smilesonly Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 We just received the dreaded email from ds's coach. Ds's team has gone as far as they can go with their current league, and 1/2 the team wants to try out for select. Ds's coach is THE best-we adore him!! His priorities have always been in the right place. Last year after ds's team won their division, the entire team-including the coaches-were offered a "No try-out" deal by one of the top select teams in our area. Thank God the vote tipped enough that they stayed together another year. This time, it's really over. Either we head into select, or not. Ds alternates between pitching and catching. I have such a negative attitude toward select-I admit it!:glare: Please share your experiences. TIA.:bigear: ps-ds will turn 10 this month.:eek: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readinmom Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 I can tell you both good and bad things about travel ball. DS played for one of the top teams from ages 10-18. The experience for him was for the most part, wonderful. He has loved the game since he was five years old. He had great instruction, and if he chooses, will make a great coach someday. Over the years, we saw teams come and go, saw parents show up to a game only to find out their son had been replaced by a better player, etc., you name it. (not on our team) Some parents and players do it because they love baseball. Others do it because they think their kid is the next 1st round draft choice. My son did it simply because he loved the game. Was he the absolute best? No; but he was definitely the most willing and respectful. He played every position they asked him to until he reached high school. I don't know what state you live in, but baseball here is year-round. We did this for eight years, not counting league and high school ball. It can wear on you. If you have younger children, it can wear on them, also. Younger ds could really be great if he wanted to, but stopped playing for a few years. He doesn't say, but I'm sure it's because of all the focus on travel ball with older ds. So again, it depends on how heavily a committment you want to make with it. If it seems like you have a great group of kids and coaches, try it out. If you decide that it isn't the right thing for your family, you can always try something else. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalknot Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Baseball is my son's passion, and has always been. From the time he could stand, he was throwing and catching balls. He couldn't wait until he turned five and was old enough to join our local tee-ball team; he was actually counting the months, marking up the calendar until the season he was eligible to register. Total baseball geek. He's a talented and experienced player who takes it upon himself to practice every day, sometimes for hours. He uses his own money to pay for additional, professional hitting and pitching instruction -- willingly, excited to further his skill and learn new tips. He has always played up, and when it came to move into Select we figured there was no looking back. We were wrong. He played select for two years before deciding to drop back down to the Recreational level. He was on a winning team, with a coach we both loved and had experience with (he and my brother co-coached my son and nephew's rec team). I grew up watching my brothers play travel ball, so the lifestyle wasn't a shock to me -- but it was to some families on our team. Lots of driving. Lots of fees. Lots of together time with the team LOL. It's like a part-time job, and the commitment is heavy. Lots of last minute scheduling and schedule changes that make planning anything else in life a challenge. This wasn't a problem for me because my planning is chaotic in general, but my friend struggled. She's Type A and very busy with other kids' activities so she needs everything (firm) on her calendar as early as possible. My son's first year in select was fine. He thrived in the more competitive environment, and really grew as an athlete. He learned more than baseball, too: sportsmanship, handling frustration and emotions, and levels of commitment. He also learned how much adults are vested in seeing their kids play and progress - he saw the ugly that can come of competitive play, and he didn't like it ... or the way it was affecting his friends, and even his friendships. Nothing quite Texas Cheerleader Mom level (remember that news story and movie?) but it was enough that he stopped enjoying the experience and started to see it as a chore. He still loved the game, just not the whole environment of play once he was off of the field. He committed to a second year, during which he decided he was done with baseball entirely. He completed the season but his heart was no longer in it - and it showed. He seemed disillusioned. He took a year off of baseball and did select soccer instead. Saw the same ugliness there, realized it was SELECT sports and not necessarily the sport itself, and decided to get back into baseball. He refuses to play select. He has coaches scouting him on a regular basis, but he refuses to even consider playing select again - for any coach. He does miss the traveling and he really misses the more competitive play - but he also enjoys being the big fish in the small (rec) pond. His level of play reflects his environment; and as well as he continues to play, he's not playing up to his potential (IMO) because he always rose to the level of competition. I'm okay with that; he loves the game but he's not destined for the majors or anything, you know? I'm glad he did it and experienced it. I'm sad it left him confused and stressed about something he always loved. WHen asked why he doesn't play select (small town, lots of people ask him why he's still in rec) he always says the politics and the adults ruined it. He plays to win, but winning doesn't consume him or raise his level of self-worth or -esteem; he's not a cut-throat competitor. My nephew is more cut-throat and continues to play on my son's former select team. He thrives on the stress, and the roller coaster of highs and lows. Angry parents don't upset him, they motivate him. My nephew -like my son was- is one of the team's stronger players, but -unlike my son- he's much less sensitive and intuitive; the politics and adults don'[t ruin it for him. He doesn't even notice it. Different kids, different experiences. It's worth giving it a season or a year to see if it's a good fit for your son, his personality, and your whole family :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smilesonly Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share Posted July 9, 2011 Thanks so much for sharing!! I would love to hear more!! Anyone??:bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 (edited) Thanks so much for sharing!! I would love to hear more!! Anyone??:bigear: My advice is similar to eternalknot's: Try it for a year. There is good and bad to travel/select sports. I've posted a few of our stories (mostly bad) with travel hockey and soccer. My son only ever made the "B" select team in baseball for our organization. Year after year, he'd go to tryouts and the same kids would be selected. It was really difficult for him and us. The reason I'd have say yes for your son to do it is because if he DOESN'T the gap between his ability and the select team's ability will widen each year he doesn't do it. He'll have more practice time & playing time at a higher level. If he doesn't do it, when he decides he might want to, his skills would be behind. Does that make sense? ETA: Baseball (and soccer) here has 2 levels: Rec and Select/Travel. Hockey (here) has 3 levels like horseshowmom decribed. Edited July 9, 2011 by unsinkable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horseshowmom Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 I'm not sure where you are from and what is considered "select ball". Where I am from we have 3 levels of ball: recreation, select, and travel ball (sometimes called elite). Rec ball is traditional recreation league. Select is when they select the most talented kids from the rec league to create a new team that competes against other select rec. teams in the area. Travel ball is usually done through open try-outs and kids are selected onto the team regardless if they play rec or not. SELECT BALL- Their travel schedule is limited to the immediate area and games are on Sunday afternooons. It is more competitive than tradiional rec ball and is broken into fall and spring seasons. Great middle of the road opportunity for families who can't/don't want to commit to a travel ball schedule. TRAVEL BALL- My husband is head coach and my son plays this level. It is very competitive and can be expensive. Our team does a lot of fundraising to keep the costs somewhat reasonable.Our team usually does 2- 3 tournaments a month and usually 1 "big out of state tournament" a season. Our tournaments run Sept- Nov. and March- July. We take the month of December and from mid- July to mid-Aug off and have practices the rest of the season. To make this work your family must have total dedication to the team. It does not work if your family is not fully into it. We have lost 1 family /season to this even though we try to warn them ahead of time. For those of us that do it the players, parents, and siblings become like family and it is really fun! The kids must be competitive in nature to thrive. The emotions can run high and low through the tournaments and they need to be able to be motivated. I will say that the his skills will improve greatly with the time spent with the team. Also, his baseball IQ will far surpass those playing at a lower level. Good luck with your decision. I have 1 son who totally loves it and thrives in it and one son who doesn't. The one that doesn't still enjoys baseball but has found other ways to be involved. (working electronic scoreboard, warming up the kids, helping in the dugout, etc) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan in SC Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 My 9 year old ds just finished his first spring of travel ball. He wants to continue, but not with the same team. There are a few things to consider before agreeing. Who will coach, and does that person have the final say, or can parents overrule? If a parent, or a group of parents wilbur coaching, you need to understand that their children will continue to play important positions, web if they make three errors in an inning. If you can, join a team that hires a coach without a child on the team. What is the process for bringing new talent to the team? Are new players allowed to join during the season, or will the team remain the same throughout? This is more important during travel ball. You are paying $50-75 a weekend to play and you will want to win, at least occasionally. During a losing streak, people will panic and want a big hitter to join the team. This is especially true for Rec league teams that have never lost before. Is your child ready for the level of play? A catcher should let the ball pass very often at 10u and almost never at 11u. Most pitchers in 9u, where my ds played, pitched around 50mph, and the 10u pitchers were able to throw much harder. There is no pitch count rule, so you must keep track for your ds, as coaches start with good intentions and then pitch counts get high very quickly. Travel ball is very expensive. Each tournament is $50-75. Uniforms are about $100, and most teams have matching bags, helmets, etc... Private batting lessons are common, along with catching and pitching lessons. Around here they average $70 an hour. If your team hires a coach, you will have to pay your part, along with field rental a couple of times a week. I don't know how far your team will travel, but there are hotel, food, and gas costs to consider. The tournaments here to not allow coolers. You either need to leave and eat, or eat from the concession stand. If you don't have chairs, a tent, and a battery operated fan, you will want to buy them after the first tournament. This all sounds negative. It doesn't have to be, but it is better to go in with your eyes wide open! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan in SC Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 I'm typing on my phone and it wouldn't let me add the rest. We have learned a ton about travel ball this season. My son loved almost all of it and would play baseball seven days a week, if we would let him. We will pursue travel ball again, but we will know what to ask and we will be very careful about the team we choose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 My 9 year old ds just finished his first spring of travel ball. He wants to continue, but not with the same team. There are a few things to consider before agreeing. Who will coach, and does that person have the final say, or can parents overrule? If a parent, or a group of parents wilbur coaching, you need to understand that their children will continue to play important positions, web if they make three errors in an inning. If you can, join a team that hires a coach without a child on the team. What is the process for bringing new talent to the team? Are new players allowed to join during the season, or will the team remain the same throughout? This is more important during travel ball. You are paying $50-75 a weekend to play and you will want to win, at least occasionally. During a losing streak, people will panic and want a big hitter to join the team. This is especially true for Rec league teams that have never lost before. Is your child ready for the level of play? A catcher should let the ball pass very often at 10u and almost never at 11u. Most pitchers in 9u, where my ds played, pitched around 50mph, and the 10u pitchers were able to throw much harder. There is no pitch count rule, so you must keep track for your ds, as coaches start with good intentions and then pitch counts get high very quickly. Travel ball is very expensive. Each tournament is $50-75. Uniforms are about $100, and most teams have matching bags, helmets, etc... Private batting lessons are common, along with catching and pitching lessons. Around here they average $70 an hour. If your team hires a coach, you will have to pay your part, along with field rental a couple of times a week. I don't know how far your team will travel, but there are hotel, food, and gas costs to consider. The tournaments here to not allow coolers. You either need to leave and eat, or eat from the concession stand. If you don't have chairs, a tent, and a battery operated fan, you will want to buy them after the first tournament. This all sounds negative. It doesn't have to be, but it is better to go in with your eyes wide open! Pitch count rules must vary because there are rules here that must be followed even in tournament ball. That being said, you must be an advocate for your child even if there are rules for pitch counts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan in SC Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 We play USSSA baseball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smilesonly Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share Posted July 9, 2011 Anyone else?:):bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Anyone else?:):bigear: Keep bumping this up. I know Jennifer in MI's boys play travel and Chelle in MO's boys went to the homeschool LL world series. They're probably at baseball this weekend! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelle in MO Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Keep bumping this up. I know Jennifer in MI's boys play travel and Chelle in MO's boys went to the homeschool LL world series. They're probably at baseball this weekend! :D Hey! You're right about us! We just got back to the hotel from being gone since 6:45 A.M.--baseball, visiting a college friend, and shopping. We're in Lee's Summit, MO this weekend for both older boys to play in a tournament (on the same team). They won both games today--yippee! I'll go see if dh has a minute to reply while I go get the baseball grime off me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad 4 Boys Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 "select" is a very nebulous term. I think in general it means baseball that's more competitive than the local rec league. It usually includes some type of tryout to make the team or recruitment based upon a coach or someone else on the team seeing the player in action. The commitment required can vary widely based upon what the team is wanting to accomplish. Our boys have played on teams that play mostly local tournaments with a small number of travel tournaments. I know there are some teams, at all ages, that travel almost all of the time. I think the most important thing is to find a team that meets your level of competition and commitment. We've had the most trouble with finding coaches that behave in an acceptable manner. We just removed our 14 year old from his team because of some integrity issues with the coach and how he was managing the team. I don't have any magic words other than try to find a situation that fits what you're looking for your son. Make sure you ask a lot of questions about any you could imagine that could arise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smilesonly Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share Posted July 10, 2011 Thanks for the input and clarification of select vs travel, etc.. I'm settling down to read Cal Ripken's book:Parenting Young Athletes the Ripken Way. The last thing we want to do is set our ds up for injuries, or burn-out by the time he has hair growing under his arms.;) Taking our whole family into consideration is also so important. So much to consider.:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niffercoo Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Austin played travel/select ball for one season and it was a nightmare. I am not a competitive person and it was astonishing to watch folks we had played ball with for years turn into completely different people when we started traveling to tournaments. My husband has coached Austin for many years, mostly because when he first started playing ball, he needed someone to help him with self-regulation (the asperger's thing). But he's turned into a fine coach and does not get as wrapped up in the drama - though it has gotten worse as the boys get older. But the tournaments were on Sundays and my husband is the music minister at our church so he couldn't go. Which left the other coaches in charge, and that wasn't good. And then I had to bring Reece to the ball field with me, which was difficult. Someone also mentioned the expense, which was the nail on the coffin for us. So we went back to rec ball, and it's been wonderful again! In fact, Austin only has 2 seasons left (this fall and next spring) before he ages out of the league and it makes me sad. :( We looked into the local homeschool varsity team, but it's travel on steroids, and lots of money, and Austin's on the small side. And now he has the rock band so it's not quite so sad. Baseball used to be his life, but now it's just a fun thing to do when they don't have gigs! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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