Are travel sports bad for community?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There have always been kids who do a high level sport that involves practices kind of far from home with kids who don’t live nearby, and lots of traveling to competitions. What has changed is the age at which it all starts and how involved the parents are. Because it starts so young now, the parents have to be more involved. The whole family didn’t used to go. It would be the kids traveling with the coach or maybe one parent would drive several kids because they were old enough to be more independent. This gave parents time to stay around the neighborhood to doing their own thing and interacting with neighbors etc. In this era of intensive parenting you have parents who attend every practice and the whole family goes to competitions. It’s also the intersection of immigrant cultures with the travel sports. The immigrant families tend to all do things together so if one kid is in a sport then they will all attend together. This takes entire families away from the local community in a way that didn’t used to happen.

But honestly I don’t think any of this matters. Smartphones and online shopping/food ordering/everything have killed our sense of community more than any sport.

Sure there have been high level athletes. However, 95% or more of the kids in travel aren’t at that high-level on existing travel teams. They are just players with wealthy parents trying to keep their kids from the unwashed masses. If they all stayed locally, they would develop the same.

Agreed, but this would only work if almost all kids stayed out of travel and if rec would do some sort of draft or leveling of players. It’s hard when rec ends up being this hugely wide range of experience and skill level. It’s not fun for kids who have been playing a sport to be on a team where half of the kids have never played/don’t know how to do the basics. So people put their kids in travel and it’s a vicious cycle.

Not to mention a huge money grab. Do you know how much the owners/operators of your travel organization are making???? Big bucks.

for our kids' youth leagues and travel teams, almost nothing. The 990s are public.

[Anonymous]

NP. OP, are you the weird poster who posted about your kid’s birthday party the other day?

There have so many trollish posts lately about travel sports that are strikingly identical. I am suspicious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There have always been kids who do a high level sport that involves practices kind of far from home with kids who don’t live nearby, and lots of traveling to competitions. What has changed is the age at which it all starts and how involved the parents are. Because it starts so young now, the parents have to be more involved. The whole family didn’t used to go. It would be the kids traveling with the coach or maybe one parent would drive several kids because they were old enough to be more independent. This gave parents time to stay around the neighborhood to doing their own thing and interacting with neighbors etc. In this era of intensive parenting you have parents who attend every practice and the whole family goes to competitions. It’s also the intersection of immigrant cultures with the travel sports. The immigrant families tend to all do things together so if one kid is in a sport then they will all attend together. This takes entire families away from the local community in a way that didn’t used to happen.

But honestly I don’t think any of this matters. Smartphones and online shopping/food ordering/everything have killed our sense of community more than any sport.

Sure there have been high level athletes. However, 95% or more of the kids in travel aren’t at that high-level on existing travel teams. They are just players with wealthy parents trying to keep their kids from the unwashed masses. If they all stayed locally, they would develop the same.

Agreed, but this would only work if almost all kids stayed out of travel and if rec would do some sort of draft or leveling of players. It’s hard when rec ends up being this hugely wide range of experience and skill level. It’s not fun for kids who have been playing a sport to be on a team where half of the kids have never played/don’t know how to do the basics. So people put their kids in travel and it’s a vicious cycle.

Not to mention a huge money grab. Do you know how much the owners/operators of your travel organization are making???? Big bucks.

for our kids' youth leagues and travel teams, almost nothing. The 990s are public.

Didn't the guy running alexandria soccer make some insane salary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how everyone here thinks that it’s a black and white issue- it’s travel ball OR community.

Travel ball is not all year round. Nor is it all life long. Things change and adapt, interests grow and wane.

I'm glad your travel team isn't all year round.
My DS (at the ripe old age of 10) was told that if he didn't do both winter sessions and at least one, preferably two summer camps, he would loose his spot on his travel soccer team.
COVID hit right after that, so it was sort of a natural break, and he started a new sport now that is just so much more healthy and fun for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how everyone here thinks that it’s a black and white issue- it’s travel ball OR community.

Travel ball is not all year round. Nor is it all life long. Things change and adapt, interests grow and wane.

I'm glad your travel team isn't all year round.
My DS (at the ripe old age of 10) was told that if he didn't do both winter sessions and at least one, preferably two summer camps, he would loose his spot on his travel soccer team.
COVID hit right after that, so it was sort of a natural break, and he started a new sport now that is just so much more healthy and fun for him.

Wow, did they tell this to all the kids or just some of them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how everyone here thinks that it’s a black and white issue- it’s travel ball OR community.

Travel ball is not all year round. Nor is it all life long. Things change and adapt, interests grow and wane.

I'm glad your travel team isn't all year round.
My DS (at the ripe old age of 10) was told that if he didn't do both winter sessions and at least one, preferably two summer camps, he would loose his spot on his travel soccer team.
COVID hit right after that, so it was sort of a natural break, and he started a new sport now that is just so much more healthy and fun for him.

I’m assuming your kid was on a top team? This seems silly/risky for a club to do unless they’re trying to push a bubble kid to a different team so that they can get a better player. But if they’re a large club, they have tons of kids wanting to play for them. If they’re doing this at lower levels of travel soccer, then it’s clearly a money grab.

We are also at a club that has winter and summer sessions/camps and have never been told this. However, our child who plays on a top team maintains their fitness and works on their soccer skills during off seasons, but not necessarily through their club (ie on their own or through private sessions). He believes that’s what he needs to do to stay competitive on his team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how everyone here thinks that it’s a black and white issue- it’s travel ball OR community.

Travel ball is not all year round. Nor is it all life long. Things change and adapt, interests grow and wane.

I'm glad your travel team isn't all year round.
My DS (at the ripe old age of 10) was told that if he didn't do both winter sessions and at least one, preferably two summer camps, he would loose his spot on his travel soccer team.
COVID hit right after that, so it was sort of a natural break, and he started a new sport now that is just so much more healthy and fun for him.

Wow, did they tell this to all the kids or just some of them?

They told it to all of them. They were the second from top team in the club. I'm honestly not sure if they were intentionally trying to get rid of some kids and shake things up or if they were just overly intense jack asses. (My instinct is the latter.)
I haven't followed them closely since DS is in a new sport now, but from the mom grape-vine, it sounds like about half the team is still the same kids.

[Anonymous]

I am so sick of my kid's travel sport. We spent 8 weekends last year in crappy hotels for stay and play tournaments - family gets broken up, food is bad, can't get a good workout in, missing out on friendships at home. I want my kid to drop it as he's already good enough to make the high school team in a few years but the odds of playing in college are so low. It is hard to force the issue.

[Anonymous]

The alternative to travel sports in middle school is to stay home and plug in to screens. That's just reality in 2023. It's not 1985 when kids went outside to play, etc. (and even that wasn't totally real--a lot of that is fetishizing history.) I agree that this country has screwed up priorities, but travel sports parents and kids are making a choice between that and a worse thing. It's not like there are these amazing local sports communities just ready to accept kids past age 11. It's travel or stop playing, in reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There have always been kids who do a high level sport that involves practices kind of far from home with kids who don’t live nearby, and lots of traveling to competitions. What has changed is the age at which it all starts and how involved the parents are. Because it starts so young now, the parents have to be more involved. The whole family didn’t used to go. It would be the kids traveling with the coach or maybe one parent would drive several kids because they were old enough to be more independent. This gave parents time to stay around the neighborhood to doing their own thing and interacting with neighbors etc. In this era of intensive parenting you have parents who attend every practice and the whole family goes to competitions. It’s also the intersection of immigrant cultures with the travel sports. The immigrant families tend to all do things together so if one kid is in a sport then they will all attend together. This takes entire families away from the local community in a way that didn’t used to happen.

But honestly I don’t think any of this matters. Smartphones and online shopping/food ordering/everything have killed our sense of community more than any sport.

Sure there have been high level athletes. However, 95% or more of the kids in travel aren’t at that high-level on existing travel teams. They are just players with wealthy parents trying to keep their kids from the unwashed masses. If they all stayed locally, they would develop the same.

Agreed, but this would only work if almost all kids stayed out of travel and if rec would do some sort of draft or leveling of players. It’s hard when rec ends up being this hugely wide range of experience and skill level. It’s not fun for kids who have been playing a sport to be on a team where half of the kids have never played/don’t know how to do the basics. So people put their kids in travel and it’s a vicious cycle.

Not to mention a huge money grab. Do you know how much the owners/operators of your travel organization are making???? Big bucks.

for our kids' youth leagues and travel teams, almost nothing. The 990s are public.

Didn't the guy running alexandria soccer make some insane salary?

Yes, the people running neighboring clubs are mostly volunteer. You can choose to avoid clubs that are all about the money if you want to

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There have always been kids who do a high level sport that involves practices kind of far from home with kids who don’t live nearby, and lots of traveling to competitions. What has changed is the age at which it all starts and how involved the parents are. Because it starts so young now, the parents have to be more involved. The whole family didn’t used to go. It would be the kids traveling with the coach or maybe one parent would drive several kids because they were old enough to be more independent. This gave parents time to stay around the neighborhood to doing their own thing and interacting with neighbors etc. In this era of intensive parenting you have parents who attend every practice and the whole family goes to competitions. It’s also the intersection of immigrant cultures with the travel sports. The immigrant families tend to all do things together so if one kid is in a sport then they will all attend together. This takes entire families away from the local community in a way that didn’t used to happen.

But honestly I don’t think any of this matters. Smartphones and online shopping/food ordering/everything have killed our sense of community more than any sport.

Sure there have been high level athletes. However, 95% or more of the kids in travel aren’t at that high-level on existing travel teams. They are just players with wealthy parents trying to keep their kids from the unwashed masses. If they all stayed locally, they would develop the same.

I've noticed that parents can find a travel team for any kid with a modicum of athletic ability. Everyone wants to say their kids is on a travel team, though I'm not really sure what the point is for most of the kids involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There have always been kids who do a high level sport that involves practices kind of far from home with kids who don’t live nearby, and lots of traveling to competitions. What has changed is the age at which it all starts and how involved the parents are. Because it starts so young now, the parents have to be more involved. The whole family didn’t used to go. It would be the kids traveling with the coach or maybe one parent would drive several kids because they were old enough to be more independent. This gave parents time to stay around the neighborhood to doing their own thing and interacting with neighbors etc. In this era of intensive parenting you have parents who attend every practice and the whole family goes to competitions. It’s also the intersection of immigrant cultures with the travel sports. The immigrant families tend to all do things together so if one kid is in a sport then they will all attend together. This takes entire families away from the local community in a way that didn’t used to happen.

But honestly I don’t think any of this matters. Smartphones and online shopping/food ordering/everything have killed our sense of community more than any sport.

Sure there have been high level athletes. However, 95% or more of the kids in travel aren’t at that high-level on existing travel teams. They are just players with wealthy parents trying to keep their kids from the unwashed masses. If they all stayed locally, they would develop the same.

I've noticed that parents can find a travel team for any kid with a modicum of athletic ability. Everyone wants to say their kids is on a travel team, though I'm not really sure what the point is for most of the kids involved.

Look at the soccer landscape in NOVA. Does anyone think there is enough talent for big clubs to be able to all field 4 teams per age group plus small clubs fielding a couple more? My kid burned out on soccer and decided to try rec while focusing on their other sport. The rec play was lower than her old team, but pretty similar to the lower level team where she used to guest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There have always been kids who do a high level sport that involves practices kind of far from home with kids who don’t live nearby, and lots of traveling to competitions. What has changed is the age at which it all starts and how involved the parents are. Because it starts so young now, the parents have to be more involved. The whole family didn’t used to go. It would be the kids traveling with the coach or maybe one parent would drive several kids because they were old enough to be more independent. This gave parents time to stay around the neighborhood to doing their own thing and interacting with neighbors etc. In this era of intensive parenting you have parents who attend every practice and the whole family goes to competitions. It’s also the intersection of immigrant cultures with the travel sports. The immigrant families tend to all do things together so if one kid is in a sport then they will all attend together. This takes entire families away from the local community in a way that didn’t used to happen.

But honestly I don’t think any of this matters. Smartphones and online shopping/food ordering/everything have killed our sense of community more than any sport.

Sure there have been high level athletes. However, 95% or more of the kids in travel aren’t at that high-level on existing travel teams. They are just players with wealthy parents trying to keep their kids from the unwashed masses. If they all stayed locally, they would develop the same.

I've noticed that parents can find a travel team for any kid with a modicum of athletic ability. Everyone wants to say their kids is on a travel team, though I'm not really sure what the point is for most of the kids involved.

Look at the soccer landscape in NOVA. Does anyone think there is enough talent for big clubs to be able to all field 4 teams per age group plus small clubs fielding a couple more? My kid burned out on soccer and decided to try rec while focusing on their other sport. The rec play was lower than her old team, but pretty similar to the lower level team where she used to guest.

If parents are willing to pay for it, the clubs will continue to field as many teams as they can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The alternative to travel sports in middle school is to stay home and plug in to screens. That's just reality in 2023. It's not 1985 when kids went outside to play, etc. (and even that wasn't totally real--a lot of that is fetishizing history.) I agree that this country has screwed up priorities, but travel sports parents and kids are making a choice between that and a worse thing. It's not like there are these amazing local sports communities just ready to accept kids past age 11. It's travel or stop playing, in reality.

Are parents not just setting rules when it comes to screens? I really don't get this. I want my MS kids to be kids as long as they can and play outside. I may not have total control, but I'll try. And it sucks that in many ways it's travel or nothing. Nothing wrong with kids who just want to play for fun. Of course, they can play pickup sports informally as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The alternative to travel sports in middle school is to stay home and plug in to screens. That's just reality in 2023. It's not 1985 when kids went outside to play, etc. (and even that wasn't totally real--a lot of that is fetishizing history.) I agree that this country has screwed up priorities, but travel sports parents and kids are making a choice between that and a worse thing. It's not like there are these amazing local sports communities just ready to accept kids past age 11. It's travel or stop playing, in reality.

Are parents not just setting rules when it comes to screens? I really don't get this. I want my MS kids to be kids as long as they can and play outside. I may not have total control, but I'll try. And it sucks that in many ways it's travel or nothing. Nothing wrong with kids who just want to play for fun. Of course, they can play pickup sports informally as well.

We do. We set time limits and they’re only allowed it fr-sun. Also, they have to spend as much time outside first. We’ve given more privileges to our eldest as they’ve gotten older, and allow him access during the school week but tied to how much he’s read that day.

Also no social media and they don’t have their own cellphones. We’ll prob give a cellphone in high school but we’d still not allow social media.

FWIW, it’s easier to do the above when friends are nearby and also bc their friends parents do the same or similar.