I don't understand how people go about rationalizing these things. IMO you're doing something wrong if you're spending more time traveling than playing. I know there are/have been kids on my DD teams that spend half an hour or more each practice in driving. I know they have teams closer. Are the teams she is on the exact perfect for well no, but I still can't rationalize half an hour trips just for practice except on occasion.

I've used Uber Teen a few times recently for a 14-year-old boy. He's on a regional team with no one local to ride share. We have a nanny, but sometimes it seems silly to pay $40/hour for her to hang out for 2 hours, then drive him back (on days when my spouse travels for work and I'm home with younger kids). The Uber ride is $25, and paying the nanny is $120. I wish we had self-driving cars, as I'd feel better about that than trusting a stranger. My kid is physically big, so I feel a little better using an occasional Uber.

The weekend travel is the worst. We just divide and conquer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like an absolute nightmare. So glad my kids were dorks lol.

This may come as a huge shock to some of you, but .... we actually enjoy watching our kids excel at something they've put a ton of work and effort into. The highlight of many weeks is getting to see my kid out there on the field dominating and having fun with her teammates. The travel also gives us time to bond in the car and take some nice little side journeys/adventures.


But yeah, all travel sports suck and are the end of civilization.

Must be something that white people enjoy to do. The vast majority of Asian people prefer individual sport(s). We don't want to deal with bad teammates.

Not this Asian family! Son plays travel and high school baseball and loves the social aspect. There are bad actors in all parts of life- work, family, school, acquaintances- you have to learn to deal with it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like an absolute nightmare. So glad my kids were dorks lol.

This may come as a huge shock to some of you, but .... we actually enjoy watching our kids excel at something they've put a ton of work and effort into. The highlight of many weeks is getting to see my kid out there on the field dominating and having fun with her teammates. The travel also gives us time to bond in the car and take some nice little side journeys/adventures.


But yeah, all travel sports suck and are the end of civilization.

Must be something that white people enjoy to do. The vast majority of Asian people prefer individual sport(s). We don't want to deal with bad teammates.

Are you serious? This screams a very racist troll, but assuming you are serious - yes playing sports with friends is fun.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like an absolute nightmare. So glad my kids were dorks lol.

This may come as a huge shock to some of you, but .... we actually enjoy watching our kids excel at something they've put a ton of work and effort into. The highlight of many weeks is getting to see my kid out there on the field dominating and having fun with her teammates. The travel also gives us time to bond in the car and take some nice little side journeys/adventures.


But yeah, all travel sports suck and are the end of civilization.

Must be something that white people enjoy to do. The vast majority of Asian people prefer individual sport(s). We don't want to deal with bad teammates.

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like an absolute nightmare. So glad my kids were dorks lol.

This may come as a huge shock to some of you, but .... we actually enjoy watching our kids excel at something they've put a ton of work and effort into. The highlight of many weeks is getting to see my kid out there on the field dominating and having fun with her teammates. The travel also gives us time to bond in the car and take some nice little side journeys/adventures.


But yeah, all travel sports suck and are the end of civilization.

I guess this is a benefit to living in upper NW DC.

When young, my kid had multiple travel team options that were either walking distance or like a 2 mile drive and all the kids generally lived close to one another so any carpooling was easy (and was very well organized through sign-up genius et al).

It was only as a sophomore in HS that they switched to a very competitive national team which required plane travel but there were no practices during the week.

Sounds like an absolute nightmare. So glad my kids were dorks lol.

Honestly, we spend more of our leave for stuff like this and less on actual vacations.

How old is the kid? The older the kid, the later the practice. Carpool has made our lives so much better.

We hired an after school driver. It was the only way we could make it work.

We've done it all at different times and for different kids.

carpool
nanny that worked from 2 to 7 (retired older woman who liked her mornings to herself and was happy for part-time work)
leaving work early
at one point, my daughter was taking a bus that got her within a mile of practice 2 hours before the practice started, so she'd go and walk with all her stuff, then sit on the ground and do homework for 2 hours until practice. The coach was so impressed with the fact that she was always the first one at practice!
Another kid would take bus and metro up to within a mile or so of his practice, and oculd get a ride from a different mom from there
Uber in a pinch when everything else falls through.

We didn't do travel sports until about 7th-8th grade,though, so we had a little more flexibility in kids getting themselves there.

Carpooling.

One thing they never tell you about driving to far away games: without a carpool it can get lonely. Your kid might be happier with a teammate to chat with in the back seat.

Anonymous wrote:We're in a different travel sport, but we deliberately only chose teams to try-out for/consider where getting to (mid week) practice was feasible.
And also looked through the tentative game schedule.

Us too. We are specifically staying with a team because it's closer and we have a carpool.

Single mom here living in NoVA with no family to help and no telework option. My son played AAU/travel basketball for the better teams in DMV that practiced in PG county. Travel time to practice, twice weekly, was at least 1 hour to practice in rush hour traffic but less home.

I made it work with a flexible work schedule, working 10 hour days on non-practice days. I also switched my son to a neighborhood, walkable school (for several reasons, not this) and he did his homework before practices.

Was it worth it? YES for his development and basketball successes in HS and possibly college. But I sacrificed my free time with friends (no time) and working out.