At what age do you have to go travel?

[Anonymous]

Both my kids (5 &8) play four sports. My plan was to have them play as many different things as possible and find out what they liked the best and then concentrate on 2 or 3. At what point do kids need to do travel teams if they have any aspiration of playing in college? Realistically, how many different sports can a child do (that are travel)?

[Anonymous]

They are very young, OP. How do you know they’ll want to play travel, or that they’ll want to play in college? Maybe they’ll be theater kids, or robotics kids, or artists.

My kid started travel baseball at 12. He is a sophomore now, and will play in college if he doesn’t get injured, etc. He played rec basketball for many years, and is now on his school team, but he doesn’t play on a club basketball team like his more serious teammates do.

The time to sign up for travel is when your kid says, after a long weekend of their sport “do I get to play again tomorrow?” They really should do it because it makes them HAPPY.

[Anonymous]

I would not rush into travel - especially with kids who are enjoying multiple sports. Travel can be a grind and is not always fun - it means your kid may be missing out on other activities (birthdays, neighborhood friend time) and one parents is frequently doing a lot of driving to practices and away games. And I think it’s tough to do more than one sport if you’re doing travel - it can be done - but some practices and games somewhere get skipped. Enjoy the rec years and exposing your kids to lots of sports.

[Anonymous]

1. There are lots of sports and a good many do not actually get competitive until kids are older - middle school and high school ages. Examples: Track/Cross Country, Basketball, Wrestling, Volleyball, Golf, and Football. Also, Sports where safety dictates that some size and coordination are needed. The sports where speed and size are key factors, versus sports heavy with skill development are pretty wide open.

2. There are some sports - hockey, baseball/softball, soccer, where safety and tradition really, starts kids younger. One importany effect of that is you see very different levels of technical sport specific skill development.

We always tease that our kids could have been the best dressage riders in American history. All they needed was horses, and years of lessons and competitions. The reality is that what you can do as parents is continually assess what your kid’s interests are, where their talents lay, and what their environment allows. You can’t have a kid spending hours playing a sport if they are failing school. You can’t get them into dressage if you can’t afford the horses and training. Everything is a time and treasure analysis. Sports can be expensive as can music and the arts. We all try our bests to balance things out.

But, you do have to pay attention to that task. It is fine if your kid is not headed to the Olympics or playing in college. But, in lots of locations they will still need some help to make the high school team.

[Anonymous]

There are a few ways to think about this:

1. Will your child be behind other kids if they don’t start more frequent practice in sport X by a certain age? This differs by sport. For example, I think most people acknowledge that age 12 is pretty late to go from rec level to a serious figure skater or gymnast. Whereas, other sports like field hockey or lacrosse allow later entry. If your child wants to be a serious figure skater, then yes, they should get started early. If they want to be a fencer, then they have more time.

2. Will your child be shut out of certain travel clubs if they don’t start by a certain age? Yes, it is easier to get into certain soccer teams, swim teams etc if they start earlier. Kids can certainly be good enough to join later, but they might be shut out because of all the kids who signed up earlier.

3. Will your kid not get the same level of instruction staying in rec vs travel? Yes that is likely. Rec coaches can be excellent, but they usually have kids who don’t want to be there, less skilled, or have other commitments so they often miss games/practice. Club teams have some disinterested kids, but on a whole, their parents are paying more for them to be there, so they show up.

All the posters who advised to let your kid have more time with rec sports and not to hurry to travel have a good point, but #2 above really throws a wrench into that plan. It is really frustrating to find yourself in the position of being shut out of programs. Find parents of kids who are a few years older and ask them about their experiences with travel and if they have any advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are very young, OP. How do you know they’ll want to play travel, or that they’ll want to play in college? Maybe they’ll be theater kids, or robotics kids, or artists.

My kid started travel baseball at 12. He is a sophomore now, and will play in college if he doesn’t get injured, etc. He played rec basketball for many years, and is now on his school team, but he doesn’t play on a club basketball team like his more serious teammates do.

The time to sign up for travel is when your kid says, after a long weekend of their sport “do I get to play again tomorrow?” They really should do it because it makes them HAPPY.

+1 have a high school baseball player (a sport notorious for young travel teams) who didn’t play travel until 13. Three sport hs athlete, loved lots of sports before hs, and is being recruited by multiple d1 programs. Waiting for travel did not hurt him - in fact I think it helped his arm health and mental focus.

You don’t have to put them through that when they are that young. Half the kids we knew from little league who played tons of travel baseball quit by freshman year. You don’t have to give into the pressure

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are very young, OP. How do you know they’ll want to play travel, or that they’ll want to play in college? Maybe they’ll be theater kids, or robotics kids, or artists.

My kid started travel baseball at 12. He is a sophomore now, and will play in college if he doesn’t get injured, etc. He played rec basketball for many years, and is now on his school team, but he doesn’t play on a club basketball team like his more serious teammates do.

The time to sign up for travel is when your kid says, after a long weekend of their sport “do I get to play again tomorrow?” They really should do it because it makes them HAPPY.

+1 have a high school baseball player (a sport notorious for young travel teams) who didn’t play travel until 13. Three sport hs athlete, loved lots of sports before hs, and is being recruited by multiple d1 programs. Waiting for travel did not hurt him - in fact I think it helped his arm health and mental focus.

You don’t have to put them through that when they are that young. Half the kids we knew from little league who played tons of travel baseball quit by freshman year. You don’t have to give into the pressure

Ha. You have a pitcher or a catcher too, don’t you? I am PP, and my son didn’t learn to pitch until he was 13, and didn’t start pitching in his teams rotation until 14. He has never been overused, and he doesn’t have years of wear in his elbow. He plays with a few kids who were pitchers through little league and travel ball, and they’ve mostly move on to other positions. The very best we know has an absolute rocket of an arm, but he essentially got the yips after a shoulder injury freaked him out and he won’t pitch anymore. If he had started pitching seriously at 14 rather than 8…who knows? There is so much randomness and chance to who plays late into high school, and why, and where.

[Anonymous]

It’s been well documented that most pro level athletes were multi sport kids and some of the most famous athletes didn’t even specialize in their current sport until they were past puberty. That being said, if you have a one-sport kid who wants more challenge than rec teams, something like soccer, it it will be hard to break in once they get older and their competition has been training 3 to 4 days a week.

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind, there are also VERY good travel programs that encourage their athletes to play other rec sports in the off-season.

When my daughter was trying out for travel softball, I always made sure to ask what the policy was on other sports (since its best for their athletic development, and its also fun).

The answers were varied, but it did seem that the best, most established programs with the best coaches would always encourage rec sports in the offseason

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are very young, OP. How do you know they’ll want to play travel, or that they’ll want to play in college? Maybe they’ll be theater kids, or robotics kids, or artists.

My kid started travel baseball at 12. He is a sophomore now, and will play in college if he doesn’t get injured, etc. He played rec basketball for many years, and is now on his school team, but he doesn’t play on a club basketball team like his more serious teammates do.

The time to sign up for travel is when your kid says, after a long weekend of their sport “do I get to play again tomorrow?” They really should do it because it makes them HAPPY.

This. It has to be kid driven. It may be U10 and it may be never. Putting a kid who doesn't care about playing travel isn't fair to the kid or the team

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a few ways to think about this:

1. Will your child be behind other kids if they don’t start more frequent practice in sport X by a certain age? This differs by sport. For example, I think most people acknowledge that age 12 is pretty late to go from rec level to a serious figure skater or gymnast. Whereas, other sports like field hockey or lacrosse allow later entry. If your child wants to be a serious figure skater, then yes, they should get started early. If they want to be a fencer, then they have more time.

2. Will your child be shut out of certain travel clubs if they don’t start by a certain age? Yes, it is easier to get into certain soccer teams, swim teams etc if they start earlier. Kids can certainly be good enough to join later, but they might be shut out because of all the kids who signed up earlier.

3. Will your kid not get the same level of instruction staying in rec vs travel? Yes that is likely. Rec coaches can be excellent, but they usually have kids who don’t want to be there, less skilled, or have other commitments so they often miss games/practice. Club teams have some disinterested kids, but on a whole, their parents are paying more for them to be there, so they show up.

All the posters who advised to let your kid have more time with rec sports and not to hurry to travel have a good point, but #2 above really throws a wrench into that plan. It is really frustrating to find yourself in the position of being shut out of programs. Find parents of kids who are a few years older and ask them about their experiences with travel and if they have any advice.

I agree completely with this poster! Differs by sport and gender as well. Girls can tend to wait a little longer and still get into team/ball sports, whereas boys can wait a touch later in swimming in my experience.

My daughter went to travel soccer in 4th grade, it was a good time for her. She had some catching up to do with girls who had been with the club a couple years, but she was tall and athletic, and loved it, it went well. My son went to travel soccer in 3rd. That's when the difference in interest was noticeable in the rec team, the kids who didn't want to be there were a big distraction. He asked to move on then. He started travel basketball in 4th, didn't have trouble getting a team at that point.

[Anonymous]

We started travel with our oldest at 10- because she wanted it. Like she wanted it badly enough to ask. Over and over again.

We started earlier with our younger kid- because it’s harder to break into certain leagues at the older ages if they aren’t some kind of prodigy. (We we’re very lucky with our oldest.) it was a huge mistake for us. At the younger ages, especially if the parents don’t have an older kid for perspective in the same sport- they make it too intense.

Like emotionally damaging kids on the field intense.

Wait it out. Let the coaches mature a little before you join. Also- don’t join until you know what the coaches are like. Just because a team wins all of the time doesn’t mean it’s something you want to expose your kids to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are very young, OP. How do you know they’ll want to play travel, or that they’ll want to play in college? Maybe they’ll be theater kids, or robotics kids, or artists.

My kid started travel baseball at 12. He is a sophomore now, and will play in college if he doesn’t get injured, etc. He played rec basketball for many years, and is now on his school team, but he doesn’t play on a club basketball team like his more serious teammates do.

The time to sign up for travel is when your kid says, after a long weekend of their sport “do I get to play again tomorrow?” They really should do it because it makes them HAPPY.

+1 have a high school baseball player (a sport notorious for young travel teams) who didn’t play travel until 13. Three sport hs athlete, loved lots of sports before hs, and is being recruited by multiple d1 programs. Waiting for travel did not hurt him - in fact I think it helped his arm health and mental focus.

You don’t have to put them through that when they are that young. Half the kids we knew from little league who played tons of travel baseball quit by freshman year. You don’t have to give into the pressure

Ha. You have a pitcher or a catcher too, don’t you? I am PP, and my son didn’t learn to pitch until he was 13, and didn’t start pitching in his teams rotation until 14. He has never been overused, and he doesn’t have years of wear in his elbow. He plays with a few kids who were pitchers through little league and travel ball, and they’ve mostly move on to other positions. The very best we know has an absolute rocket of an arm, but he essentially got the yips after a shoulder injury freaked him out and he won’t pitch anymore. If he had started pitching seriously at 14 rather than 8…who knows? There is so much randomness and chance to who plays late into high school, and why, and where.

I don’t, but I have seen what you describe play out with his teammates over and over again. Dads overused their pitcher sons in little league and kid throws the arm out before playing a single game of hs ball. Tough to watch it happen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s been well documented that most pro level athletes were multi sport kids and some of the most famous athletes didn’t even specialize in their current sport until they were past puberty. That being said, if you have a one-sport kid who wants more challenge than rec teams, something like soccer, it it will be hard to break in once they get older and their competition has been training 3 to 4 days a week.

This is good advice. Depends which sport. Soccer starts training often and early. Joining at 11 on lower level travel teams may be doable but likely not a possibility on top tier teams. Most tennis athletes that I know started very early and did not stray. For other sports, there seems to be more of an ability to jump in later.

[Anonymous]

It’s nice to let kids explore multiple sports at a young age. The move to travel is probably earlier for a sport like soccer than for something like lacrosse. Ideally we wanted DS to be a multi-sport athlete but it was a battle as he got older. He moved to travel soccer pretty early at u9 (8 yo). He begged us to do it, so we spoke to the rec coach (a college player) who encouraged us to have him tryout since he was much more motivated and skilled than his peers. So we let him do it with the agreement we would never push and we would reevaluate if he wasn’t having fun. He did rec baseball and basketball as well but the club team had to be the priority and he missed most rec practices and a lot of rec games. In middle school he decided he wanted to give travel baseball a chance so he took a break from travel soccer because his soccer club said no way to playing both. He had no issue breaking into travel baseball at 11. But he didn’t end up enjoying it as much so he quit baseball and went back to travel soccer. I will say with travel soccer there can be a huge gap by middle school between kids who have been training 3x a week and playing competitive games and kids who haven’t. It’s much tougher to catch up. I don’t think it’s because players who started young keep roster spots because many teams make players try out each year and happily take new players. It’s just the gap grows too big for many kids to overcome. But of course there are always exceptions!