Travel Ball is Killing Rec Ball

[J.Galt]

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


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According to my 14 yo, "rec is gay, you have a quarter of the team who are there because their parents tell them they have to play, half of the team who are more worried about the bows in their hair and their mismatch socks than they are going to hitting and fielding lessons so they don't suck so much and a quarter of the team who are pissed off that the other 75% of the team is so awful and that there are still 3 weeks left 'til All Stars. Plus you play the same stupid coaches and girls every other week on the same fields and it just gets old after 8U"

Even if some kids aren't good enough to play on PGF level travel teams, it doesn't mean that they haven't outgrown park and rec

 

[whack]

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.


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Sure there can be something done about it. If they aren’t good enough, cut em. Always the same thing (unless we are talking national travel elite type teams) got 3-5 decent to good girls that want to play together their parents all get along so find some players to fill spots and boom travel team. Another rec team folds.


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[whack]

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.

Agree it should be but facts are it’s not. Some? A lot. This isn’t softball specific. In our area there’s 4 4th grade travel girls basketball teams. You don’t make one you try out for another and get on. You could make a decent team if you made one out of the 4.


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[J.Galt]

Would you rather travel teams fold or rec teams?

There are X amount of players, why does it matter if they are playing travel ball or rec ball. If rec leagues are dying they did it to themselves by watering down the level of play to the point that everyone with a clue bounces out before their 11th birthday

 

[OsDad]

At the end of the day, there is typically somewhere for everyone to play ball if they want to, wether it’s rec or low level TB. Is that really so bad? I know multiple people whose kids play multiple sports including travel soft/baseball, so maybe you can find a TB team who will just let her play other sports, instead of dying on the hill of changing the entire culture.


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[whack]

According to my 14 yo, "rec is gay, you have a quarter of the team who are there because their parents tell them they have to play, half of the team who are more worried about the bows in their hair and their mismatch socks than they are going to hitting and fielding lessons so they don't suck so much and a quarter of the team who are pissed off that the other 75% of the team is so awful and that there are still 3 weeks left 'til All Stars. Plus you play the same stupid coaches and girls every other week on the same fields and it just gets old after 8U"

Even if some kids aren't good enough to play on PGF level travel teams, it doesn't mean that they haven't outgrown park and rec

She’s not wrong and it’s bc a lot of the girls that like playing and try hard (whether they are great or not) aren’t there anymore. They are on low level travel teams. Imagine a rec league with decent kids that majority want to be there, they practice 2-3 times a week, the dads/moms that know the sport coaching (coach tb but won’t coach rec lol). It’s not fantasy. It was rec league before all these low level travel popped up. Don’t say it’s not possible either. It’s still this way in rec football. 3 practices a week game on weekend. Dads involved that played beyond high school and really know the sport at a high level. In our little town of 35k people the rec team my son plays for each age division team has at least one coach on staff that played past high school and we are fighting this same stupid battle of travel football teams springing up wanting to take kids all the way down to 5 yrs old on the road to play games. It’s just stupid. Don’t show up to football practice you don’t play on Sunday. Takes care of kids that only show up on game day. Kids aren’t very good or young ones at the age group that need meaningful game time? Give em their own two inning game before real game or schedule their own scrimmage game during a practice day. This stuff isn’t hard it goes on every week in rec football.


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[whack]

Would you rather travel teams fold or rec teams?

There are X amount of players, why does it matter if they are playing travel ball or rec ball. If rec leagues are dying they did it to themselves by watering down the level of play to the point that everyone with a clue bounces out before their 11th birthday

Travel teams fold all the time. That’s not new


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[Eric F]

Agree it should be but facts are it’s not. Some? A lot. This isn’t softball specific. In our area there’s 4 4th grade travel girls basketball teams. You don’t make one you try out for another and get on. You could make a decent team if you made one out of the 4.


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I don't agree that "a lot" of players shouldn't be in travel ball. I see a lot of damn good young ball players on the fields on a regular basis. The range of "better than rec" to "best of the best" is pretty wide, as one would expect from young players that are developing their skills.

 

[whack]

At the end of the day, there is typically somewhere for everyone to play ball if they want to, wether it’s rec or low level TB. Is that really so bad? I know multiple people whose kids play multiple sports including travel soft/baseball, so maybe you can find a TB team who will just let her play other sports, instead of dying on the hill of changing the entire culture.


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Taking a chance of dying on the hill was worth it when the change in culture was to leave rec to go to tb then I take it? Yes she could easily go play on a low level travel softball team that would put up with her playing other sports (ridiculous to even have type that about a ten year old) but it’s not worth the $800-1000 to play that level at ten years old. Maybe by the time she’s 13-14 and decided softball is her favorite or top two we’ll see. While she’s a lil 4th grader though sure be swell to be able to play rec ball.


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[whack]

I don't agree that "a lot" of players shouldn't be in travel ball. I see a lot of damn good young ball players on the fields on a regular basis. The range of "better than rec" to "best of the best" is pretty wide, as one would expect from young players that are developing their skills.

Lol better than rec is just a kid that gets down and ready and covers a bag and understands the game. That’s not talent. That’s simply effort.


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