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.

Interesting to read - I kinda agree and disagree at the same time. Not everything has been corrupted yet by the need for a flex to say your kid is on a travel team.

My DS who is now 19 played (2) sports throughout ES, MS and HS. Basketball and soccer. He played soccer at a rec level until he was 10 and then join a league that had paid coaches, which was great for him since he soccer skills exceed mine and my wife by then, so us coaching was no longer and option. He played in that level league for the same club until he graduated and while he always had paid coaches, he never was on a "top" level travel team. In his years of playing, we spent one night out of town and it was just because the next day he had a very early morning game. Great experience and it was much more expensive than playing rec, but he enjoyed the experience with the team and had fun playing HS soccer as well.

His basketball experience was 100% local rec leagues and he was never the greatest basketball players, he loved playing with and against his friends over the years. I did the scorebook and would help with practices, but it was usually one of his friends Dads that played in HS and a bit in college that would coach. That was your $100 8 week league in the winter and summer. Perfect for him and what he wanted. Happy that it was available in our community from the time he was in ES all the way through HS.

DD who is now U17 is at a 100% different level. She has been playing high level travel soccer since U13 and we spend quite a bit of time and money with this model - numerous overnight trips out of town, trips to the West Coast for playoffs, showcases, etc, but she loves it. She wants to play in college and possibly beyond and was recruited and committed to play D1 soccer at a Big10 school when she graduates. Does the scholarship make up for our out of pocket expense over the years? Probably not, but seeing your child succeed and reach their goals is really wonderful.

So, not everything is all about being on a travel team. There is still the fun playing with your buddies and having a good time if you want it.

Youth sports is definitely toxic. I urge all parents to watch this documentary

https://youtu.be/xOAxFnrGHAA?si=eU2aNWe6S3KigvMA

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see how it’s a scam. At least in our local travel softball group, no one is making any money and everyone is a volunteer. All the money we pay goes directly towards expenses. Playing travel vs rec is the only way to weed out brand new or non-serious players, especially once you hit 11/12 or so. Also “travel” is a misnomer. We don’t travel - plenty of local tournaments and double-headers so we don’t need to.

So how is it a scam? We’d be happy playing in a select house/all-star league against other similar teams but those don’t exist in our area.

Most travel sports have some kind of governing body that employs a lot of adults. Who runs tryouts, secures fields, sets up teams administratively, hires coaches, etc. If your entire league is run by volunteers I assume you pay nothing to participate?

No. Coaches and administrators are not paid and there is no “governing body” other than a board of volunteers. But there are still direct costs - we pay for field time, league liability insurance, umpires for double-headers, tournament entry fees, team equipment (separate from individual gear), stuff like that. I’m confused why you think it would be free? How would that even work?

Travel sports are expensive and a massive time suck. If your child isn’t on the top team the commitment is difficult to justify.

It won't stop because parents buy into it and will pay for it and these sports teams know that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see how it’s a scam. At least in our local travel softball group, no one is making any money and everyone is a volunteer. All the money we pay goes directly towards expenses. Playing travel vs rec is the only way to weed out brand new or non-serious players, especially once you hit 11/12 or so. Also “travel” is a misnomer. We don’t travel - plenty of local tournaments and double-headers so we don’t need to.

So how is it a scam? We’d be happy playing in a select house/all-star league against other similar teams but those don’t exist in our area.

Most travel sports have some kind of governing body that employs a lot of adults. Who runs tryouts, secures fields, sets up teams administratively, hires coaches, etc. If your entire league is run by volunteers I assume you pay nothing to participate?

Not necessarily. It depends on the sport. My son played for an entirely volunteer-run travel baseball league. Coaches aren’t paid, board is not paid. Dues all go toward insurance, paying umpires, uniforms, tournament fees. Now he plays for a “for-profit”, but it is not significantly more expensive. The coaches earn a stipend, but they are mostly dads of players and the stipend does little more than offset their own costs. The higher price tag is really because their teams have access to their own indoor practice facility.

There is still a scam, but it’s mostly at the level of these destination tournaments and training programs/instructors who charge $$$ for lessons.

Yeah, there is no way it should cost that amount of money. Just say no to travel sports, op. I am.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see how it’s a scam. At least in our local travel softball group, no one is making any money and everyone is a volunteer. All the money we pay goes directly towards expenses. Playing travel vs rec is the only way to weed out brand new or non-serious players, especially once you hit 11/12 or so. Also “travel” is a misnomer. We don’t travel - plenty of local tournaments and double-headers so we don’t need to.

So how is it a scam? We’d be happy playing in a select house/all-star league against other similar teams but those don’t exist in our area.

I somewhat agree. Our coaches get paid though and we pay fees for tournaments etc. our travel is all less than 90 mins of driving except one that was in DE.
We loved rec when we first started out but you can’t improve in rec. the coaches are volunteer parents and have everyone on a team from beginner to experienced.
There’s not a whole lot of options if your kid wants to improve, other than travel.

Anonymous wrote:Why do you care op?

I’m not OP and I don’t lose sleep over this but I do think it’s ruined youth sports for a lot of kids.

Clear negatives I see:

Overspecialization too early in one sport. Bad for kids, but forced on them.

Loss of family and community time while spending all ones time playing a travel sport.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see how it’s a scam. At least in our local travel softball group, no one is making any money and everyone is a volunteer. All the money we pay goes directly towards expenses. Playing travel vs rec is the only way to weed out brand new or non-serious players, especially once you hit 11/12 or so. Also “travel” is a misnomer. We don’t travel - plenty of local tournaments and double-headers so we don’t need to.

So how is it a scam? We’d be happy playing in a select house/all-star league against other similar teams but those don’t exist in our area.

Most travel sports have some kind of governing body that employs a lot of adults. Who runs tryouts, secures fields, sets up teams administratively, hires coaches, etc. If your entire league is run by volunteers I assume you pay nothing to participate?

Take Back the Game by Linda Flanagan is a great look at the state of youth sports, including travel. It's much more compelling than that story.

Why do you care op?

I don’t see how it’s a scam. At least in our local travel softball group, no one is making any money and everyone is a volunteer. All the money we pay goes directly towards expenses. Playing travel vs rec is the only way to weed out brand new or non-serious players, especially once you hit 11/12 or so. Also “travel” is a misnomer. We don’t travel - plenty of local tournaments and double-headers so we don’t need to.

So how is it a scam? We’d be happy playing in a select house/all-star league against other similar teams but those don’t exist in our area.

In other news the sky is blue

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.