Travel Baseball Question 12/U

[tph]

My son has been invited to tryout/workout with a 12/U travel baseball team. I'm completely in the dark as to what travel baseball entails so I figured I might get some answers here. Could anyone give me ballpark figure on what kind of financial and time commitments are required? Any information would be greatly appreciated. We are located in the Northeast if that makes any difference.
Thank you

[spring70]

My son has been invited to tryout/workout with a 12/U travel baseball team. I'm completely in the dark as to what travel baseball entails so I figured I might get some answers here. Could anyone give me ballpark figure on what kind of financial and time commitments are required? Any information would be greatly appreciated. We are located in the Northeast if that makes any difference.
Thank you

Cost can vary greatly, probably all depending on how much and where you are playing, and if your fees are going to an academy, coach or both.

My son is on his 3rd travel year. Our player fee has been between $250 - $700, plus usually fundraisers which you may have to attend or contribute to. $$$$ then there is how many out of town tournaments the team is playing, think gas, hotel, food, gatorade and seeds plus potentially missed work. All of his teams have practiced 2x/week and then played 2 games per week in a "travel" league and reduced practice to 1x/week. Then he has averaged 5 tournament weekends per season.

That is good start to cost and time, now - be careful about being the extra kid, it seems a bit late in the year to tryout for a team, so my guess is that the core team is set and they need a 10th, 11th or 12th, even if your kid is as good or better you might be thought of as the "extra kid" all year, if this happens it could be a lousy, frustrating year, regardless of the promises the coaches make. On the other hand, travel ball USUALLY provides more practice and playing time than MOST little league programs, but make no mistake, there are good AND bad players in both league types. Good Luck, btw, does your son know anyone on the team?

[tg643]

Rec ball is still prominent in New England if that's what you mean by the northeast. In NJ and PA rec ball is still prominent through age twelve. I would wait until your son is thirteen to evaluate travel ball.

My son played community based travel ball in the summer after rec ball. It was a town all-star team. The cost was about $100. We only traveled to neighboring towns.

Do not fall for the Keep up with the Jones your son will fall behind if he doesn't play preteen travel. It's BS. I had the opportunityt to teach preteen at an academy. I told them the only thing preteen I'll teach is teaching coaches how to teach and coach. That would have defeated the purpose of an academy and sucking cash out of uninformed parents.

If you have any questions send a message. I've had two kids go through the journey from rec to travel to college ball.

[tph]

Cost can vary greatly, probably all depending on how much and where you are playing, and if your fees are going to an academy, coach or both.

My son is on his 3rd travel year. Our player fee has been between $250 - $700, plus usually fundraisers which you may have to attend or contribute to. $$$$ then there is how many out of town tournaments the team is playing, think gas, hotel, food, gatorade and seeds plus potentially missed work. All of his teams have practiced 2x/week and then played 2 games per week in a "travel" league and reduced practice to 1x/week. Then he has averaged 5 tournament weekends per season.

That is good start to cost and time, now - be careful about being the extra kid, it seems a bit late in the year to tryout for a team, so my guess is that the core team is set and they need a 10th, 11th or 12th, even if your kid is as good or better you might be thought of as the "extra kid" all year, if this happens it could be a lousy, frustrating year, regardless of the promises the coaches make. On the other hand, travel ball USUALLY provides more practice and playing time than MOST little league programs, but make no mistake, there are good AND bad players in both league types. Good Luck, btw, does your son know anyone on the team?

He knows 3 players on the team.....after the fall season in the local little league they were the ones who told him to come out for the team and their parents also approached me and told me I should bring him around.....the coach had already heard of my son when we went for the first workout. My son has made the team and I guess I will find out in the next week or so exactly what it will entail.....I actually like the coaches as they have made no promises whatsoever. I figure we will give it a try and see what happens. I'm going into this without any fixed expectations