Travel costs for sb now. Flight. Hotel. Car rental....

[Gambler Bob]

How much would you say a full season of travel would cost your team if you were paying full price? And at $120 per hour for lessons, that's a lot of plumbing to do, especially when you have two playing the game.

I would rather be set on fire than share a hotel room with another family. Yeah, just what I need is to know someone else's bathroom habits. And I get miles on everything I buy through my Sky Miles account, but it still doesn't come close to covering my flights. And if it's over six hours away, I'm not driving.

Sure, these are my personal feelings, but I'm sure many others feel the same way.

I would never pay a person $120 per hour for any kind of softball lesson. That seems like a crazy price to me.

I would say we spend less than $10,000 per year for travel softball.

I have no problem driving 12 hours to a tournament. You are not even saving any time or money by not driving to tournaments that are 6-8 hours away. By the time you drive to the airport and arrive an hour early, go to baggage claim, get a rental car and everything else you need to do, you could have drove to the destination every bit as fast.

 

[_MIA_]

In 2023 any household making less than 75K per year, in particular if you have more than 1 kid, is going to have a helluva time affording elite TB. So I guess that means all of those people are lazy. As a matter of fact, we are having a helluva time affording it with our 3 kids (we cannot just ignore the other two) and household income a bit over 100K (in dirt cheap OK) so I guess I am lazy too..

 

[LEsoftballdad]

I would never pay a person $120 per hour for any kind of softball lesson. That seems like a crazy price to me.

I would say we spend less than $10,000 per year for travel softball.

I have no problem driving 12 hours to a tournament. You are not even saving any time or money by not driving to tournaments that are 6-8 hours away. By the time you drive to the airport and arrive an hour early, go to baggage claim, get a rental car and everything else you need to do, you could have drove to the destination every bit as fast.

See, this is all dependent on where you live. If you were from my area, you'd pay that amount, or you would be with a beginner instructor. I paid $25 for a half hour slot at a D Bat in Denver. That includes balls and a screen. Near me, that cost is easily $40.

Also, with exception of the ferry to Connecticut, I'd have to drive through NYC, AKA Mos Eisley Spaceport, to go anywhere. That's an adventure that can take hours more than it should, not to mention, years off your life. My local airport is 20 minutes away, and because it's small, only requires 75 minutes early arrival.

I'll give you this weekend's event in Chicago as an example. It would take me 13-14 hours to drive there from home. I will leave my house at 3:00 PM for a 5:15 PM flight to Midway. I'll land at 6:20 PM CDT, and if all goes smoothly, I'll be at the hotel by 7:45 PM CDT. That's about six hours versus 13-14. And the flights were only about $500 for both of us roundtrip. The gas cost alone would be $250-$300 for that trip, not to mention the tolls.

I'll spend $30,000 this one year on travel softball, not including lessons.

 

[RADcatcher]

In 2023 any household making less than 75K per year, in particular if you have more than 1 kid, is going to have a helluva time affording elite TB. So I guess that means all of those people are lazy. As a matter of fact, we are having a helluva time affording it with our 3 kids (we cannot just ignore the other two) and household income a bit over 100K so I guess I am lazy too..

Adding this tidbit
Suggesting that perhaps incomes and where people live go along with that budget for softball cost.
The reasonable and unreasonable cost of housing Factor.

Because of the standards of income to rent ratio in California (for a massive portion of all rentals) one person making $75,000 a year is not enough to qualify to rent an apartment.
To qualify to rent need income two and a half to three times the amount of monthly rent.

 

[_MIA_]

I will agree that some parents are too lazy to put the time into developing their kids, that is a different argument and often isn't related to income at all..

 

[_MIA_]

Adding this tidbit
Reflecting incomes and where people live along with softball cost

Because of the standards of income to rent ratio in California (for a massive portion of all rentals) one person making $75,000 a year is not enough to qualify to rent an apartment.

I actually added "in dirt cheap OK" when mentioning our income for that reason. Not everybody who makes less than 75K (or whatever amount is the bare minimum you need to make in order to not have to choose between eating and playing softball) is lazy just like not everybody who is a millionaire isn't..generalizations are usually bad.

How much do teachers make? Let's say women teacher is a single mom because her husband beat her and she had to leave..is she lazy? Her kid loves softball, has a bunch of talent, but the Mom is only bringing home a check of 2.5 K a month. What is she going to do? The kid can play wall ball and hit self-toss at the park till her face turns blue but at some point the lack of resources is going to be an issue ( in particular in 2023 when pickup games are non-existent). I can give a 100 scenarios where lack of wealth has nothing to do with laziness..and most importantly in every circumstance the kid has no control over what their parents make. I just don't get the lack of empathy (if nothing else, for the kids) from what seem to be otherwise good people.

 

[RADcatcher]

I actually added "in dirt cheap OK" when mentioning our income for that reason. Not everybody who makes less than 75K (or whatever amount is the bare minimum you need to make in order to not have to choose between eating and playing softball) is lazy just like not everybody who is a millionaire isn't..generalizations are usually bad. How much do teachers make? Let's say women teacher is a single mom because her husband beat her and she had to leave..is she lazy?

I just added what I did because I saw the number 75k in your post.

What 75k can or not do.

 

[Gambler Bob]

I will agree that some parents are too lazy to put the time into developing their kids, that is a different argument and often isn't related to income at all..

This is where we have different perspectives. Which is fine.

I believe that 95% of the players or families that use the excuse of money being the reason they are not good at something, are just too lazy or just not good enough.

This is not just in sports, I actually believe the same is true in academics or education 95% of the time. The student or parents or just too lazy. I train my kids in sports. My wife takes care of the academic side, since she is a math teacher. My wife also picks up 3 adjunct courses at a local university to help pay for all this stuff. My whole point is, that if people put more effort into what they desire money would not be the issue.

 

[_MIA_]

I believe that 95% of the players or families that use the excuse of money being the reason they are not good at something, are just too lazy or just not good enough.

I honestly haven't had conversations with people (I should just stop there) from "lower level" TB teams who have used money as an excuse but I am sure there are some out there. My point was that there are some people who actually spend a decent amount on travel softball, maybe not to the elite Bandits type level, who could put a lot more time into developing their kid. I find that wasteful regardless of whether they are complaining about not being able to afford "elite TB".

 

[_MIA_]

Gambler Bob you are worser than me!

Funny thing is like both of you guys...until you start talking about politics. Which is why I wish it wouldn't get to that