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[quote=Anonymous]I have a 13 year old son in baseball, and this has been our experience so far.  He joined at 12u, so this is his 4th season (seasons in baseball are fall, spring, and for some, summer) doing travel.  I don't know the commitment at younger ages, but his team has field practices twice a week.  Last year, they had an optional batting practice that most, but not all, showed up for.  Then two games in the form of doubleheaders on Sunday and sometimes a mid-week single game. The team usually does 3-4 tournaments a season; most are within 1-2 hour drives and then we have one out of town tourney.  Each winter, they have 3x weekly workouts that run Jan-March.  I believe that participation in these winter workouts is technically optional, but everyone does them (I have known one kid who didn't do them, though).

I believe you can find teams with less commitment and then teams that are all in; probably just depends on each team's philosophy.

Comparing it to Little League, the number of baseball activities each week seems similar, but the doubleheaders on Sunday are indeed a time-suck.  In addition, obviously you're doing more driving compared to rec ball.

For our family:

[u]Pros[/u]
1. Kid loves baseball and it allows him to be a part of something bigger than himself.
2. His particular team/coach encourages participation in other sports, so DS plays rec basketball during the winter, which he also really enjoys.
3. The skill level is higher than what rec offers, typically.
4. We have an older child who doesn't need to come to games (and chooses not to) and DH often stays home or comes to one of the two games, and does yard or housework instead. So, we aren't dragging the whole family to games and our house isn't fall apart in our absence. YMMV on this one.

[u]Cons[/u]
1. It can be expensive.  Our team has more reasonable fees, but it's still not cheap.
2. Doubleheader games are easily 5-7 hours of the day.

My son asks to do this and we don't push him.  I'm glad that he waited till 12 to do travel as I suspect he might have burned out before, but I know kids who can't get enough of it and eat, sleep, and drink baseball.
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