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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My kid didn’t start travel baseball until 12u, so maybe my experience isn’t relevant…but from what I can tell talking to his coach and the kids who’ve been with that coach since 10u, they practiced twice a week and did weekly doubleheader games on Sunday. They were/are in the Northern VA Travel Baseball League, which also includes some MD teams.

Some teams do winter workouts, which can include hitting, conditioning, and some indoor field work. One of my kid’s friends was a star on his 10u/11u teams and he skipped winter workouts to no penalty.

The DH games can be time-consuming, especially if your games are a decent drive away. For us at 14u now, they’re at least a 6 hour chunk of our Sundays.  Some teams only play one game or some only on Saturdays. We also play Wednesday games- not sure if 10u also generally does? So for my son, he’s at 2 two hour practices, 1 mid-week game, and 1 doubleheader on Sunday.  I’m sure there are teams who do much more and teams who do less.

[b]I’d also ask the coach about their batting philosophy. They should be batting the whole lineup at this age, in my opinion, not just the top 9 or 10.  Ask how many they intend to roster- too many kids and someone’s riding the bench for too many innings or too few kids and you’ll struggle to field enough players for a game if someone is missing[/b].

My son loves it (doesn’t always love the Friday practices, if I’m being honest)- loves the game, the dugout camaraderie, seeing his name on his jersey. If and when he stops loving it, we’re done, but for now, I love seeing him in his element.[/quote]

OP I second this in particular. If the coach doesn’t discuss this at the tryout, make sure to ask when the coach calls and offers for your kid to be on his team. Most 10-11U teams will be fairly good about this, but you don’t want any surprises. How many on the roster? Any more than 12 players at this age is a red flag. Do you bat the roster in all games? At age 10-11U the vast majority will do so, but definitely do ask. These are common and normal questions to ask. Also- have him try out for a few teams if possible, and watch the tryout from afar. It can be difficult to be objective about your own kid, but ask yourself how does his skill level match up with the rest of the team/kids trying out? Typically you can get a sense. You want to avoid being among the weakest 2-3 players on a team if at all possible. I say all of this because if he is going to play travel ball at this age- investing the time and effort, he needs to PLAY. Most teams in this age group are great about this, but there are some bad ones out there- control what you can control. [/quote]

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