Positives of doing travel sports?

[Anonymous]

Every time I'm in a hotel in a random city -- think Tulsa or Raleigh or Cincinnati -- I run into hordes of preteens/teens and some parents in town for a sports tournament. Just talking to some of these people they're often in town from cities all across the country for a national tournament. Did you do this kind of travel sport yourself or with your kids? I know everyone here always says it's terrible -- very costly; on the road all the time; no family life etc. But I don't know -- something about it looks appealing. If you play on the same team thru middle and high school, you are traveling with the same kids for almost 7 yrs. I'd imagine those are some tight friendships amongst the kids and the parents. Plus the family is together and frankly who else are you hanging out with in Tulsa? And what are you really missing out on on the weekends in Reston or Burke?

Why are people so down on travel sports? Is it just about cost? I imagine it's thousands of dollars per yr but then everyone posting here always brags about "only" making 300k, so is it that big of a sacrifice to spend 15k on a travel sport?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every time I'm in a hotel in a random city -- think Tulsa or Raleigh or Cincinnati -- I run into hordes of preteens/teens and some parents in town for a sports tournament. Just talking to some of these people they're often in town from cities all across the country for a national tournament. Did you do this kind of travel sport yourself or with your kids? I know everyone here always says it's terrible -- very costly; on the road all the time; no family life etc. But I don't know -- something about it looks appealing. If you play on the same team thru middle and high school, you are traveling with the same kids for almost 7 yrs. I'd imagine those are some tight friendships amongst the kids and the parents. Plus the family is together and frankly who else are you hanging out with in Tulsa? And what are you really missing out on on the weekends in Reston or Burke?

Why are people so down on travel sports? Is it just about cost? I imagine it's thousands of dollars per yr but then everyone posting here always brags about "only" making 300k, so is it that big of a sacrifice to spend 15k on a travel sport?

The teams are constantly changing. Player are dropped, new players added, etc. The cost is ridiculous. And the outcomes are marginal. Would you do all of that for a DIII scholarship? This should not be something that you want for your life or your kid unless you kid truly is a standout athlete.

[Anonymous]

I always think this when the little league world series is televised in August-Sept. It's kids who are the best on their local little league teams who form an all star team and that team plays all over the state, all over the district, regions, and then forms the national team that goes to Williamsport Pa. I don't think kids are getting added/dropped; often the announcers will say how the kids have been together since age 8-9 and are playing on the national stage at age 12-13. I always think those friendships must be so tight for those boys and for their parents. I realize only 1 team will make it to Pa. and it's unlikely to be yours, but it would be so fun to play all around the state, region, district, as far as they could get. And I imagine the kids have a ball staying in one hotel after the next.

Bc it's a family friendly telecast, the announcers always get into the kids' personal history, and I think the challenge is if you have a job or a professional life requiring your constant presence. Seems like for many kids on the team -- their dads own their own business (a large enough one w employees who'll manage it when he's out of town 2-3 days/wk all summer) and moms are SAHMs. Can't imagine how it'd work if the parents were doctors or lawyers or had any kind of job where they worked for others -- it'd be hard to say you just aren't available for much of the summer bc you're following your 12 yr olds baseball team to rural Pa.

[Anonymous]

My kid had fun. He played with like- minded boys and enjoyed being good and working hard. He stopped in high school when school got harder.

[Anonymous]

Travel family here. The end goal is not a scolarship, not sure why people make this assumption.

There are a core group of kids both of my boys have been playing with for years. My kids are very attached to their sport, we live watching them play and frankly it is a lot of fun for everyone. Today, if it's not a washout , we have a big BBQ planned after our game. This is normal and a big part of out social life.

My kids are also in incredible shape from the training. Kids who do travel sports tend to have a lot of energy. When my boys have friends over, it's not video games in thr basement, but instead lacrosse in the backyard, basketball in the court or soccer.

[Anonymous]

I recently saw a ton of soccer players in a hotel also. I don't get why they have to travel to play other teams. There are tons of soccer players in the DC area--why do you need to go to Pennsylvania? What's the point? I get having dedicated players who are excited about the sport and training--select teams make sense. But the travel thing eludes me.

[Anonymous]

I'm sitting n the car in the rain waiting out a thunderstorm for a baseball game to start. Negatives I guess are the cost. We are fortunately in a position that we can afford all the costs but there are a couple boys on our team that it has to be a huge impact on there bottom line.

We did a travel team last year but it was travel lite. This year it's practice 3 nights a week a good distance from home and a tournament every weekend. This is the 1st weekend that we've had to stay in a hotel. It has been a great bonding experience for the boys. My son only knew 2 teammates beforehand and it has been good gettong to know the other parents.

My son loves it and I love the fact he is physically active. My biggest concern is I have two younger kids who have there own stuff going on and get dragged to all these games. My husband travels a ton & I already told him that I'm getting a babysitter for the other two because they are sick of being in the car getting driven around to take him to and from practice. I'm in a carpool but it's a lot. #2 is now talking about travel soccer, ugh.

[Anonymous]

I have an only child so I don't have to worry that traveling to tournaments takes time away from my other kids. I'm also a single mom so I pick and choose the tournaments we go to based on our schedule. My DD fences so it isn't a team sport. If we are busy with something else that weekend, we don't go to a tournament. If we need a break from them, we take it. If it is too far, we don't go. I wouldn't like the team travel sports though. You are locked into the team schedule. We only stay in a hotel maybe twice a year and we get a discount for one of those nights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time I'm in a hotel in a random city -- think Tulsa or Raleigh or Cincinnati -- I run into hordes of preteens/teens and some parents in town for a sports tournament. Just talking to some of these people they're often in town from cities all across the country for a national tournament. Did you do this kind of travel sport yourself or with your kids? I know everyone here always says it's terrible -- very costly; on the road all the time; no family life etc. But I don't know -- something about it looks appealing. If you play on the same team thru middle and high school, you are traveling with the same kids for almost 7 yrs. I'd imagine those are some tight friendships amongst the kids and the parents. Plus the family is together and frankly who else are you hanging out with in Tulsa? And what are you really missing out on on the weekends in Reston or Burke?

Why are people so down on travel sports? Is it just about cost? I imagine it's thousands of dollars per yr but then everyone posting here always brags about "only" making 300k, so is it that big of a sacrifice to spend 15k on a travel sport?

The teams are constantly changing. Player are dropped, new players added, etc. The cost is ridiculous. And the outcomes are marginal. Would you do all of that for a DIII scholarship? This should not be something that you want for your life or your kid unless you kid truly is a standout athlete.

I thought only Division I schools gave sports scholarships?

[Anonymous]

I'm not down on it for other people. I don't feel it would be right for our family, because although DS likes sports, he also has other interests he wants to pursue (music) and we want him to have sufficient time to focus on that and schoolwork. But if you didn't have another outside activity that you needed to commit time to, why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sitting n the car in the rain waiting out a thunderstorm for a baseball game to start. Negatives I guess are the cost. We are fortunately in a position that we can afford all the costs but there are a couple boys on our team that it has to be a huge impact on there bottom line.

We did a travel team last year but it was travel lite. This year it's practice 3 nights a week a good distance from home and a tournament every weekend. This is the 1st weekend that we've had to stay in a hotel. It has been a great bonding experience for the boys. My son only knew 2 teammates beforehand and it has been good gettong to know the other parents.

My son loves it and I love the fact he is physically active. My biggest concern is I have two younger kids who have there own stuff going on and get dragged to all these games. My husband travels a ton & I already told him that I'm getting a babysitter for the other two because they are sick of being in the car getting driven around to take him to and from practice. I'm in a carpool but it's a lot. #2 is now talking about travel soccer, ugh.

What does being on a "travel lite" team entail? Just less travel through out the year & fewer practices per week?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time I'm in a hotel in a random city -- think Tulsa or Raleigh or Cincinnati -- I run into hordes of preteens/teens and some parents in town for a sports tournament. Just talking to some of these people they're often in town from cities all across the country for a national tournament. Did you do this kind of travel sport yourself or with your kids? I know everyone here always says it's terrible -- very costly; on the road all the time; no family life etc. But I don't know -- something about it looks appealing. If you play on the same team thru middle and high school, you are traveling with the same kids for almost 7 yrs. I'd imagine those are some tight friendships amongst the kids and the parents. Plus the family is together and frankly who else are you hanging out with in Tulsa? And what are you really missing out on on the weekends in Reston or Burke?

Why are people so down on travel sports? Is it just about cost? I imagine it's thousands of dollars per yr but then everyone posting here always brags about "only" making 300k, so is it that big of a sacrifice to spend 15k on a travel sport?

The teams are constantly changing. Player are dropped, new players added, etc. The cost is ridiculous. And the outcomes are marginal. Would you do all of that for a DIII scholarship? This should not be something that you want for your life or your kid unless you kid truly is a standout athlete.

Ha, wish this was true. But the fact is kids need to play travel to even have a chance of playing a popular sport in high school. Really wish it wasn't so but finding out first hand that the rec options really petter out after elementary school.

[Anonymous]

When people say it's costly - could you give a ballpark range you spent in a yr for sports like soccer, baseball, or lacrosse?

[Anonymous]

I don't mind spending $2K a year for DS to play with others who love soccer, traveling around Northern Virginia with one overnight stay for a tournament in Richmond.

If my kid's team qualified for two national championships, like the Vienna girls who had a fund-raiser yesterday, OK. That's a nice experience.

Other than that, if a coach wants to drag my kid around to tournaments all over the country, a pro club needs to be footing the bill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always think this when the little league world series is televised in August-Sept. It's kids who are the best on their local little league teams who form an all star team and that team plays all over the state, all over the district, regions, and then forms the national team that goes to Williamsport Pa. I don't think kids are getting added/dropped; often the announcers will say how the kids have been together since age 8-9 and are playing on the national stage at age 12-13. I always think those friendships must be so tight for those boys and for their parents. I realize only 1 team will make it to Pa. and it's unlikely to be yours, but it would be so fun to play all around the state, region, district, as far as they could get. And I imagine the kids have a ball staying in one hotel after the next.

Bc it's a family friendly telecast, the announcers always get into the kids' personal history, and I think the challenge is if you have a job or a professional life requiring your constant presence. Seems like for many kids on the team -- their dads own their own business (a large enough one w employees who'll manage it when he's out of town 2-3 days/wk all summer) and moms are SAHMs. Can't imagine how it'd work if the parents were doctors or lawyers or had any kind of job where they worked for others -- it'd be hard to say you just aren't available for much of the summer bc you're following your 12 yr olds baseball team to rural Pa.

Williamsport reminds me of the idyllic boys of summer experience every year. Damn -- I would take 3 months off work to drive the team around if my DS were to get on an all star team that was on that road.