Sparkler review $$$

[DonnyS]

14yoDD playing on 16U team. 2nd time to Colorado. 1st time at 16U level (read: playing in Denver area not Fort Collins area).

Shared a lot of the above experiences so will try not repeat.

Adding...
-Enjoyed playing in the Denver area more than Ft. Collins. I love Ft. Collins, but really enjoyed Denver and the short (generally less than 30 min drives to each venue). Fields were nice until Sat and then played on average at best fields.
-Being 2025 we did not expect to get a lot of attention from college coaches, but we did.
-A lot of coach contact during the nightly events on Tuesday and Wednesday(?) at Christopher Fields and Aurora.
-I would not do the large college camp again...too many kids...some players did a single college camp with ~30 players and had a much better experience.
-Showcase games were fun. DD met and played with girls from around the country which she enjoyed.
-Team played okay in pool play, but rallied in bracket play. Made it to the top 8 in our bracket. Played competitively with, and beat, some very good teams we would never get a chance to play if we didn't travel to this type of event.
-DD pitched way more than I had planned...another pitcher got injured...but it was good for her to push some limits. She learned a lot about herself this trip.
-Is it "worth it"? Such a relative question. I didn't even think about the cost until I read this thread. We dropped some cash with hotel, rental car, flights, etc. for sure. But if anyone is doing this as an "investment" for college, they should immediately reevaluate their strategy. Take all the money you put into travel ball and put it in a 529 account.
-like the old visa commercials...
Hotel: $2000
Dining out: $1500+
Rental Car: $800
Airfare: $500
Spending 9 days with my DD who will soon graduate and move away, play the sport she loves with her teammates, make new friends, talk with college coaches, develop as a softball player and human being?: Priceless.

Already looking forward to next year.

 

[_MIA_]

Hotel: $2000
Dining out: $1500+
Rental Car: $800
Airfare: $500

We are about 11 hours away so we drove so cost breakdown for us was (approx.):

Tournament fee: $200
Air Bnb (1 week): $1600
Gas (two cars..kind of necessary with a 4 YO and a 7 YO in tow) $400 or so ?
Food (Bringing food from home+1 Sam's club run plus eating out maybe 7 or 8 times): $1000

 

[LEsoftballdad]

We are about 11 hours away so we drove so cost breakdown for us was (approx.):

Tournament fee: $200
Air Bnb (1 week): $1600
Gas (two cars..kind of necessary with a 4 YO and a 7 YO in tow) $400 or so ?
Food (Bringing food from home+1 Sam's club run plus eating out maybe 7 or 8 times): $1000

This week will be worse. I'm headed to Atlanta for the Legacy event for both of my daughters. And, of course, since they're in different age brackets, we're at different complexes at the same times.

Four airline tickets, two hotel rooms, two cars from Turo. The certified financial planner in me is not very happy with the softball dad in me right now. Thankfully, we got the flights on points, for the most part.

 

[_MIA_]

The certified financial planner in me is not very happy with the softball dad in me right now. Thankfully, we got the flights on points, for the most part.

A life dominated by Sports is all I've ever known but my wife not so much (even though she played volleyball in HS and ran track in College) so a happy medium for her is to go to places where she can do vacation stuff plus watch ball . Every tournament we go to she finds things to do with kids that involve local history, etc and it makes her happy..which is good for me...LOL. She has an album setup on FB for the Colorado trip with 141 pictures involving all the things she did with the kids and her parents (who came into town from HI to watch).

We have a pretty good College fund setup for the kids which we pay into every month so that at least makes me feel better about the ball costs. Of course my own retirement savings ain't so great but I figure I will still be able to roll up to the whiteboard in my wheelchair at 90 YO and write down some equations...

Good luck to your kids at Legacy..sounds like a nice tournament from everything I've read.

 

[DonnyS]

We are about 11 hours away so we drove so cost breakdown for us was (approx.):

Tournament fee: $200
Air Bnb (1 week): $1600
Gas (two cars..kind of necessary with a 4 YO and a 7 YO in tow) $400 or so ?
Food (Bringing food from home+1 Sam's club run plus eating out maybe 7 or 8 times): $1000

1/2 our team drove, 1/2 flew. About a 15 hour trip for us.
The numbers I threw out were estimates. Hotel was $2300 but I switched last minute to be at a place DD could ride with others when I had to work. Car rental is probably low as well. Food I have no idea the exact number. We like to eat at nicer places and avoid fast food. But we also bought some food to make/eat in the hotel room.
One could definitely do the trip much cheaper or spend much more money than we did.

 

[_MIA_]

1/2 our team drove, 1/2 flew. About a 15 hour trip for us.
The numbers I threw out were estimates. Hotel was $2300 but I switched last minute to be at a place DD could ride with others when I had to work. Car rental is probably low as well. Food I have no idea the exact number. We like to eat at nicer places and avoid fast food. But we also bought some food to make/eat in the hotel room.
One could definitely do the trip much cheaper or spend much more money than we did.

Yeah, we don't do fast food much either. I am pretty health conscience so I don't typically eat at the restaurants much..maybe 2 or 3 times (one was an anniversary dinner with the DW)..the food costs would be much higher if I did..lol.

 

[DonnyS]

This week will be worse. I'm headed to Atlanta for the Legacy event for both of my daughters. And, of course, since they're in different age brackets, we're at different complexes at the same times.

Four airline tickets, two hotel rooms, two cars from Turo. The certified financial planner in me is not very happy with the softball dad in me right now. Thankfully, we got the flights on points, for the most part.

Ran into a coach at the airport from SoCal. They were not even going home, but off to somewhere back east or maybe south before heading back to pgf nationals in SoCal. They were at another tournament before Colorado as well.

Now I would totally be into that, but recognize not everyone feels the same.

 

[MNDad]

DD played in the Sparkler at 16U in one of the generic divisions and then in the IDT at 18U. I thought it was great being in Colorado for either one since coaches were there anyway making it easier to get them to your games.

 

[DryHeat]

For us, this year was a tale of two different answers.

-For the tournament itself, it was not worth it. Seven days, seven games. Eeesh.
-For the extracurriculars, yes it WAS worth it.

The tourney was OK, nothing spectacular. DD's team was in the 16u power pool. They won the first two then lost to VA Unity and Birmingham Thunderbolts in the TV bracket. The college coaches were out for those games, then kind of disappeared for the rest of the week. The team easily won their first in the champ bracket on Friday, then lost the next two.

The valuable stuff was the camps and the Future Stars game. DD's org held two events. Monday they had a run-of-the-mill org workout. A couple hours, nothing too special, some coaches came but many other orgs were doing the same thing at the same time.

The day before, they held a skills camp for like 5 hours. What was different was we had coaches from 12-13 schools come and coach the skills and the scrimmages. They were compensated for their time, but it gave them lots of time with the players and a real chance to interact. Several of the schools are on DD's short list, so that was great, and worth the trip on its own.

The real fun came at the Future Stars game on Thursday night. It was so cool to see her play on TV. She had a great game, doubling in two runs and she STOLE HOME on freaking ESPN. That memory is totally priceless.

So overall for us the trip was worth it for sure, but mostly because of the extras. There sure is a lot of sitting around unless you head to the mountains. If you plan on going for the camps and various special events it can be a great event.

 

[DonnyS]

The real fun came at the Future Stars game on Thursday night. It was so cool to see her play on TV. She had a great game, doubling in two runs and she STOLE HOME on freaking ESPN. That memory is totally priceless.

So overall for us the trip was worth it for sure, but mostly because of the extras. There sure is a lot of sitting around unless you head to the mountains. If you plan on going for the camps and various special events it can be a great event.

I didn't realize there was a game played on Thursday that was televised. So awesome! I watched the first couple of innings in person on Tuesday (I think) before the lightning delay. What an awesome experience for your DD! My DD had a great night not even playing but talking to coaches and all of the college/olympic players that were there. I think they do a great job with all of the extra stuff.