb enough to dispute that.

For sure, and that's what I'm trying to do. Blend the lessons and instruction with goofing around with friends and working hard outside of practice/lessons.

We have one friend who gets his daughter hitting lessons, fielding lessons, pitching lessons. Every day she's in a lesson it seems.

She's not getting better.

We don't think she actually likes softball.