Sport travel teams -- what is the reasoning behind them, and at what age?

[Anonymous]

Two kids in elementary school. Among our other obligations, they each love and play team sports. They are both fairly good, but at the club/house/little league level. I know several families that support their kids on travel teams, and I know some of the reasoning behind it (better chances of playing in H.S. and beyond, part of a group, play is more competitive). But I'm throwing it out there to hear from more people. I played sports and had lots of activities throughout my childhood, but the travel teams were not as popular as they seem to be today. I'm getting pressure (not from coaches, btw) to have them try out for and participate on travel teams.

For those that have their kids on travel teams, or who participated on a travel team, why is this important vs. playing on the house league? And at what age is it recommended to move to a travel team?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

For my soccer playing DS the difference was quality of coaching, quality of teammates, and quality of competition. It's hard to get better if you are one of the best on the team and the coach may or may not know much about the sport. We saw huge differences between rec/classic and travel. That being said, there are differences within travel too. In our day NSCL was the league to be in and there was a huge difference between a Div 6 team (in some cases worse than rec) and a Div 1 team.

We started late - 7th grade. Should have started earlier.

[Anonymous]

For my oldest son we were asked to leave rec because other teams were getting frustrated playing our team at a rec level. 4 boys were asked to find new teams. The coach said, "I could take you 4 and create a rec team but that would leave 16 kids without a coach"... so we left.

My youngest started travel because it was easier once the other was there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For my soccer playing DS the difference was quality of coaching, quality of teammates, and quality of competition. It's hard to get better if you are one of the best on the team and the coach may or may not know much about the sport. We saw huge differences between rec/classic and travel. That being said, there are differences within travel too. In our day NSCL was the league to be in and there was a huge difference between a Div 6 team (in some cases worse than rec) and a Div 1 team.

We started late - 7th grade. Should have started earlier.

Agree with all this and would emphasize that for soccer, it is particularly important to work with a coach or program that can teach the kids the foot skills they will need if they hope to play at a high level. I usually hear that 8-12 are the key years for learning the fundamentals. We started travel soccer when our son was in 2d grade and found that has worked out very well. For some sports you don't need to worry about starting so young. A very athletic boy can start football in middle school or high school and be a dominant player.

[Anonymous]

My sons LOVE soccer. I grew up in a 3-kid travel soccer household so it's what I know.

My sons play soccer every chance they get. After the travel games yesterday they were in pick up games at the park.

Travel is year round. Less time in winter (indoor practice) and summer-but still going.

We have found the commitment not to be that great.

In fact- we told then if they did travel they could do only 1 sport per season. Now they longer do baseball and flag football and we have 2-3 free weeknights! I let them do basketball in winter.

My kids were grinning from ear to ear yesterday (first game day).

We aren't doing it for college $, etc. My brother and I were both Div-1 players and not so sure it's the best thing for enjoying the 'college experience'. We are also realistic.

So to answer the ?: love of sport and playing with other kids that WANT to be there. Rec annoyed my kids when teammates didn't have passion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For my soccer playing DS the difference was quality of coaching, quality of teammates, and quality of competition. It's hard to get better if you are one of the best on the team and the coach may or may not know much about the sport. We saw huge differences between rec/classic and travel. That being said, there are differences within travel too. In our day NSCL was the league to be in and there was a huge difference between a Div 6 team (in some cases worse than rec) and a Div 1 team.

We started late - 7th grade. Should have started earlier.

Agree with all this and would emphasize that for soccer, it is particularly important to work with a coach or program that can teach the kids the foot skills they will need if they hope to play at a high level. I usually hear that 8-12 are the key years for learning the fundamentals. We started travel soccer when our son was in 2d grade and found that has worked out very well. For some sports you don't need to worry about starting so young. A very athletic boy can start football in middle school or high school and be a dominant player.

Guess what....A very athletic boy/girl can start soccer in Middle or HS and be dominant player as well....Speed and agility rule

[Anonymous]

But why do they call it "travel"? My observation around the MoCo general area is that no one ever actually leaves the county for a soccer game or tournament. Maybe one tournament is in poolesville and the next one is down county, but that's not what "travel" used to mean.

Should probably call it "club" more accurately, at least until that point / age when these supposedly elite $occer player$ are testing their mettle in Philadelphia, north Jersey, even Hunt Valley. Richmond.

[Anonymous]

I have 3 kids in travel sports now. The big benefit (goal) i see is playing in HS and being on varsity. For many sports, only the travel kids make the team. I don't know about college impact - we aren't that far yet.

Learning a skill well is also a benefit.

THe big downside is tryouts. In our club they have 3 teams per age group (most of the time) and so kids move up and down and sometimes out. Its very stressful and sometimes the decisions don't make sense.

[Anonymous]

Many higher travel teams travel to tournaments in Florida and other places during Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring break.

If they are playing in a higher level travel league, there will be trema sin PA, NJ and ptoentially Ny.

Many of these teams also do a trip abroad to play in England, South America etc.

The tournaments are meant to expose the kids to college coaches that show up to the big name tournaments (such as the Disney showcase. The coaches will not go to every game just to the semifinal and final games. That is why getting on a top travel team is important if you have any interest in playing soccer in college.

Many of the college coaches are recruiting mainly form the academy teams. These are the Best of the best.

Playing HS soccer gives you very little chance of being exposed to any college coaches. So if your kids is really interested in playing the best travel or academy teams are a necessity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:...I'm getting pressure (not from coaches, btw) to have them try out for and participate on travel teams...

from travel team boosters?

[Anonymous]

The pro is (at least in hockey) is it's twice much: 2 practices and 2 games a week vice one of each. Also, in our club, there are 4 levels of travel team per age group so they are differentiated by skill level and are playing with kids of a similar level. So they learn to pass and share the puck a lot more. It's great for kids who want to focus on one sport.

The con is it limits kids to one sport (mostly) and until they have had a chance to pick a sport me thinks it's better after the kids did the sports medley and decide where they want to commit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Agree with all this and would emphasize that for soccer, it is particularly important to work with a coach or program that can teach the kids the foot skills they will need if they hope to play at a high level. I usually hear that 8-12 are the key years for learning the fundamentals. We started travel soccer when our son was in 2d grade and found that has worked out very well. For some sports you don't need to worry about starting so young. A very athletic boy can start football in middle school or high school and be a dominant player.

Guess what....A very athletic boy/girl can start soccer in Middle or HS and be dominant player as well....Speed and agility rule
It would be nice if that were true, but it's not. Kids on top boys teams around here are both extremely athletic and very skilled. If you look at the rosters for the local Development Academy clubs or nationally ranked teams from good non-DA area clubs, you would find that virtually every kid on the roster either has been playing travel soccer since early elementary school or was raised in a soccer obsessed family that hails from Mexico, South or Central America, Europe or Africa.

If your child just wants to play in middle school or high school and is a good athlete, they may well be able to get away with starting later.

[Anonymous]

Simple: my son wanted to play with kids who gave their all in practice and had some skill. He wanted to be in a contact game (rec soccer is generally no contact, and travel soccer is way more physical). He was not enjoying being the dominant player on his team, but wanted to be on a team of kids like him.

We gave it a try and he enjoyed it. So we continued.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 3 kids in travel sports now. The big benefit (goal) i see is playing in HS and being on varsity. For many sports, only the travel kids make the team. I don't know about college impact - we aren't that far yet.

Learning a skill well is also a benefit.

THe big downside is tryouts. In our club they have 3 teams per age group (most of the time) and so kids move up and down and sometimes out. Its very stressful and sometimes the decisions don't make sense.

At least for soccer, I heard that the better kids are not the ones playing for their HS teams. Is this true? This is obviously not true for all sports, but for soccer I heard the better kids are in travel soccer, and some of the more elite clubs don't even allow them to play for their HS or travel is too intense to do both HS and travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 3 kids in travel sports now. The big benefit (goal) i see is playing in HS and being on varsity. For many sports, only the travel kids make the team. I don't know about college impact - we aren't that far yet.

Learning a skill well is also a benefit.

THe big downside is tryouts. In our club they have 3 teams per age group (most of the time) and so kids move up and down and sometimes out. Its very stressful and sometimes the decisions don't make sense.

At least for soccer, I heard that the better kids are not the ones playing for their HS teams. Is this true? This is obviously not true for all sports, but for soccer I heard the better kids are in travel soccer, and some of the more elite clubs don't even allow them to play for their HS or travel is too intense to do both HS and travel.

There are 2 Academy clubs. 2 age groups for high school. So there are about 80 high school kids in the whole DC area playing academy. That leaves plenty of room for good kids to be playing HS soccer. Most kids really want to play for their high school, and many end up leaving the academy programs and returning to their HS teams.

Many of the travel teams in MD and DC take off the fall season so that it doesn't conflict with the high school season. The high school season is done by early to mid November.