Anonymous wrote:Our baseball team makes the team meal optional, but I'm pretty sure almost everyone participates since it's easy. We pay a local catering company and it seems to work out to about $125 for 14 or 15 meals. They stay after school, eat immediately, and then either hop on a bus for away games or get to the fields for warm ups, etc. And yes, it's a very long day and as a parent who has over an hour commute, I appreciate that I don't have to figure out how to feed my kid or take off work to pick it up/serve to the team.

This is what we do. A group of 2-3 parents volunteers to coordinate dinners. It's usually catered by local restaurants or they can order through the school. The boys eat after school and then get on the bus for away games. We all chip in for the cost.

Anonymous wrote:Team meals are a huge deal at our APS school, and the kids really look forward to it. Coaches need to eat too. Most but bot all families sign up once and can also share with another family. About half the meals are home cooked and half from restaurants.

A great point about coaches. Who don’t make much for coaching and have a day job all day too.

Team meals are a huge deal at our APS school, and the kids really look forward to it. Coaches need to eat too. Most but bot all families sign up once and can also share with another family. About half the meals are home cooked and half from restaurants.

I had two kids at two different FCPS HS. Both did food in some way, mainly bc the kids don't come home after school. They may stay and work on homework, may go to the trainers for some PT, may just hang out. Then they need to either travel or prep the field, then warm up, THEN the game. So yeah, getting home at 10pm was fairly normal.

Different teams, different seasons - collected money at the start of the season and the team mom ordered food delivered (subs, pizza, platters, Chickfila). Sub days included a sign up sheet for options. Also money was used to store drinks/bars in the dugout. You could choose not to participate, but then food was on you. Honestly I was thrilled to sign up bc it was so much easier.

The other option was families sign up (single/group). That was actually more of an issue IMO bc everyone did different things with different opinions and sometimes "forgot".

One season there was no organized food, but there were a ton of complaints about it.

Paisano’s offer pasta or sandwich platters. Prices are reasonable. They also have sandwich lunch boxes. My boys liked the pastas before game.

Anonymous wrote:Highly doubtful any veggie kids even made the team. They’ve all got that pale, sick look to them.

Truth

Anonymous wrote:Wow, my kid just had her first jv softball away scrimmage last night - food wasn’t even discussed, at least in any communication with parents. She (and I assume the others) brought a protein bar and a bunch of snacks. She ate a quick dinner at 10 pm at home. It was all fine.

She’s not a growing teenage boy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, my kid just had her first jv softball away scrimmage last night - food wasn’t even discussed, at least in any communication with parents. She (and I assume the others) brought a protein bar and a bunch of snacks. She ate a quick dinner at 10 pm at home. It was all fine.

+1

I am so glad my son’s baseball team does not do this. He brings extra snacks and eats dinner later. They all do. It is fine. I’m not even sure a meal right before a game is even a good idea for them TBH. Why make more work for everyone.

Totally agree! Our son just made the JV baseball team and each family was asked to sign up for a meal and snacks/drinks.

The date we got happens to be an away game. We need to have the food set up for them and they basically have 15 minutes to eat or grab something to take on the bus. Then we have to pack up any leftovers to take to away game and put it back out after the game because they will be hungry again.

Ughhh. This sounds ridiculous IMHO. Serving food twice?! (And hauling it to an away game too) I would be so annoyed. I don’t even know what would work for that (what would keep at a baseball field and be able to be served as leftovers several hours later)?? I guess I would wait to see what other people do.

I think so too! It's his first time making a team so we had no idea what to expect. We asked and they said Chick-fil-A, chipotle and subs from a local deli are popular. I guess the assumption is they would eat those immediately and we would be bringing extra waters, fruit, snacks, protein bars to the away school. It seems a bit much to have to do that twice.

Not to mention the cost for 25 people. I'm not sure what we could make at home and easily transport that would cost a lot less

They barely move playing baseball. They barely burn any calories. Now if it was soccer or basketball, yes, they need food.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, my kid just had her first jv softball away scrimmage last night - food wasn’t even discussed, at least in any communication with parents. She (and I assume the others) brought a protein bar and a bunch of snacks. She ate a quick dinner at 10 pm at home. It was all fine.

+1

I am so glad my son’s baseball team does not do this. He brings extra snacks and eats dinner later. They all do. It is fine. I’m not even sure a meal right before a game is even a good idea for them TBH. Why make more work for everyone.

Totally agree! Our son just made the JV baseball team and each family was asked to sign up for a meal and snacks/drinks.

The date we got happens to be an away game. We need to have the food set up for them and they basically have 15 minutes to eat or grab something to take on the bus. Then we have to pack up any leftovers to take to away game and put it back out after the game because they will be hungry again.

Ughhh. This sounds ridiculous IMHO. Serving food twice?! (And hauling it to an away game too) I would be so annoyed. I don’t even know what would work for that (what would keep at a baseball field and be able to be served as leftovers several hours later)?? I guess I would wait to see what other people do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, my kid just had her first jv softball away scrimmage last night - food wasn’t even discussed, at least in any communication with parents. She (and I assume the others) brought a protein bar and a bunch of snacks. She ate a quick dinner at 10 pm at home. It was all fine.

+1

I am so glad my son’s baseball team does not do this. He brings extra snacks and eats dinner later. They all do. It is fine. I’m not even sure a meal right before a game is even a good idea for them TBH. Why make more work for everyone.

Totally agree! Our son just made the JV baseball team and each family was asked to sign up for a meal and snacks/drinks.

The date we got happens to be an away game. We need to have the food set up for them and they basically have 15 minutes to eat or grab something to take on the bus. Then we have to pack up any leftovers to take to away game and put it back out after the game because they will be hungry again.

Anonymous wrote:Wow, my kid just had her first jv softball away scrimmage last night - food wasn’t even discussed, at least in any communication with parents. She (and I assume the others) brought a protein bar and a bunch of snacks. She ate a quick dinner at 10 pm at home. It was all fine.

+1

I am so glad my son’s baseball team does not do this. He brings extra snacks and eats dinner later. They all do. It is fine. I’m not even sure a meal right before a game is even a good idea for them TBH. Why make more work for everyone.

Wow, my kid just had her first jv softball away scrimmage last night - food wasn’t even discussed, at least in any communication with parents. She (and I assume the others) brought a protein bar and a bunch of snacks. She ate a quick dinner at 10 pm at home. It was all fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never heard of parents doing this for a high school team. Most kids either one – bring their own food two – grab something local before warm-up start or three – their parents bring them something.

For our school, we have to feed team, coaches and managers and deal with food allergies.
That said, they need to eat and it’s a long night for all when they get back late from an away game.

I understand accommodating allergies, but not preferences.

So you wouldn’t accommodate a vegetarian? Sounds like you’re an AH.

You're the J/A. As a person who deals with a lot of middle management and team events. Once you start accommodating one person, you have to start making all kind of accommodations. For crying out loud, this is a TEAM SPORT people! And as a parent volunteer, Get with the program: vegetarians -pick off the deli meat. Vegans: Pick off the cheese and Deli meat. Gluten free: eat the other kids cheese and deli meat. If these kids are on a strict diet, they need to come up with real world solutions. Otherwise, just deal with it. It's nothing they haven't delt with before. No need for virtue signaling here on an anonymous message board.

Just order the sandwich platter, chips, fruit cup and drinks.

+100

IMHO once kids are HIGH SCHOOL age, they are very well prepared for this sort of thing. If they have dietary restrictions (or are just picky eaters) they know to bring a protein bar or sandwich to supplement, and eat whatever they are able to eat from the options offered. Is it really even that big of a deal if a kid eats chips and fruit plus a granola bar he had in his backpack? He can eat a real dinner after the game (IME as the mom of a HS baseball player- he will eat a second dinner after the game regardless 🤣). Sure, you can add a veggie sub into the mix if you want, but I wouldn’t go to extraordinary lengths planning wise.

Also, the son likely already knows if any of his teammates are vegetarian or whatever. Ask him.

Sounds like you’d accommodate a dietary preference since it’s not that hard to do, and you’re not the type of ding dong to take someone else’s diet personally.