Travel Youth sports scam?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thought the article raised some serious questions.

https://www.basketballspeedspecialist.com/blog/youth-sports-is-the-greatest-theft-in-america

IME I have seen that every other kid plays travel now..and no they are not all that and they don’t need to be playing travel.

OP I agree. One major problem is the alternative to Travel soccer is Rec soccer. Rec soccer is terrible by comparison. Our Travel program is only able to exist by luring families out of of Rec soccer. They recruit them constantly and decimate the Rec teams. The rec leagues are only ran by the same clubs who operate the travel league. They run the rec league to service the community and get access to the county's turf fields by getting blanket permits to those turf field. But then, plot twist, they only allocate the turf fields to their travel teams for all practices and most games.

If the county were to take back the Rec programs and remove all "non-profit" Travel programs from using all the facilities, the Rec programs would be very robust and good to play in -all the while eliminating 80% of the travel programs (that are self serving and ruin the Rec programs and do not get kids into college) and therefore, would leave just a few -strong- travel programs that would be competitive enough & strong enough to mean something.

Agree with all of the above. Though I will say I’m entertained by the people who seem to think many parents force their kids to do travel sports. I’m apparently doing it wrong, because I’m not sure how you really “force” kids to do much once they get to be 10 or so.

They sign them up and make them go. It's not right, but parents do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thought the article raised some serious questions.

https://www.basketballspeedspecialist.com/blog/youth-sports-is-the-greatest-theft-in-america

IME I have seen that every other kid plays travel now..and no they are not all that and they don’t need to be playing travel.

OP I agree. One major problem is the alternative to Travel soccer is Rec soccer. Rec soccer is terrible by comparison. Our Travel program is only able to exist by luring families out of of Rec soccer. They recruit them constantly and decimate the Rec teams. The rec leagues are only ran by the same clubs who operate the travel league. They run the rec league to service the community and get access to the county's turf fields by getting blanket permits to those turf field. But then, plot twist, they only allocate the turf fields to their travel teams for all practices and most games.

If the county were to take back the Rec programs and remove all "non-profit" Travel programs from using all the facilities, the Rec programs would be very robust and good to play in -all the while eliminating 80% of the travel programs (that are self serving and ruin the Rec programs and do not get kids into college) and therefore, would leave just a few -strong- travel programs that would be competitive enough & strong enough to mean something.

Agree with all of the above. Though I will say I’m entertained by the people who seem to think many parents force their kids to do travel sports. I’m apparently doing it wrong, because I’m not sure how you really “force” kids to do much once they get to be 10 or so.

They sign them up and make them go. It's not right, but parents do it.

Travel sports with tryouts and cuts? Really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thought the article raised some serious questions.

https://www.basketballspeedspecialist.com/blog/youth-sports-is-the-greatest-theft-in-america

IME I have seen that every other kid plays travel now..and no they are not all that and they don’t need to be playing travel.

OP I agree. One major problem is the alternative to Travel soccer is Rec soccer. Rec soccer is terrible by comparison. Our Travel program is only able to exist by luring families out of of Rec soccer. They recruit them constantly and decimate the Rec teams. The rec leagues are only ran by the same clubs who operate the travel league. They run the rec league to service the community and get access to the county's turf fields by getting blanket permits to those turf field. But then, plot twist, they only allocate the turf fields to their travel teams for all practices and most games.

If the county were to take back the Rec programs and remove all "non-profit" Travel programs from using all the facilities, the Rec programs would be very robust and good to play in -all the while eliminating 80% of the travel programs (that are self serving and ruin the Rec programs and do not get kids into college) and therefore, would leave just a few -strong- travel programs that would be competitive enough & strong enough to mean something.

Agree with all of the above. Though I will say I’m entertained by the people who seem to think many parents force their kids to do travel sports. I’m apparently doing it wrong, because I’m not sure how you really “force” kids to do much once they get to be 10 or so.

They sign them up and make them go. It's not right, but parents do it.

Travel sports with tryouts and cuts? Really?

Parents make their kids play sports all the time. I'm not sure why its so unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

For rec leagues to keep decent players past the age of 11 or 12, rec leagues would have to change their rules to allow unequal playing time/bench time, and would have to create some sort of feeder program for brand new players so that a 13 year old can't just show up to play baseball having never played a single day and unable to even throw/catch a ball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thought the article raised some serious questions.

https://www.basketballspeedspecialist.com/blog/youth-sports-is-the-greatest-theft-in-america

IME I have seen that every other kid plays travel now..and no they are not all that and they don’t need to be playing travel.

OP I agree. One major problem is the alternative to Travel soccer is Rec soccer. Rec soccer is terrible by comparison. Our Travel program is only able to exist by luring families out of of Rec soccer. They recruit them constantly and decimate the Rec teams. The rec leagues are only ran by the same clubs who operate the travel league. They run the rec league to service the community and get access to the county's turf fields by getting blanket permits to those turf field. But then, plot twist, they only allocate the turf fields to their travel teams for all practices and most games.

If the county were to take back the Rec programs and remove all "non-profit" Travel programs from using all the facilities, the Rec programs would be very robust and good to play in -all the while eliminating 80% of the travel programs (that are self serving and ruin the Rec programs and do not get kids into college) and therefore, would leave just a few -strong- travel programs that would be competitive enough & strong enough to mean something.

Agree with all of the above. Though I will say I’m entertained by the people who seem to think many parents force their kids to do travel sports. I’m apparently doing it wrong, because I’m not sure how you really “force” kids to do much once they get to be 10 or so.

They sign them up and make them go. It's not right, but parents do it.

Travel sports with tryouts and cuts? Really?

Parents make their kids play sports all the time. I'm not sure why its so unbelievable.

+1 It's no different than forcing your kid to do other enrichment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thought the article raised some serious questions.

https://www.basketballspeedspecialist.com/blog/youth-sports-is-the-greatest-theft-in-america

IME I have seen that every other kid plays travel now..and no they are not all that and they don’t need to be playing travel.

OP I agree. One major problem is the alternative to Travel soccer is Rec soccer. Rec soccer is terrible by comparison. Our Travel program is only able to exist by luring families out of of Rec soccer. They recruit them constantly and decimate the Rec teams. The rec leagues are only ran by the same clubs who operate the travel league. They run the rec league to service the community and get access to the county's turf fields by getting blanket permits to those turf field. But then, plot twist, they only allocate the turf fields to their travel teams for all practices and most games.

If the county were to take back the Rec programs and remove all "non-profit" Travel programs from using all the facilities, the Rec programs would be very robust and good to play in -all the while eliminating 80% of the travel programs (that are self serving and ruin the Rec programs and do not get kids into college) and therefore, would leave just a few -strong- travel programs that would be competitive enough & strong enough to mean something.

Agree with all of the above. Though I will say I’m entertained by the people who seem to think many parents force their kids to do travel sports. I’m apparently doing it wrong, because I’m not sure how you really “force” kids to do much once they get to be 10 or so.

They sign them up and make them go. It's not right, but parents do it.

Travel sports with tryouts and cuts? Really?

Parents make their kids play sports all the time. I'm not sure why its so unbelievable.

+1 It's no different than forcing your kid to do other enrichment.

It's not right though, kids dont need sports, especially these highly intense ones, they need to be kids.

[Anonymous]

This is a tween and teen forum. At this age you don't "force" them to do travel sports. If anything my kid wants to play more and I limit the number of lessons/practices because of time/money limitations. I agree travel sports has its issues. But this isn't one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a tween and teen forum. At this age you don't "force" them to do travel sports. If anything my kid wants to play more and I limit the number of lessons/practices because of time/money limitations. I agree travel sports has its issues. But this isn't one of them.

Travel sports has many issues, way more negatives than positives imo. Maybe we'll just have to agree to disagree, but i have seen kids forced. Thats good if you havent.

[Anonymous]

Most of the people here claiming sports are “bad” have never even had their kids in sports or their kids didn’t like sports and quit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the people here claiming sports are “bad” have never even had their kids in sports or their kids didn’t like sports and quit.

No one said sports are bad, but there are alot of things wrong with them. Starting with the crazy financial and time commitment, also the reason so many kids quit is because its no longer fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a tween and teen forum. At this age you don't "force" them to do travel sports. If anything my kid wants to play more and I limit the number of lessons/practices because of time/money limitations. I agree travel sports has its issues. But this isn't one of them.

Travel sports has many issues, way more negatives than positives imo. Maybe we'll just have to agree to disagree, but i have seen kids forced. Thats good if you havent.

Very curious in which sport(s) you’ve seen this happen.

[Anonymous]

Not a scam, but businesses run for the purpose of generating profits. I'm at the tail end of a travel sport with my high schooler, and we could've done without it. We would have had more mutually enjoyable vacations and experiences had we avoided that scene.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a tween and teen forum. At this age you don't "force" them to do travel sports. If anything my kid wants to play more and I limit the number of lessons/practices because of time/money limitations. I agree travel sports has its issues. But this isn't one of them.

Travel sports has many issues, way more negatives than positives imo. Maybe we'll just have to agree to disagree, but i have seen kids forced. Thats good if you havent.

Very curious in which sport(s) you’ve seen this happen.

Baseball and soccer, and comp dance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a scam, but businesses run for the purpose of generating profits. I'm at the tail end of a travel sport with my high schooler, and we could've done without it. We would have had more mutually enjoyable vacations and experiences had we avoided that scene.

But, it is, there is no way it should cost so much for kids to play sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a scam, but businesses run for the purpose of generating profits. I'm at the tail end of a travel sport with my high schooler, and we could've done without it. We would have had more mutually enjoyable vacations and experiences had we avoided that scene.

It is a scam. Not every kid who plays travel is good enough to play travel. I have seen kids on competitive basketball teams that shouldn’t even be playing basketball. How the heck they are on the travel team? Why do 9/10/11/12 year olds need to be driving all weekend to play games? Why is playing sports more important than family time and down time? How is this not a scam? Parents fall into this trap they are made to believe their kid is good and should be on travel team.