Agree or disagree? Kids should only play travel sports if they have college or pro potential

[Anonymous]

If you disagree, please share why you're willing to put up with the expense, the travel, and the crazy parents.

[Anonymous]

This old argument again? Come on. The main reasons are 1) higher level of competition — if your kid is really that good it is obvious and they get frustrated plying with kid don’t care/dont k is what they are doing and 2) many can afford it without it being a financial stretch. As for crazy parents, there are plenty of those on the neighborhood summer swim team so it’s not necessarily a rec vs travel thing. Some parents are just nuts and overly competitive.

College sports requires a baseline level of talent/physical potential, but what it really comes down to is who is willing to dedicate themselves to the sport at age 14-16 (in order to get recruited) and who has gotten tired of it by then. There’s no way to predict that until kids reach that age. I did a college sport and there were plenty of people I competed with who could have done it but just chose another path in their teen years. It is pointless to try to predict it. You just have to follow your kid’s lead whether it be rec or travel and support them. You can’t engineer it nearly as much as parents want to believe.

[Anonymous]

Who agrees with this? So dumb.

Also, who can possibly know if their kid has "college potential" before playing travel sports!

[Anonymous]

While I have always admired highly athletic kids and wish them the best, I am just so glad that mine never fell into that category. The commitment required for travel sports sounds exhausting, and many of the parents seem insufferable. And for what? The vast majority of the kids end up putting the sport largely behind them, more often than not before college. I just don't get the appeal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This old argument again? Come on. The main reasons are 1) higher level of competition — if your kid is really that good it is obvious and they get frustrated plying with kid don’t care/dont k is what they are doing and 2) many can afford it without it being a financial stretch. As for crazy parents, there are plenty of those on the neighborhood summer swim team so it’s not necessarily a rec vs travel thing. Some parents are just nuts and overly competitive.

College sports requires a baseline level of talent/physical potential, but what it really comes down to is who is willing to dedicate themselves to the sport at age 14-16 (in order to get recruited) and who has gotten tired of it by then. There’s no way to predict that until kids reach that age. I did a college sport and there were plenty of people I competed with who could have done it but just chose another path in their teen years. It is pointless to try to predict it. You just have to follow your kid’s lead whether it be rec or travel and support them. You can’t engineer it nearly as much as parents want to believe.

There are a lot of kids in travel sports who really aren't crazy good. Let's be real. It's a business and there are lower level teams they fill up to take people's money.

And of course there are more crazy parents with kids in travel. Are they everywhere? Sure. But don't come here with a straight face and say there aren't more in travel.

So I disagree and here's why. Kids should do it if they have fun and it keeps them busy. Many parents enjoy it a lot and it gives them a social circuit as well. If everyone is happy, knock yourself out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I have always admired highly athletic kids and wish them the best, I am just so glad that mine never fell into that category. The commitment required for travel sports sounds exhausting, and many of the parents seem insufferable. And for what? The vast majority of the kids end up putting the sport largely behind them, more often than not before college. I just don't get the appeal.

I don’t understand why people care so much about what other kids do. But I’ll bite..our kids enjoyed travel sports because they loved their sport, got frustrated in rec when kids missed games and practice at the drop of a hat, liked the competitive nature and overall higher skill and commitment levels in travel. None of them had any interest or desire to play in college. But they made great friends, stayed fit, and had great time management skills which served them well in high school and college.

Why isn’t the same disdain shown to non athletic extracurriculars? It gets old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I have always admired highly athletic kids and wish them the best, I am just so glad that mine never fell into that category. The commitment required for travel sports sounds exhausting, and many of the parents seem insufferable. And for what? The vast majority of the kids end up putting the sport largely behind them, more often than not before college. I just don't get the appeal.

Agree 100%. Countless wasted hours schlepping all over creation at ungodly hours of weekend mornings. Hard pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I have always admired highly athletic kids and wish them the best, I am just so glad that mine never fell into that category. The commitment required for travel sports sounds exhausting, and many of the parents seem insufferable. And for what? The vast majority of the kids end up putting the sport largely behind them, more often than not before college. I just don't get the appeal.

The parents like it. They like watching. They like hanging with the other parents. They often were athletic themselves and sometimes, not always, they perceive that it has a lot of social cache for themselves and their child.

I had a daughter who played a D3 sport in college. The group of parents for her travel team in high school was a whole scene. Lots of going out and drinking together. I let my husband partake and stayed home. But they enjoy it.

[Anonymous]

Travel sports is a family decision. Who cares what other people do??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While I have always admired highly athletic kids and wish them the best, I am just so glad that mine never fell into that category. The commitment required for travel sports sounds exhausting, and many of the parents seem insufferable. And for what? The vast majority of the kids end up putting the sport largely behind them, more often than not before college. I just don't get the appeal.

I don’t understand why people care so much about what other kids do. But I’ll bite..our kids enjoyed travel sports because they loved their sport, got frustrated in rec when kids missed games and practice at the drop of a hat, liked the competitive nature and overall higher skill and commitment levels in travel. None of them had any interest or desire to play in college. But they made great friends, stayed fit, and had great time management skills which served them well in high school and college.

Why isn’t the same disdain shown to non athletic extracurriculars? It gets old.

To be fair, what other extracurriculars demand so much time and travel starting at such a young age? I can't think of any. The families I've seen do it, it totally breaks up family time too. Often one parent goes around with the one kids and the other parent stays home with other kid(s). These are late elementary age kids. Not older.

[Anonymous]

Don’t travel sports start way before you can tell if they have that kind of potential?

[Anonymous]

my DD is 13 and has played travel soccer since 8. She has always been athletic and even tried a lower level travel team for one year during covid and got frustrated with the skill, lack of commitment and the coaching so we went back to the higher level team. She has great friends, they have fun together, they all enjoy the game and it is great exercise. Yes- its a big time commitment and it is expensive but the happiness and fun makes it worth it. Plus- she has an outlet that isn't school related. She has gotten great opportunities to travel to places we might not necessarily have gone, will go to Europe next summer and she has recently become interested in playing in college. It might open some doors!

[Anonymous]

I’ll agree to this only if you also agree that no kids should do children’s theater or music unless they have a chance of being in Hollywood movies, Broadway, or a major symphony.

Personally I might seriously consider this tradeoff if it spares me the pain of yet one more youth theater performance.

[Anonymous]

I think it's ok to play because you love it. But also only if it works for your family. The schedules are pretty ridiculous year round, so I will be steering my kids towards other things unless there is a huge passion there.

[Anonymous]

Disagree