"Travel" ball parent here. I'll echo the statements of a few here who are actually in it... there really isn't much travel. At least 90% of tournaments are played within an hour of home. And there is no expectation to be playing all year round either. Softball definitely plays more than baseball though in my experience.

My kids are a little older than some posters here so maybe I can give some further insight. I have a junior baseball player who is 17 and will play 17u on his summer team and a freshman softball player who is 14 and plays 16u travel.

You absolutely DO NOT have to play on a Majors or AAA team at 12u to play a major role on your HS team. Neither of my kids have ever been on a team above AA (B level in softball) and we are at a 6A "blue blood" baseball school in Oklahoma. My son played a small varsity role as a soph and is the starting catcher as a junior. My daughter started every game her freshman year (HS softball is in the fall in OK) between catcher and CF.

The most important thing for parents to look for in a travel team is the team plays against good competition, and has coaches who can actually develop your player. It does not matter whether that is at the Majors, AAA, or AA level.

quote:
puberty...so you mean strength and size? do you think they kids that are on the high level teams are not lifting? Do you think they are not following diets to gain weight too? do you think they arent on bat speed and velo programs?

puberty was a much bigger deal before everyone started weight training. the biggest difference maker now is if the kid is willing to work with how much he is eating, sleeping and if he is will to work his arse off in the off season. the kids at the biggest and best programs all do this.

This is just patently false. Yes, kids work out more than ever before but puberty is still the big equalizer. There are so many 12u beasts (both baseball and softball) that my kids played with and against that are nowhere to be found. It doesn't matter how much Majors ball you played if you're 5'6 140 lbs as an upperclassman.

This post was edited on 3/19/24 at 10:34 pm

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Posted by lsu777

Lake Charles

Member since Jan 2004

31436 posts

Posted on 3/20/24 at 7:37 am to RoscoeHarper

quote:
"Travel" ball parent here. I'll echo the statements of a few here who are actually in it... there really isn't much travel. At least 90% of tournaments are played within an hour of home. And there is no expectation to be playing all year round either. Softball definitely plays more than baseball though in my experience.

My kids are a little older than some posters here so maybe I can give some further insight. I have a junior baseball player who is 17 and will play 17u on his summer team and a freshman softball player who is 14 and plays 16u travel.

You absolutely DO NOT have to play on a Majors or AAA team at 12u to play a major role on your HS team. Neither of my kids have ever been on a team above AA (B level in softball) and we are at a 6A "blue blood" baseball school in Oklahoma. My son played a small varsity role as a soph and is the starting catcher as a junior. My daughter started every game her freshman year (HS softball is in the fall in OK) between catcher and CF.

The most important thing for parents to look for in a travel team is the team plays against good competition, and has coaches who can actually develop your player. It does not matter whether that is at the Majors, AAA, or AA level.

you are in oklahoma, we are in LA and i was speaking of LA. and no you dont have to be on a majors team to make a HS team but if you want to make a team like Barbe and actually play...you better be playing against the best in the state.

quote:

This is just patently false. Yes, kids work out more than ever before but puberty is still the big equalizer. There are so many 12u beasts (both baseball and softball) that my kids played with and against that are nowhere to be found. It doesn't matter how much Majors ball you played if you're 5'6 140 lbs as an upperclassman.

a kid that is dedicated wont be 5'6" 140, they will be 5'6-175. and yea plenty of 12u beast that burn out or realize...hey i have to work as hard or harder than others to stay the best..and they dont want to do that. See lots of 12u beast that do not want to work...thats fine but the game weeds them out pretty quickly.

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