Mindset of Travel Sport Parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know about others but for us it is quite simple. Our kid loves her sport and we love our kid.
She has too much skill to play rec level as it is frustrating for her. The travel level provides her with the challenge she craves.
She sets the pace and as her parents we want to support her. Nothing more, nothing less.

The dc metro area has a ton of the same level players as your kid—why does she need to travel to Delaware and North Carolina when there are players around here at her level? I get not wanting to do rec, but why do the “travel” teams have to travel so far they need hotels? You are ALL leaving the area when you can play each other here.

Where are all of these same level kid playing locally. Tell me the league and I'll sign my kid up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know about others but for us it is quite simple. Our kid loves her sport and we love our kid.
She has too much skill to play rec level as it is frustrating for her. The travel level provides her with the challenge she craves.
She sets the pace and as her parents we want to support her. Nothing more, nothing less.

For us, this. Also, my kids wanted to learn and improve. We like the consistency and discipline of travel sports and find that (even for multiple kids) one year-round sport with three practices a week and games/tournaments on weekends is not too much.

That said, our goal as parents is NOT college sports. Unlike one PP, I would be UNPLEASANTLY surprised if one of my kids wanted to play a D1 sport in college and have actively chosen not to go the pre-D1 route (meaning, discouraging trying out for the highest level team that requires flights to attend some games , even when kids are invited to try out).

[Anonymous]

Nelson’s full of it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the mindset of parents who sign their pre-teens up for intense travel sports? Are they trying to keep up with the Jones'? Hoping their kid will get a baseball scholarship? Hoping their kid will be the next David Beckham? I just don't understand the appeal of an entire family sacrificing all of their weekend and weeknight time to these leagues. Patrice's multiple night s a week sometimes an hour away from home, tournaments lasting all weekend long four hours away, how do so many parents get sucked in?

They are delusional failed athletes themselves

[Anonymous]

I think you are drawing too general of a conclusion about travel sports. Not all athletes needs can be met by rec, not all clubs are equal, and not all sports are well represented in this area.

In my daughter’s case, she surpassed rec level and found it boring. Staying probably would have resulted in her quitting. She plays a sport that is less popular in this area and while there are a handful of clubs, they are not all equal and traveling more then an hour or two is the only way to find high level play. Is it hard, yes. But she wants to do it so we allow it because it is in her best interest.

[Anonymous]

I can’t answer for anyone else. I signed my son up because he begged. He was playing rec soccer in 2nd grade and upset kids didn’t show up to games on time if they showed up at all. The majority of kids on the team goofed around during practice so the coach spent more time on corralling kids than coaching. The coach was kind enough to pull him aside and work with him 1:1 seeing that he was motivated. We decided to give travel a try because he was begging and the coach was telling us to go. We never once considered he would play in college or get a scholarship though he is now a HS junior exploring college options. Now that he’s older, I have to say that it’s been a fun ride. It hasn’t come at any cost to our other kids who were older. We would just divide and conquer on the weekends as needed. And his teams mostly did local travel so we didn’t incur the high travel expenses and disruption of some families we know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents are living vicariously through he kid

Huh? Isn't OP's premise that it is a waste of time? Then how are they living vicariously if it is a drag?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know about others but for us it is quite simple. Our kid loves her sport and we love our kid.
She has too much skill to play rec level as it is frustrating for her. The travel level provides her with the challenge she craves.
She sets the pace and as her parents we want to support her. Nothing more, nothing less.

This. It is not complicated.

[Anonymous]

OP you are making so many generalizations here. Not all “travel” sports require much travel before the teen years. For soccer the league is regional so they only play teams that are in the DC area. My sense is that basketball is similar. People may have to drive to the outer reaches of the area occasionally, but no overnight trips other than a tournament once or twice a year. Those are fun for the kids and usually the family makes a trip out of it and sees some other things (like museums!) while they’re there. Some sports do seem to take up more time and have more tournaments, but that’s not how all of them are.

As a PP said rec sports have become miserable. Half the kids have parents who take it way too seriously and are coaching from the sidelines. The other half are literally afraid of the ball. Then there are the disruptive kids whose parents of course never stay. The volunteer coaches are usually nice, but know next to nothing about the sport. They also don’t feel as empowered to discipline someone else’s kid. Everyone has to play the same amount of time, so you have these combos of kids out on the field with vastly different skill levels and attitudes toward the sport. It’s frustrating for all of them. Basketball does a pre season skills assessment and holds a draft to try to balance the teams. I wish all rec sports did this. It’s awful when the teams are based solely on random luck and when kids are available for practices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know about others but for us it is quite simple. Our kid loves her sport and we love our kid.
She has too much skill to play rec level as it is frustrating for her. The travel level provides her with the challenge she craves.
She sets the pace and as her parents we want to support her. Nothing more, nothing less.

This. It is not complicated.

This was the same for ours too.

To the PP who suggested that kids focus on academic interests for later, they might be surprised to learn that the kids our kids played travel ball with were also highly successful academically. They were and still are well rounded people with many interests. Our kids are young adults now but their sports friends went to good colleges, grad schools, med school, etc. and are building successful careers and most are still physically active and fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No expectation here of college sports at all. If it leads there I would be pleasantly surprised but I know it’s very, very unlikely. And that’s fine.

Here's the thing. Except for the very rare stud athlete or football if your kid isn't on a travel/club team, your kid is going to struggle to get on the field at most highly competitive high school programs or large HS. It stinks but kids that have been playing on a club/travel team will just be that more advanced than those that don't. Doesn't mean there aren't rare occasions where a rec player can't make the jump or that that there are some HSs or teams that they can't play but for your big sports - baseball, basketball, soccer, etc., you better have more than rec sports in your kid's history. This is especially true if your kid is a boy. For girls there is more lee way.

[Anonymous]

Why is it that every few weeks someone has to start a thread bashing travel sports?

To the many sports haters, many kids simply like sports. Period. It’s ok that you and yours don’t. One kid’s travel sports experience will not impact your child.

Also, our kids ARE good students so please stop trying to act like sports and academics are mutually exclusive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the mindset of parents who sign their pre-teens up for intense travel sports? Are they trying to keep up with the Jones'? Hoping their kid will get a baseball scholarship? Hoping their kid will be the next David Beckham? I just don't understand the appeal of an entire family sacrificing all of their weekend and weeknight time to these leagues. Patrice's multiple night s a week sometimes an hour away from home, tournaments lasting all weekend long four hours away, how do so many parents get sucked in?

I mean, yes to all of that for some of them. Others want to keep kids active, encourage their interests, keep them off screens, give them an outlet for making friends, want them to experience failure in a safe environment (i.e. it's OK to lose) and learn what it means to be part of a team, etc. There's all sorts of reasons why people do this. And they're all valid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No expectation here of college sports at all. If it leads there I would be pleasantly surprised but I know it’s very, very unlikely. And that’s fine.

Here's the thing. Except for the very rare stud athlete or football if your kid isn't on a travel/club team, your kid is going to struggle to get on the field at most highly competitive high school programs or large HS. It stinks but kids that have been playing on a club/travel team will just be that more advanced than those that don't. Doesn't mean there aren't rare occasions where a rec player can't make the jump or that that there are some HSs or teams that they can't play but for your big sports - baseball, basketball, soccer, etc., you better have more than rec sports in your kid's history. This is especially true if your kid is a boy. For girls there is more lee way.

Agree with this except for the part about being a girl. Most girls sports at our HS are rostered with girls who play high level competitive travel sports. Particularly soccer, lacrosse, and softball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No expectation here of college sports at all. If it leads there I would be pleasantly surprised but I know it’s very, very unlikely. And that’s fine.

Here's the thing. Except for the very rare stud athlete or football if your kid isn't on a travel/club team, your kid is going to struggle to get on the field at most highly competitive high school programs or large HS. It stinks but kids that have been playing on a club/travel team will just be that more advanced than those that don't. Doesn't mean there aren't rare occasions where a rec player can't make the jump or that that there are some HSs or teams that they can't play but for your big sports - baseball, basketball, soccer, etc., you better have more than rec sports in your kid's history. This is especially true if your kid is a boy. For girls there is more lee way.

Agree with this except for the part about being a girl. Most girls sports at our HS are rostered with girls who play high level competitive travel sports. Particularly soccer, lacrosse, and softball.

Well that’s cool but girls sports in general are way less competitive