Are travel sports bad for community?

[Anonymous]

Travel sports are bad for families. They take a great deal of time and resources away from the rest of the family. My son played a sport through high school. Never did travel.
He went to a division, one school on a scholarship

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Community bonding? Do you have older children/tweens/teens?
Many kids - if left completely unscheduled- will spend their free time looking at their screens be it bingeing shows, social media or gaming (which one could argue is a community too). Sounds like OP envisions all the travel players hanging in the neighborhood, volunteering, helping neighbors- stuff that sounds great but let’s be realistic. If your kid is completely unscheduled and does these things, then you’ve def done something right!
A little scheduling goes a long way in giving kids some structure, interaction with kids they wouldn’t normally hang with, and either physical or brain activity. And gets them off screens!
What’s wrong if travel sports becomes that activity?

Yeah, weird on a sports message board there’s been a lot of negativity towards travel sports and parents who enjoy watching their kids play sports.

What gives?

Shouldn't parents encourage tweens/young teens to get off screens and go outside then? They get the message that they're too old from somewhere. Get them off screens and go outside and be kids. It worked for several generations of kids.

[Anonymous]

Very bad

[Anonymous]

It’s just a way for people to make money off the backs of families

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Travel sports are bad for families. They take a great deal of time and resources away from the rest of the family. My son played a I
sport through high school. Never did travel.
He went to a division, one school on a scholarship

Shhh but you have to guess which one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Travel sports are bad for families. They take a great deal of time and resources away from the rest of the family. My son played a sport through high school. Never did travel.
He went to a division, one school on a scholarship

My kids play a sport where college coaches will not recruit from or look at high school games or tape. You have to play high level club. They put right say they do not care about high school.

[Anonymous]

At least with travel sports you have a community of people with something in common. I have nothing in common with my neighbors, other than living on the same street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At least with travel sports you have a community of people with something in common. I have nothing in common with my neighbors, other than living on the same street.

But you’ll never find those commonalities if you’re away watching your kid play a meaningless tournament every weekend. Local community is the bread and butter of healthy societies.

[Anonymous]

I notice we lose families from our church who were previously very involved and in the fabric of that community all but disappear when their kids start to play travel sports. It's sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least with travel sports you have a community of people with something in common. I have nothing in common with my neighbors, other than living on the same street.

But you’ll never find those commonalities if you’re away watching your kid play a meaningless tournament every weekend. Local community is the bread and butter of healthy societies.

Not to blow your mind, but my kids do travel sports with neighbors and friends from school. We even—gasp—visit each other’s houses, and mingle with neighbors whose kids don’t play!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least with travel sports you have a community of people with something in common. I have nothing in common with my neighbors, other than living on the same street.

But you’ll never find those commonalities if you’re away watching your kid play a meaningless tournament every weekend. Local community is the bread and butter of healthy societies.

🙄 My neighbors were an elderly couple on one side, and an elderly widowed man who was only my there 1/2 the year on the other side. Across the street were people with kids in HS and college when mine were babies. Great neighbors, no drama, but we had little in common given the different phases of life. My community came from my kids’ school and now also through their club sports.

[Anonymous]

I think in some cases travel sports can create a stronger community.

[Anonymous]

Traveling away? Majority our travel soccer, baseball and baseball are in VA, DC, MD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I notice we lose families from our church who were previously very involved and in the fabric of that community all but disappear when their kids start to play travel sports. It's sad.

Pray for them.

[Anonymous]

With such a concentration of high-end athletes across numerous sports in the DMV and Baltimore, I don't understand why there is so much traveling.