Travel Ball is Killing Rec Ball

[Eric F]

They already have 8U machine pitch travel teams here in OK along with t-ball. Not sure how much they actually "travel" but they play tournaments 2 or 3 times a month etc...Kind of ridiculous if you ask me but hey whatever floats some parents boats. My DD played rec for 4 years before moving to travel ball at 10U (she was 8 but played up on a kid pitch first year 10U team). She was ready for kid pitch and the rec league kid pitching was bad (as you can expect)..she would have been lucky to see 2 or 3 strikes a game to swing at . Her rec team played a MP "tournament" and she enjoyed the whole tournament atmosphere so we asked her if she wanted to play TB and she said yes. I have a 4 year old son who will start playing rec at some point and we will make the best decision for him regarding moving on to TB when/if that time comes.

"Machine pitch travel..." OMG. C'mon, people!

It's interesting to see how rec softball is structured in different parts of the country. In So Cal, 8U rec has hybrid player/coach pitch for the first half of the season, and then it's all player pitch for the second half and league tournament. 8U All-Stars is all player pitch. Until I knew better, I thought this was common across the country. I've been thoroughly stunned to learn that some areas continue with machine pitch through 10U.

 

[_MIA_]

"Machine pitch travel..." OMG. C'mon, people!

Yes, like I said ridiculous..did you miss the t-ball travel part?

 

[Eric F]

Yes, like I said ridiculous..did you miss the t-ball travel part?

Yes. I was distracted by "machine pitch travel".

 

[OsDad]

There is still at least one rec league I know of here in Oklahoma City that is machine pitch all the way through 2nd season of 10u, while you can drive 25 minutes southeast of that park this July to another park and watch the 6u T-Ball USSSA South National Championship (really).

 

[whack]

Not sure why the folks that have been saying travel ball is a must, if your kids decent they gotta play travel, if they need more competition put em in travel, if they really love the sport put em in travel are now scoffing at the machine pitch and travel t ball teams? I mean if putting em in at 10 was good for em t ball is even better to get em a big jump on playing right?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Eric F]

Not sure why the folks that have been saying travel ball is a must, if your kids decent they gotta play travel, if they need more competition put em in travel, if they really love the sport put em in travel are now scoffing at the machine pitch and travel t ball teams? I mean if putting em in at 10 was good for em t ball is even better to get em a big jump on playing right?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Travel ball is the place for players who have out-grown what their rec league can offer, and are ready to play with and against advanced-level players. If the game still includes a pitching machine or a batting tee, that's not really an advanced level of the game.

 

[whack]

Travel ball is the place for players who have out-grown what their rec league can offer, and are ready to play with and against advanced-level players. If the game still includes a pitching machine or a batting tee, that's not really an advanced level of the game.

Wrong. Travel has all kinds of kids that haven’t remotely outgrown the rec leagues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[_MIA_]

Not sure why the folks that have been saying travel ball is a must, if your kids decent they gotta play travel, if they need more competition put em in travel, if they really love the sport put em in travel are now scoffing at the machine pitch and travel t ball teams? I mean if putting em in at 10 was good for em t ball is even better to get em a big jump on playing right?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

At the younger ages I could give my kid everything she needed to get better e.g. work with her on her fielding/hitting/throwing mechanics. However once she got to the point where she was ready to go to kid pitch, what I couldn't give her was the opportunity to face quality pitching...my windmill pitching is lousy. That is the main reason I moved her to TB when I did.

 

[Eric F]

Wrong. Travel has all kinds of kids that haven’t remotely outgrown the rec leagues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What I should have said is that TB "should be the place for players who have out-grown what their rec league can offer." I agree that there are definitely some players that would be better off staying in rec ball.

 

[OsDad]

Wrong. Travel has all kinds of kids that haven’t remotely outgrown the rec leagues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Eric didn’t say that every kid in travel ball belongs there. He said it’s a place for the kids who DO belong there. None of us can do anything about kids playing TB who shouldn’t be but that doesn’t change what TB is or who it is for.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk