Mindset of Travel Sport Parents
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Anonymous
Don’t know how stupid you sound. Go spend more time at the hotel bar |
Anonymous
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Why why why do people start all of these threads bashing travel sports?
Simply put: travel sports are not for everyone. “Travel team” means a wide range of things for different sports, age groups and areas. Families choose this path for lots of reasons but, while there’s no question that some parents are delusional, most of us are in it because our kid loves the sport, we love our kids, and it makes sense for our family. Yes our yard and house may not be up to standards but I’m willing to bet that our kid will remember his sports experiences from childhood vs the state of our yard/house. We reassess our commitment to the team/training every year and if at some point it becomes too much we’ll make a change. Sports take up a lot of time but we all love sports. + 1 to the PP who made the theater comment. I loathe drama/musical/theater. I understand that many, many people enjoy it. I don’t feel the need to disparage their choices. |
Anonymous
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Should we start a thread “why do people continue to sign their kid up for rec team sports when the kid has little to no interest/skill and never improves?”
Wanting your child to get exercise and have a team experience with friends is a valid reason of course but at what age does that not fly? For example: low skill/low interest Lara is on the team with school friends because that’s “fun” but unlike 80-90% of the team she never improves. Those teammates are going to turn on her at some point because unless she brings something else amazing to the team, kids will not tolerate a charity case after a certain age. |
Anonymous
It's rec, lots of kids aren't very good. My kids like schedules packed with sports, so they do rec when their teams aren't practicing and playing as much in the off season. It's just a fun way for kids of all abilities to play a game |
Anonymous
No one expects kids to be amazing in rec. DS plays on a couple rec sports teams because that’s what works with his schedule. He is naturally athletic so dropping in and playing rec soccer in the fall and rec basketball in the winter is fine. When he was little it was all about the friend group. Fine. I’m talking about the 14 year old whose parents continue to sign him up even though he clearly has no interest in the sport and literally still can’t catch a ball. The parents think it’s a way to stay connected with the friend group but in reality the boys now loathe this kid because when he’s on the court it’s an automatic turnover/it’s like playing a man down. If the kid cared or tried or improved ever maybe the boys would be more supportive and patience. But he doesn’t. As a result that’s playing out in social interactions off the court. I don’t understand why a parent would continue to put their child in this situation—can they not see this dynamic playing out? |
Anonymous
Without reading any posts after this one and getting sucked into flame wars, OP I will say that the main reason people do this is because they really truly believe their kid has a shot at becoming a pro athlete or an Olympian. At least that has been my experience with friends and my kids' friends. I don't think people do it to keep up with the Joneses because most of the Joneses don't do travel sports. I agree that for 99% of families it's not a good investment of their time or money, but some people don't put a price on dreams or their kids' happiness. It's not my business. |
Anonymous
You’re so full of shit |
Anonymous
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Focusing on OP's comments being limited to travel sports that are intense, while neither I nor my children participated at that level, every member of my family (sibling/cousins) who has done so was able to use that sport either to get into a college that would have been unattainable and, for one, to play professionally.
Even with that context, I am overjoyed that my children are happiest with a travel experience that is relatively casual. |
Anonymous
Your friends are not typical. Most absolutely are keeping up with the Joneses so their kid has some social capital and so they have a shot at making a HS team. Most do not believe their kid will go pro or be an Olympian. |
Anonymous
Hmm, that's not really my experience at all. But maybe because DD's sport doesnt really have a pro league. Every now and then you come across the parent that things their kid has D1 potential, but that's few and far between. Most understand that their girls want to make the HS team (maybe even varsity as a freshman), and maybe play in college (but probably not D1) and truly play select ball because they LOVE LOVE LOVE the sport. That's the real reason. DD plays softball. So pro league is kind of a joke. It wasn't even an olympic sport this year. And its REALLY hard to go D1, and even if you do go D1, it's not UCLA or OK or Texas. These girls do it because rec bores the hell out of them, and they want real competition. they truly love the sport |
Anonymous
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It probably goes without saying that at least 40% of the parents responding to this post fall into the category of this sports study.
https://footballscoop.com/news/study-nearly-40-young-athletes-dont-want-parents-games |
Anonymous
I coached travel softball teams for 15 years. Probably 250 kids at various stages. I coached at all levels, from brand-new 9U C teams all the way up to showcase "elite" A-level teams. Maybe 60 of them play in college or will play in college. Maybe half of those play D1. Half of those again quit after one year in college. I can count the number of Power 5 players on one hand. |
Anonymous
| Simple: Kid loves the sport and it keeps them off the street and out of trouble. |
Anonymous
Yup, they play select because they want to be around other girls that feel the same way as them about the sport. My daughter is now going into her 3rd year of B softball with aspirations to move up to A or Elite soon. And even then, she's really not thinking about college. Just about her current level of softball |
Anonymous
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My kid was getting frustrated at rec baseball and he threw and hit the ball so much harder so we had him try out BCC select (kind of like MSI Classic soccer level), from there he was selected to all stars, they suggested travel and the rest is history (varsity baseball but decided not to try for college baseball).
It was a great progression and he learned a lot about sportsmanship, hard work, and yes, losing. Your kids need to know how to have grace under pressure and to be a good sport when they lose. Built a lot of grit. |