My experience with ATB is the opposite. Our coaches were quite strong throughout the years. In fact, some provided very detailed coaching even at the lowest age levels. I found everyone respectful when it comes to ATB coaches.

In the spring, one travel practice is okay. There are two LL practices and a bunch of games, as well as several tournaments and doubleheaders. Summer picks up after All-Stars with tons of practices and tournaments in July.

ATB has very competitive and strong teams across generations. Stuff they do works.

ATB was the biggest waste of time and was the worst experience for my child. He wanted to stay with his friends and my husband was a coach in little league, so we stuck with it until he aged out but it was miserable. The practices are bad, universally. They only practice in the fall. After the fall season it’s only once a week, then they take a month off because of little league’s all star season. The coaches are either checked out or really not constructive. One of their coaches told my eight year old that his swing was “such sh**” and that’s why he never could get on base. He had just turned eight too! Another coach nicknamed a kid fatty. You can’t make this crap up!

Both travel groups—ABR and ATB—are fine. There are pros and cons to each. I know them well, and there are always characters/personalities involved. ATB tends to be less "daddy ball"; ABR is more parent-driven, with a lot of favorites and lots of drama etc. I would say that those two organizations are pretty serious in Arlington. The recent merger with Arlington United at the 13U level has created even stronger team(s).

The demands of travel baseball are real if you want to spend your time, money, and develop your player wisely. Otherwise, for a multi-sport approach, you don't need travel; there are plenty of other opportunities.

TBH, if you are not already part of travel baseball, it is very hard for a kid to get anywhere when the time comes at the 13 or 14-year-old level and real field. No one can just "jump" into baseball late. I've seen kids who were good travel soccer players thinking they would simply be good at baseball. It didn't quite work that way.

I've seen both good and bad with ATB and Storm. ATB paid coaches don't play favorites as much (or coach's kid getting premium lineup spots). Storm seems a little more "daddy ball" and coaches are trying to relive their glory days. Storm Black less so. Downside is that if you have a great coach in ATB, you only play for them one season then you age up. Conversely, if you get a great coach in Storm, you can play for them until 12u. If you have a bad coach, you're stuck.

Agree that you need to start as early as possible. Once a team forms, its hard to beat out a kid that has been there for a while unless you're head and shoulders better.

Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of "travel baseball" here?

I'm not asking to be snarky or judgmental. We have a son who is 3 1/2 and some of his peers are starting to play organized sports. I'm not going to do this anytime soon for our son (if you think it's good for your child then you should absolutely do so) but I think our family's time would be better spent elsewhere.

I'm just trying to size up what's going to happen in the next five years or so.

Why derail this thread? Start your own.

Atb was a horrible experience for my son. He wanted to stay with his friends but it was really bad— bad parents, bad coaches, and the president/vice president is downright evil. My kid would have progressed more if we had picked another travel org.

Anonymous wrote:The poster above is right—you have a much easier time if you start young when they are first forming teams. Also at 12u and younger, very few kids want to catch so catchers do get a lot of play time. They probably do have a hard time getting recruited but I think that’s the same for any position. The ones with arm issues are usually the pitchers. Especially if they gave you pitch and catch.

I agree with starting earlier. Several of our rec parents who had kids on travel teams (starting at 8 or 9) expressed surprise that my kid didn’t make it on when he tried out at 10,11. He had better stats and played well but wasn’t able to break in.

The poster above is right—you have a much easier time if you start young when they are first forming teams. Also at 12u and younger, very few kids want to catch so catchers do get a lot of play time. They probably do have a hard time getting recruited but I think that’s the same for any position. The ones with arm issues are usually the pitchers. Especially if they gave you pitch and catch.

Nope I believe it with the grudge. We had experience with this on ABR. Coach held a grudge from rec and carried it right into STORM travel. Ridiculous!

Bad advice above with a person with a grudge. The most important thing is to have your kid practice on his own. Practice hitting, fielding and yes pitching. Pitchers are always in demand, and you can control how much you will allow your kid to pitch. Oh and catchers have the most difficult time recruiting for college. Need to be lights out hitter.

All of these baseball organizations are the same. You have to get in as early as possible. If they have 8U, do it. Your child will be a part of the core team that gains favor forever. The core team gets the top of the batting order which gives them more chances at bat and stacks their stats. They will get preferred infield positions and they will get chances to pitch. Every single coach has a preferred 6-8 kids and the rest are all expendable. Maybe there will be an exceptional kid who moves to the team from Florida or a really terrible kid that eventually quits but otherwise the teams stay the same since age 7. If your kids are part of the core team, they will have fun. If they are not then they will feel intense competition from their teammates and they will feel no value from their coaches. Travel baseball is a performance among men. If your husband played any professional or college sport, the baseball coach will be attracted to your husband and might show favor to your child. The men who run these profit driven organizations are very young, petty, and egocentric. We declined an offer for a group to use my very young child to form a new team and the owner told us that we needed to be careful because he holds a grudge. We joined a team for one of my sons and all the parents told us that their college plan for their ten year old was baseball- that he had to get a baseball scholarship or he wasn’t going to college. These parents are delusional and travel baseball is a multi level marketing scheme. However… things change after puberty and it starts to shift more towards rewarding talent and less nepotism so my best advice is to get on the most casual team as early as possible with the least amount of travel. Let your kid enjoy the privilege of being in the core group and boosting his little ego and allow all the fantasies of future success. Then when he hits puberty, let him realize that college baseball is a pipe dream. Don’t let your child pitch. Pitching is a lose lose situation because every parent on that team is fighting for pitching time. If your child is a great pitcher, the coaches will overuse his arm. If he is a good pitcher, he will never ever get practice or game time on the mound. If you really want to stack the deck for your child, make him a catcher. Catchers have the freedom to switch teams at will and get tons of playing time. The lesson here is that all baseball organizations are exactly the same. All the kids are all pretty average. There are maybe 2 kids per team that are actually good and you won’t know which ones they are until they are 15. If you don’t start in a travel org at age 7/8, plan to switch travel teams every year or two.