Reply to Agree or disagree? Kids should only play travel sports if they have college or pro potential

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Reply to "Agree or disagree? Kids should only play travel sports if they have college or pro potential"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think too many people jump to travel too quickly. Some parents lack an understanding of their kids ability and potential. They maybe good on rec but that doesn’t mean they are good enough for a top travel team. Thus we have mid and lower level travel teams mad up of kids that really should be playing rec which in turn would make rec more competitive and fewer kids would leave for travel. [/quote]

I agree, but would add that it isn't necessarily parents pushing their kids toward travel. I have three kids, who of whom are more serious about their sports and one who plays for fun. There are too many travel teams now, so playing rec is not fun for a kid who wants to do anything other than have fun. The practices don't offer a real opportunity to improve, the level of commitment is low, players don't come to practice, skip games or show up mid-way, and to the extent that your sport requires learning how to play as a team, development of game IQ is all but impossible. For instance, you can't learn a give and go in soccer if your teammate neither give nor go.

I would love to see youth sports return to where they were when I was a kid, where rec. was more like the lower levels of travel are now. The leagues would be made up of committed kids and families who show up for practice and games, but whose lives don't revolve around the sport. For those not ready for that level of commitment, there can be drop-in sports or practices, that allow kids to do something without the structure of teams. With the majority of kids playing in rec leagues that are fun and helping with development, the recreational leagues can offer limited "travel" options, made up of select players who want a more competitive experience. Offering the majority of the chance to play in a fun, structured, and developmentally oriented environment while they are young without the disruption of yearly tryouts, kids hopping clubs, and regular coach turnover and they leave for rival clubs, would ultimately allow the most talented to rise to the top as they get older, while at the same time, keeping more players in the sport.

This would never work, of course, because the economic reality is that coaches and clubs want as many travel players as possible, regardless of their skill level. However, there is no reason to drive 1-2 or more hours every weekend plus weekend in hotels for tournaments for what basically amounts to what used to be the level of a rec team in the past. But it would make for healthier kids and families spending less time in their cars and allowing stability to grow in the sport and socially.

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