I’m wondering if all these sports are even worth it
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
I also agree with this…and it’s just a strange fear of the unknown that keeps people playing for travel vs having their kid do something else. Almost universally the parents that had their kids get into flag or ultimate or some other sport that isn’t travel and is reasonable cost…exclaim, why didn’t I do this sooner? |
Anonymous
+1 Parents spending $10K a year at age 8 for travel baseball when Mom and Dad are 5'2 and 5'9 and don't have an athletic bone between them. Eventually the kid loses the puberty lottery and the family realizes that you can't work your way to being a great ball player and the HS coaches favor the giant man children for the HS team. Then they realize that they wasted thousands of dollars on a race to nowhere. That's when the "It isn't about how good he is, we just enjoy it" schtick comes out. Uh huh. Sure you do. No one is going to admit they went all in on travel sports just for their kid to end up sucking after puberty. |
Anonymous
I sort of agree with this but not completely. I think most families (ours included) know when we start paying for our 8 year old to join the "elite" team, it's not going anywhere beyond maybe high school. We make the decision to do it anyway because our kid loves the sport, we have the income, and dont mind it being the main activity. But I also think there is a percentage of families who get trapped and wont leave even when it becomes clear their kid doesn't need or want that level of commitment. Those are the ones with the identity crisis who spend an enormous amount of time validating their choices. It can feel like a real lose when you finally cut ties with a team and some families just never will. But I don't think it is always like that |
Anonymous
| There is just really zero need to be doing any of it before middle school. Don't get sucked in. If your kid is a good athlete and wants to do it in middle school, there will be a path for them. In any sport. |
Anonymous
| Zero reason to do travel sports if you aren't recruitment material (and most aren't). Once there is a school team, switch to that, or step down rec teams with the flexibility to be involved in other things. |
Anonymous
Some of the large public high schools around here, playing on a rec team means zero chance of ever making the school team. Just reality. |
Anonymous
| No. Not worth it- sports or dance. |
Anonymous
|
Has anyone ever conducted a study of the parents who DON’T have their kids participate in travel sports and yet still get over the top triggered by the parents who DO? The parents who make fun of random kids they don’t know and viciously judge how other parents choose to spend their time and money even though it doesn’t hurt them (or even affect them) in the least?
I think there is some interesting pathology to unpack here. |
Anonymous
One more year until my kid is in high school. I want to phase out club sports once high school starts. They're good enough to make the high school varsity team, which is a fantastic achievement, but that's the end of the road—time to focus on school. |
Anonymous
Why are you assuming people responded here with kids who don't participate? I responded it's not worth it when they're young and my kid is in travel sports. |
Anonymous
Follow up is also aggressive. You don’t even need a dictionary, go ahead an look up the definition on your phone. |
Anonymous
Why would you assume my comment was directed at every respondent rather than the very specific subset of respondents whom I explicitly described? |
Anonymous
| We just dropped the rope on travel soccer. My DD was really good, but was injured often, worn out from the schedule, and doesn't want to play in college. She realized that she didn't have a larger goal and wasn't really having much fun anymore, so we are done. It has freed up so much time and energy for our family. |
Anonymous
+1 Pretty much the same. Rising freshman is good enough to make the JV team at our large high school, and is done with travel ball after this summer. Our HS runs affiliated fall ball teams (common in our area- all games local to our metro area and most high schools participate) & has a great offseason workout program. Kid isn’t a college prospect unless something changes or he grows more than we think he will, so no need to try to make a showcase team. Played little league only through 5th grade, 6th grade did both little league and a dad coached travel team, and then 13U and 14U travel with professional coaches for 7th and 8th grades. So far, only the past 2 years have cost much of anything, and the expense hasn’t been too bad. For most sports (not all), there is a middle route between “expensive travel team starting at 8u, taking over the whole family schedule/family life” and “just play rec, travel sports are total BS” |
Anonymous
| Unintentionally DS gravitated towards "lifetime" sports. In this case we feel like the time and money is worth it because we are investing for him to potentially do something for the next 50 years (or stop tomorrow if that's what he wants to do). I do think it depends on the sport if it's worth it though, how much effort they are putting in and what they could possibly get out of it. For some people that could look like a scholarship and for some that could look like spending time with friends. |