Sticker shock

[Sweet Lou]

No beemer. I don't think anyone in the org is making a bunch of money, I think they just make some poor decisions and overspend in some areas and are not structured in a lean way. They really are good guys, I just think they do not make keeping the sport accessible financially to the widest possible swath of families is a top priority.

I have such a hard time keeping in line when I see things i think are wrong and right now I think the costs of this sport have gotten out of hand and it really makes me want to explore alternative models and not the 11 month a year travel ball regiment. I think there is a way they can play rec in fall, HS in spring and join up with the team for the summer season only. That fits our family's cost/committment level a whole lot more that year round ball and I do not think their play will suffer.

Sounds like you are making a pitch to be the orgs new treasurer.

 

[Softball scholar]

Even when people find out I played D1 basketball, it makes people look at my DD differently.

Marriard,

Im a basketball fan, so where did you play at? I wont look at you differently, even though I am writing this post about it specifically which is different .

 

[Excel2002]

I thought the point of sports was to *play* the game...not have someone like FFS or rdbass say, "Wow, she looks great hitting off a tee."

Not that it isn't great to hear a coach give positive feedback...but, the whole point of sports is to challenge another person/team in an activity to find out who is better. And, that winning or losing are both valuable experiences, teaching the participants about not only the specific game but also about life.

Oh' They play a lot of games, just not on one TB team! They will get plenty of life lessons and experience!

 

[Excel2002]

Only rip I have is .....

Since.....

Why don't they coach there own kids being 'WS MVP'S' and all.

Great players seldom make great coaches, but they do a lot of helping and making sure their kids are actually "doing the work" during the week.

 

[Jquick823]

I see some high prices here. My DD's 18U team is considering $1800 for the season. That includes all tournaments, helmet, bag, 3 jerseys, 3 pants, 3 belts, 3 pair socks and 2 practice shirts. We also fundraise to pay for our indoor facility and equipment. We are trying to find ways of lowering it to $1600 but that's tough when you plan on playing in some of the bigger east coast showcases.

 

[CoachKevin]

You can also blame some of it on the Tournaments. TCS charges upwards to 2,000 to enter some of theirs.... Do a couple of those Showcases, throw in PGF/ASA/ECT Nationals.... Getting out of hand if you ask me.

 

[Rambler34]

I guess we have gotten lucky for a long time. My DD has played for two really good org's and it has always been affordable. One of them is considered one of the top in the country and in 8U we had if I remember correctly a $500 team fee for the year. Once we paid for uni's and tourney fees our part of the $500 was it.

The other team probably cost us $500 for 4 years. We had a fundraiser we did twice a year that basically paid for everything except uniforms. We had a place to practice indoor and our own practice field away from the org so we didn't have to worry about times. If we needed anything for the team we had the money to cover. Every once in a while it could get tight just before we did a fundraiser but it definitely kept things affordable for us. Of course being able to pull in close to $9000 on one weekend fundraiser was a huge help.

 

[Softball scholar]

My team charges $1,500 and we play showcases. Im good with that. What I just found out is that our fall schedule has some ridiculous travel. We got 6 tournaments and all are over 4 hours away. Hotel money is going to break me.

 

[WARRIORMIKE]

JJ-Thats a crap load of money. If your happy with the team, then enjoy the ride

 

[corlay]

We are trying to find ways of lowering it to $1600

2 jerseys, 2 pants, 1 belt, 2 pair socks and 0 practice shirts;
will get you there, and then some...