Sandman98 said:

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Wicked Good Ag said:

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So we are talking a six and under travel team if I am not mistaken

Kids at that age should be playing multiple sports and not leaning towards any one specifically and excluding the other. These dads want to have the best team at this age for themselves not for the kids.

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This is a common misconception. Playing "travel ball" doesn't mean the kids don't play multiple sports. Good athletes play three sports AND travel ball. Many of the best baseball players are playing at least one other sport and the sane travel ball coaches want it that way.

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At six years old

Are you kidding me ??

You must not have read the thread. My comment in that post wasn't about the age group. It was about the misconception that if you play travel ball you've specialized in baseball.

Sandman98 said:

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You must not have read the thread. My comment in that post wasn't about the age group. It was about the misconception that if you play travel ball you've specialized in baseball.

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You quoted me in your reply and mine talked about the age group so it is easy to assume that. If you were just making a generalization then maybe not quote anything

You suggested that the decision to play travel ball at 6 means they've excluded other sports as though they are mutually exclusive. That's simply false at any age group. Since you added that new element to the discussion on a message board I thought it would be a good time for it to be debunked. Fair?

Wicked Good Ag said:

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Travel ball at 6-7 is a waste of time and money

Fair ??

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It's actually a waste of money until 14 but that doesn't mean it's feasible for a good player to wait that long.

Agree 100%. After having one play D-3 and the other D-1 now headed to MLB, lessons are more valuable at the early age of 6 or 7 especially.

Waste of money if you're with the wrong organization. The key is finding a team that is not out there to make money like many of these "academies". My son's team has very low monthly fees that are used to cover practice facilities so that we don't have to practice in an open city park while fighting for space with 30 other teams. Other than that we only travel out of town 4-5 times a year and the kids really enjoy it so we look at it as a little getaway.

It's not a waist of money if they are all having fun.


My son is 7. He plays on a select team with his friends. The entire team also plays city ball. They play against each other during the week and come together for about six tournaments in the spring and summer.

All of the kids have a blast.


He also plays soccer. And golf.

Update

This is ridiculous and I'm getting the feeling that the Dad's/"Coaches" pushing the hardest for the "competitive" team are the ones who don't want to get left out.

I tried to bring everyone together and suggest we continue to play "Rec" ball with classmates, but have a side "tourney" team for 3-4 tournaments over the course of the summer and then fall ball. This seems like teh best solution, but they insisted on one team for everything.

There were then disagreements over who was going to be head coach. Get this, some of the guys already had team names and colors picked out...without ever talking to anybody else or especially the kids!

I basically said I'm out and my boy will play Rec and whoever wants him for a couple tourney's he would be available.

To make this all more crazy, my boy was only one asked to play games with the 2nd grade team and had a blast...did very well and they want him to be on their team, but we said no...I REALLY want him to play with kids in his class.

I see them never coming together with a consensus and nothing to change. Two seperate Dad's are talking about tryouts...for 1st graders!!! The rules here state no tryouts and kids must be aligned to same high school if playing 10U or below. Both the guys wanting tryouts said they don't enforce that.

In short, I'm dealing with a group of weirdos who I believe are worried about getting left out. My boy will be just fine. I instruct him better than what he would get from coaching anyway...only thing I can't instruct on properly is upper level pitching.

Shocker. At 6-7 it isn't about the kids it is about the dads if they are pushing more and more towards travel

Quito said:

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Update

This is ridiculous and I'm getting the feeling that the Dad's/"Coaches" pushing the hardest for the "competitive" team are the ones who don't want to get left out.

I tried to bring everyone together and suggest we continue to play "Rec" ball with classmates, but have a side "tourney" team for 3-4 tournaments over the course of the summer and then fall ball. This seems like teh best solution, but they insisted on one team for everything.

There were then disagreements over who was going to be head coach. Get this, some of the guys already had team names and colors picked out...without ever talking to anybody else or especially the kids!

I basically said I'm out and my boy will play Rec and whoever wants him for a couple tourney's he would be available.

To make this all more crazy, my boy was only one asked to play games with the 2nd grade team and had a blast...did very well and they want him to be on their team, but we said no...I REALLY want him to play with kids in his class.

I see them never coming together with a consensus and nothing to change. Two seperate Dad's are talking about tryouts...for 1st graders!!! The rules here state no tryouts and kids must be aligned to same high school if playing 10U or below. Both the guys wanting tryouts said they don't enforce that.

In short, I'm dealing with a group of weirdos who I believe are worried about getting left out. My boy will be just fine. I instruct him better than what he would get from coaching anyway...only thing I can't instruct on properly is upper level pitching.

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Good job, dad.

Don't want to make a shameless plug but I'm working with Marucci and Wilson and would love to help fellow Ags out with some great discounts significantly under market price.

Cool.

I may be interested in working something out. My son is 7 and baseball is life for him.

Does Wilson own Marucci?

Select baseball /= travel ball and it doesn't have to be ridiculously expensive if you get with the right organization.

I got burnt out on league this year. We had 70+ kids and only 3 dads volunteered to coach in the entire league. We were begging for help, and I picked a kid with a grandpa that showed up most of the time. I was shocked at the amount of parents that would drop their 5-6 yr off for practice and say see you in an hour. I was an unpaid babysitter. I had multiple practices where I would schedule 2 kids to show up every 20 minutes. We got more done that way.

We are doing 6U select this year with all games local. Most 6U tourneys won't make, so we will play mostly 7U and take our lumps. We will play around 1 tourney a month for a total of 5 or so for the spring. We will get more from practicing than games. Most will probably still play league.

Cost- ~$200 for uniforms plus $35 a month($210) for organization dues which includes free entry into Nations tourneys and unlimited use of our indoor facility. Each kid got $500 worth the raffle tickets to sell, which the money goes directly to them. If they sell all of the tickets they actually get paid to play select.

League we paid $150 then had to sell candy(which I ate most of) and tickets for a BBQ fundraiser.

Every select organization is different and some are truly out to get rich. The most common comments in this thread are about how expensive select is and calling it "travel ball" which neither have to be true. As they get older and start traveling more the cost will increase significantly, but for 6-7 yr old like OP mentioned it's not bad at all.

My boy is doing the exact same thing but he is 7u and we have a very good city ball league. One tournament a month with his friends, who are better than any once city team, and they play against each other in city ball. Then in fall ball the select teams play a season and tournament on the city fields.

We are only going to one place further than an hour drive, and that's a trip to Houston that's as much about the parents as it is the kids. Pretty sure we will have a good time on that one.

He still plays golf all of the time and soccer in the fall. But he loves baseball more than anything and everything. Hell its his favorite tv show next to WWE.

You might be thinking of Demarini which is a subsidiary of Wilson owned by Amer Sports. But can help with other brands as well just let me know. Will give you a great Aggie discount.

Agreed with the thought of "select" being all you and your kid want it to be. My oldest is 10 and we were with the same group for 2 years before moving this fall to a new team.

I've learned to find what you are looking for in a coach, and not necessarily the organization. Our prior team actually hired a coach last year, went independent, and I actually felt the move was a step back from a coaching standpoint compared to some other options.

Fall is reserved for other sports, but we do play a little baseball to get reps. We are deep into it, but my family enjoys every bit of our baseball weekends. Not for everyone.

Shameless plug for him; give him a follow @ccahal4

I'd be interested in talking. Been thinking about trying the Cat 8. My boy generally swings Easton, but does swing Marrucci wood.

SenorAG said:

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Don't want to make a shameless plug but I'm working with Marucci and Wilson and would love to help fellow Ags out with some great discounts significantly under market price.

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Shoot me an email please...

javi dot con 14 AT yahoo

Tex100 said:

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If you go select, would play for coaches who played college or pro. Avoid daddy ball.

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I have mixed feelings about this. Whatever happened to wanting to coach your own kids as long as it is done fairly. A lot of these select teams are set up to make money. I know they advertise former pro / college players. My take is if they were any good when they played they wouldn't need to make money off a bunch of kids. Best coach I had as a kid was an optometrist that just wanted to coach us. No kid on the team, no reimbursement. Just did it because he wanted to. This huge surge in select baseball hasn't changed the end game one bit. 750 players on the MLB roster and I bet one third are from out of the country. Too much pressure on these kids at a young age and way too many baseball games. Really need to be careful how much these kids throw the ball.

Having said all that, select ball is a lot of fun. My son plays. IMO just really need to also keep it fun for the kids. I personally don't think playing select ball to get a college scholarship should be the goal for most of these kids. A lot of the select clubs want to say they got this player or that player a scholarship. I really don't think playing at some lower level school would be worth it for the academic sacrifice there would be. What's the value of that degree versus going to a major college. The chances of making a substantial living from baseball are astronomically small.

That's why we left. Watered down and not fair the the 4-5 good kids on the team. Hard to run a practice.

I've coached select baseball, now coaching my daughter's select softball team. Over the years, I've had to tell a few players (their parents really) that they would need to find another team. Some of them were my most talented (skill-wise) players. Why did I do this? Because my ONLY goal for the team and the players was to HAVE FUN.

My teams have always been around .500, win some lose some. But as soon as a parent starting complaining about wins and losses, I'd ask if their kid is having fun. They usually say "yes, but....". The "but" was usually followed by some PARENT expectation of winning and losing.

So, long story short - find a team where your kid enjoys playing. If they enjoy playing, they want to go to practice. If they practice, they get better at the sport.

bookmyer said:

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That's why we left. Watered down and not fair the the 4-5 good kids on the team. Hard to run a practice.

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Yep. That's what we saw too. We've threatened to go back and coach some Tball when they all get out on their own and have their own lives.

Been there, done that ... in select baseball and select volleyball and softball. Unless your child is a REAL prodigy, leave him on regular sports teams, enjoy your weekends (which you would otherwise forfeit), and put the money (I spent nearly $100,000 for both combined) into a college or vacation fund. Both of my kids were offered (non-100%) athletic scholarships. Instead, they accepted academic scholarships and fared much better financially. Be wary of the "travel team" trap.

Sounds like an excuse for the dads to get away for the weekend and crush Bud Lights in the parking lot of the Super 8 after the boys go to bed. Fun times.

Coached my son from 4 year old T-ball through 8U. He is a late July birthday, so I played him "up" from 6U-8U. He went from an average player to "All-Star" (whatever that is worth at 7 and 8). He knows and loves the game.

With that said, I fell into the Dad/Coach trap of turning everything into baseball. I would have him hitting or throwing with me almost daily. It went from fun time with Dad to a chore for him. Especially when I was always "coaching" while we were playing. I started to get some push back, from him already. I know lots of Dads don't think it will happen to them...but it may. I think I'm lucky to have noticed it by the time he was 9 and not for it to have reared its ugly head at 12 or 13.

At that time, I felt it was best to step back. Instead of moving up to 9U, we kept him in 8U but went "Select". We found a team with a "professional" coach. This was the 3rd team to form in the league (approx 30 kids out of the approximately 110 kids who had been in the 8U the year before!) In our league, Select is becoming the new "Little League."

Time wise, I was saving probably 10 hours per week not coaching, which I've used to coach my daughter's T-Ball and now 6U team. I have my son wanting to throw with me again, play in the backyard, hit whiffle balls, play home-run derby, play football and all that other stuff. He gets coached at practice and gets to play with Dad again. It has been a good move for us.

Our team is now 9U and practices 2x per week in the fall, with only one tournament. My son played flag football. He also wanted some more baseball games, so we signed him up for the Fall League (9U-10U kid pitch.) While he is middle of the pack on his select team, he was a top player in the fall league. It was primarily due to reps, game experience, confidence. And he was having fun. With that said, kids still hadn't learned how to catch, run bases, throw, or hit. Unfortunately those kids are being left behind, with decreasing instruction, competition, and the concentration of players onto other teams.

What I have learned...COMPETITION AT 6U- 10 U (or probably older) is something parents talk about. The kids are still learning baseball (even if they are physically talented.) They are learning concepts/rules/situations. Learning competitive habits are important (listening, working, respect, be a good team mate.) Your 7 year old, if you play with them, will be one of the best kids in the league. Sizes, age differences, maturity level will all continue to develop over the next 10 years. An "early developed" kid is not always better than a kid who "develops" later (sometimes teen years.) The competition is more for the parent's amusement. What it takes to win a 7 or 8 year old baseball tournament is a third base coach who knows how to swing their arm around in circles really fast.

Overall, I hope that everyone tries their best to keep their kids in the local league as long as possible, and hopefully we can keep instruction, "competition", games and recreational leagues strong...so that that the kids have an opportunity to develop their love of the game.

I suggest listening to the "Baseball Dads Podcast."

SenorAg

what kind of deal can you make on gloves?

briandyke99 at gmail

I, like others on this board, have a good player that is 8 years old on a rec team. This fall was the first season of kid pitch and the competitive and select leagues have ravaged the Rec league. Most kids that are average have already abandoned rec and the competitive teams already outnumber the rec teams. My son throws very hard and can make a throw on a line from 140 feet and in a deep outfield throw can throw about 170 feet in the air. There was only one kid on the team that could catch his throw so when he played short the other kid had to play first and when he pitched the other kid had to play catcher. When he pitched the players on the other team would literally bail out of the box on down the middle strikes. I am unwilling to miss church that is of supreme importance to something as trivial as little kid baseball, and would like some advice on what to do. I have considered playing him up in age groups in rec, but am not sure that would solve the problem as it may just be older inexperienced kids. I live in burleson and am trying to find a decent solution.

Will you always be opposed to Sunday baseball even though it sounds like it's in your sons interest (especially down the road)?

Yes, I am opposed to Sunday baseball. I also do not believe that a child this age needs to be playing 80 or 90 games per year. He will be plenty game experienced down the road with 20 - 30 games a year. I will also be opposed to Sunday baseball as he grows older. The only time I would deviate would be a rare exception when he is in high school and has been invited to a special tourney or all-star something to play in front of scouts as a one-time deal. I know this is highly unlikely for my kid because of all the things that would have to go right for him between now and then.

My son knowing and following Christ is more important than how well he throws or hits a ball. I am just grateful as a parent that he knows who Jesus is. His love of baseball is like a fun bonus.

clifton06 said:

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Yes, I am opposed to Sunday baseball. I also do not believe that a child this age needs to be playing 80 or 90 games per year. He will be plenty game experienced down the road with 20 - 30 games a year. I will also be opposed to Sunday baseball as he grows older. The only time I would deviate would be a rare exception when he is in high school and has been invited to a special tourney or all-star something to play in front of scouts as a one-time deal. I know this is highly unlikely for my kid because of all the things that would have to go right for him between now and then.

My son knowing and following Christ is more important than how well he throws or hits a ball. I am just grateful as a parent that he knows who Jesus is. His love of baseball is like a fun bonus.

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Good luck!

sosolik said:

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clifton06 said:

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Yes, I am opposed to Sunday baseball. I also do not believe that a child this age needs to be playing 80 or 90 games per year. He will be plenty game experienced down the road with 20 - 30 games a year. I will also be opposed to Sunday baseball as he grows older. The only time I would deviate would be a rare exception when he is in high school and has been invited to a special tourney or all-star something to play in front of scouts as a one-time deal. I know this is highly unlikely for my kid because of all the things that would have to go right for him between now and then.

My son knowing and following Christ is more important than how well he throws or hits a ball. I am just grateful as a parent that he knows who Jesus is. His love of baseball is like a fun bonus.

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Good luck!

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Appreciate the honesty. As a father of 6, I saw with my first child how youth sports - in our case, gymnastics - wages war on the family, including financially, time-wise, and spiritually. By the time my daughter was 9, they wanted her to spend 14 hours a week at the gym. She wasn't even that good, but they wanted our money to feed their for-profit system. Meets were on Sundays.

At a certain point, the world forces you to make a choice about values. Some families say they want to follow Christ, but then they take months at a time to play soccer tourneys on Sundays. It just doesn't work.

In our case, it wasn't just the Sundays, the time, and the money. It was also having 6 kids, one disabled. Go around to these select leagues. See how many of these kids come from large families. Parents can't afford to dedicate that level of resources to one child. Sorry, but if Johnny needs to play 100 sportball games per year to be seen by an assistant coach in the Southland conference, then no thanks.

But if Johnny can catch a football like Michael Irvin, something tells me he might make it anyway, even with 17 siblings.

Bottom line - your values are what your time, treasure, and talents say they are.

I can certainly respect your convictions and faith that is admirable. As far as playing up in rec leagues it's sad to say you are probably correct where it will just be older inexperienced kids. There are some 1 day tournaments but far and few in between but I doubt you can find a team that will play only those. Best of luck!