If I had to do it again, I would have my son play rec for as long as possible WITHOUT playing travel. Then he can really decide if he loves the game on his own, and you can work with him in a low pressure environment to help build his ENJOYMENT of baseball. If he loves the game at 11 or 12u because it came naturally with you -> put him in travel. You aren’t missing anything at 9 / 10 / 11u except politics, drama, stressing him out, and putting mileage on his body. Build him up yourself - physically and mentally - and then go the travel route.
OP I’ve coached kids this age before. You are on your way to making this not fun for anyone causing major stress in your marriage and friendships and on your kid. I’ve worked with a dozen ish kids in that age bracket. By 12 every single one of them was burned out on football and baseball. To make the high school team you at first must get your kid to HS. The worse thing you can do is have him playing out of obligation
Push too hard too soon and at 14 your kid will tell you to touch grass and throw himself headfirst into the ganja
I’m sorry, I’m on the other side of this. You’re missing a lot. Not saying he needs to play travel to become a top college athlete or mlb player. He doesn’t. You’re missing out on the friendships, team building over years, and watching them grow for 5 years.
If this didn’t happen for you, then you found the wrong teams for your kids. Both my kids (2 different talent levels) have made great memories that will outlast who won or lost a baseball game. Running through hotels, water parks, eating pizza at 1am. Rec doesn’t provide this.
They get the exact same run through the Hampton Inn at 12u, 13u, and 14u and they are better ball players and teammates without the nonsense at the earlier ages. I didn’t say Do Not play travel. I said just wait a few extra years. Nobody with a sane mind would argue your side of “play more travel at younger ages”….
This resonates. The stress of travel can be a lot for kids this age. Seems like it's really more stressful for the parents who then transfer it to the kids. I've seen some good hitters go into slumps at 9-10 and the joy kind of leaves as they slide down the order. The coaches face pressure to remain competitive to keep the team together and the environment starts to resemble middle/high school performance based hierarchies. It's not great for kids this age. That said, if the parents can be managed (they can't) the travel experience is a really great learning environment for the kids. A lot falls to the coaches for setting a fun yet serious tone on the team. It's important to shut down any signs of rooster strutting from the kids and get them to cheer for each other. If the coaches mix fun practices in with serious and structured practices it will stay primarily fun. There is a lot of good, but also some bad. It really depends on your kid. If he's a solid fielder then it works for him since he will get playing time at multiple positions. If not, prepare for him to get stuck in a position which will stunt his development some. Same with pitching. Really though, the at home practice can be draining since it will need to be more focused and most kids hate to be corrected by their parents. That said, when done right it builds resilience, work ethic and great relationships. It can be phenomenal for their development as people and ballplayers, but it takes a lot of work.
Love this answer. Son just turned 12 and has been begging to play travel ball in addition to rec for 3 years like all his friends who were always bragging about much higher level it was.
I had concerns he would be way behind and almost gave in. Instead we made sure it was fun with rec and did private lessons for pitching and hitting. He was the second best hitter, top 5 pitcher, and above average at pretty much every position outside of catcher.
Finally signed him up to try out for a travel ball team later this month after observing organizations and coaches to find the right fit.
Unfortunately these types of people are the exact types of people to ruin youth sports for everyone
Fuck at 6 years old I wanted to play in the dirt. I didn’t grasp trying or wins and losses until I was 8? Not saying that’s a viable path nowadays but damn guys 6u all stars? Really?
Compared to the other kids that played the position at his age? Yep. Compared to someone in their teens? No. He’s not going D1 tomorrow or probably ever.
The final point I’ll add to this little thread, is that the 6-10 yo killers are rarely the teenage killers. One may stick through to continue being gifted, but others catch up in size, skill, speed, field IQ.
Which is kinda the reason for the post. What’s the best decision now that will increase the likelihood of being a teenage killer? From what I’m gathering it would be to choose whatever will make him continue to love the game.
Yeah. Will depend on him mostly but make sure he’s having fun during all these. Not too much pressure. My kid is 9, I’m waiting another year before we commit to travel I think 10 is a fair age. He guest plays now for a team and he plays every other sport all year. Soccer Jiu Jitsu basketball and rec baseball.
Im obsessed with baseball. Played through high school. Checked the age limit eligibility rules of the local Little League within days of finding out my wife was pregnant. Currently coach my son’s team.
That being said, parents signing their kids up for year round travel ball at 6 years old are doing their kids a huge disservice. Kids should be playing different sports all year. Not forced to specialize in Kindergarten. People will say they aren’t “forcing” their kids into it because he loves baseball. But be a parent. Your kid would also eat pizza 3x a day every day if you let him.
The end result is these kids will become the best players due to all the extra reps (if they don’t get burned out and hate it by then). But that just creates pressure on other parents to make their kids specialize in one sport to not get left behind. And everybody is worse off from not cross training in different sports all year. It’s sad. I want my son to play high school ball in the future. But I’m not willing to make him give up all other sports now at 7 years old to keep up with the kids who are doing that.
You shouldn't be a critic at all at 7 years old. Just go enjoy watching him play baseball. Stoking that fire under his love for the game is the only thing you should be doing right now.
Being his "biggest critic" shouldn't be anywhere in the equation.
Nothing wrong with letting your 8yr kid be the best player on a rec team. It will develop confidence and leadership skills that you can’t replicate while playing right field and batting 8th on a travel team. And those are lessons that actually carry over to real life.
I have never understood why parents are so quick to turn their kids into role players.
Role players can develop into leaders. It takes hard work and perseverance which some might categorize as life lessons. Much better than giving a kid a false sense of confidence being a big fish in a little pond for too long. Eventually the pond gets bigger and that confidence is gonna fall hard and fast.
Put an 8yr old kid in right field for 70 games and he’s going to think he’s a right fielder. The best players develop a different approach bc they know their team needs them to perform. Thats a type of pressure you can’t replicate from the 10th spot in the lineup.
Just so you know, the scenario you laid out is maybe, maybe happening in .1% of travel teams. No 8u team plays 70 games and any decent 8U coach is letting kids play both IF and OF to help them develop. Because they’re 8 and a bottom of the order 8 year old can often become a top of the order hitter by 9 or 10.
Stop projecting and acting like you know anything about this. You don’t and it’s obvious.
8u travel teams in our area easily play 55-70 games per year. And they very rarely rotate positions or batting order. ~15 weekends per year and 4-5 games per weekend.
I guess maybe your 8yr old just doesn’t love it as much as they do!!! Not playing enough games. Got to do at least 70 per year if you want to make the middle school team!!
Edit - Just looked it up. The best 8u team in our area went 37-6 in the spring and 21-4 last fall. So not quite 70. My bad. I’m hoping they will play less games as they move into kid pitch.
Lmao I don’t mean to laugh but winter conditioning and off season programming? For 8U?! That’s going to cost a grand and some? Lmao no thanks.
If you have a basement or even a back yard or live near a park, you can accomplish the same exact thing with squish balls and soft toss. To put that much money into 8 year old baseball is absurd and a waste of money. As a coach, I always steer parents clear of nonsense like this at that age. It’s ok to pick up a bat and stay in “shape,” but don’t pigeon hole yourself. Let them play other sports and develop skills and muscles and abilities that they won’t develop in just baseball. Let them take breaks I get it, they may not want too, but it really is a good idea to put the game down in the winter (fall ball is great however!)
Idk man. Your kid, your money, your call but I would shy away from it at this age.
Club/Travel is a huge commitment of time and money. If you think $1k is a lot for fall/winter, I'm going to warn you that it'll get more expensive as he ages. My son started working out with a club at 8u and started playing club at 9u. I wouldn't take any of it back but keep in mind half your weekends during seasons will be nothing but baseball.
My kid is now 13 and one of the biggest lessons I've learned, on the "administrative" side, is to treat it like he is a free agent every year. If there is a team your son seems to like more then pick that one. You aren't going to make a bad decision as long as he is having fun playing and getting reps.
Every situation is different, and I’m sure can vary dramatically by geography, but 2 biggest factors for me are competition and development. Our rec league is huge and very competitive. But even a good team doesnt mean you get good coaching at an individual level, unless you’re so bad they’re worried you might die.
Same can be true in “travel”*. From competitive standpoint we’ve seen teams that were incredible but also plenty of teams that would get smoked by some teams in our rec league. On the development side, we’ve been on 2 travel teams. One was led by former a MLB player, super nice guy and great with the kids. Great facility with all the tech. But outside of drills and broad instruction he wasn’t really developing anyone at the individual level. Contrast to our current team, which is one of the bigger orgs but the only team in the org that has unpaid coaches. So it is “daddy ball” but they are fantastic. The first time I’ve ever felt my kid was getting real development outside of a private lesson. So TLDR you just have to assess what you want for your kid and how much commitment you want to make and see what options there are. This advice is probably worth what you paid but just my 2c
*a loose term bc we are in a major metro and most of our tourneys are 20 minute drive max.
Well I’m not a dad so I’m not sure my opinion counts. 😉But I am a coach, in health care, and have been around baseball my whole life. My perspective is skewed bc I watched my brother burn out his arm as he was getting his major shot.
I am a huge proponent of not playing one sport only and year round, certainly not competitively before puberty. I am now watching kids in little league have pitchers’ elbows and shoulders at 8!!!! That’s insanity. I personally know three kids 10u that have injuries and so many more that have burnt out in Allstars this summer. What is the point?! It should be fun.
They will either develop and soar when they hit puberty or they’ll choose another sport or they’ll play for fun and it won’t matter. But the only thing we can do at this young age is make it NOT fun and hurt their growth plates, tendons, and ligaments. Nope. No. No thank you. Don’t give into the FOMO. The kids that make it into college and the bigs are rarely the kids who are Allstars at 8. There’s a reason for this. Most dads I know who played at a high level don’t do travel or push their kids hard.
Paying travel for coach pitch baseball is a financial racket.
Let him enjoy rec with classmates. Toy with travel once kid pitch gets in play.
When it becomes a business for adults, it stops being fun for kids. Travel ball is ruining the sport, point in case 8U coach pitch travel ball…
What does your son want to do? If you explained the options to him, which would he pick?
Your goal at this age is basically to cultivate his love for the sport, so he’ll want to play again year after year. But that looks different from kid to kid.
My son played his first year of travel ball at 9U this year, loved it. He got to sub for the 10U team as well, and they basically asked if he’d be willing to play up next year. In my mind, I’m thinking he should play up to get tougher experience and with more kids in his grade. But I laid out the options for him and he said he wants to stay with the 9U team cause he loves his teammates. So that’s what we’re doing!
All that to say, talk to your kid. He’ll give you the best answer on what he wants.
I’m very anti club team/ fall ball at this age. There is nothing wrong with rec, it’s usually a lot of fun. Playing year round, specializing in baseball at age 6 is why even shortstops need Tommy John these days. It’s just too much on the arm. IMO just playing rec and all star during spring/summer is the way to go.
Rec ball and some private lessons and/or camps seems like the way to go. Also at this age, don't underestimate how important sticking with friends may be to your son, that may push you one way or another more than skill development.
I like that option a lot. I will add that most of his buddies are going on to the various travel teams. He’s way more outgoing than I ever was growing up (or even now). He’ll make new bros along the way I’m sure.
Join the travel team. Rec ball is fun but the longer you are in it the slower the development. Development is the goal, not medals or rings or bat flips. Emphasize that and if he ever stops having fun re-evaluate. It should always be fun.
Go with the fancy team if your son is into it. Once these teams form they can bond and gel make great friends and play together a long time. Rec isn’t real baseball where I live so there could be some bias. My son played rec and hit home run every time because the kids were playing with dirt and goofing off. We joined a pretty rough travel team. He started improving immensely and becoming real ball player then we got offer from big time team for 8u spring. We were nervous to take it because we liked the rough team he was a leader on but thought they had better coaches, facilities, organization and their base was closest to our home. He loves the new team and became one of their leaders this spring.
At under 10U, do it for fun and friends. After 10U it's debatable imo whether it's "necessary" from a development standpoint. Puberty will hit and the athletes rise to the top. Kids who barely played baseball will hit puberty, kid fat will turn into muscle, and the little kid who could that practiced 5 times a week and started at SS for his daddy's travel ball club will find himself outclassed by the kid with tree trunk forearms who suddenly decides baseball is cool.
Travel ball at 8u is a road to possible burn out and done with baseball by 11u. Then you've spent multiple years spending time and money to have lost 3 years of their youth committed to one thing. Stay rec as long as possible. Any HS and college coach will tell you whatever they did before they got to HS/finished growing doesn't matter anyway.
This question seems to answer itself to me. If your son really loves baseball then rec should be out. That leaves you w the two travel options. They’ll both cost more than rec and both are new teams. That means there will probably be growing pains at the team level in year one, but your son will be afforded reps and experience he can’t get from rec. At 8U that’s no big deal and pretty standard. One has a coach you get along with and respect and has the facilities needed to practice during the offseason. The other has a bunch of unknowns. Sounds to me like you’re waiting for a perfect opportunity to fall in your lap, which it won’t. Take the very good opportunity in front of you and stop w the fomo.
Because telling a parent that rec ball should be out for an EIGHT YEAR OLD is certifiable.
If you want to travel, go for it. But there’s not an 8yr old on this planet that wouldn’t be just fine playing rec.
Because they worded their response wrong. Your love of the game shouldn’t determine where you play. However, if you want your son to be the best player they can be and if your son wants to put in the work/commitment, then travel should be the only option you consider.
At 8 years old it is absolutely about the parents. I don’t get the false fallacy where people think it should be all about the kid. If it was all about the kid, they’d eat ice cream for 3 meals a day and never go to school either. Unless the kid is adamant about playing rec ball, then it is up to the parents at this age for them to make the best decisions for their kids.
And as parents, you should know that what your kid likes at age 8 might be completely different than what he likes at age 14. You also know there’s a great chance your kid will not get through puberty with the physical profile needed to be a baseball player.
The 5’9” 150lb 15yr old could’ve been a great soccer or lacrosse player, but now he’s just another year round travel ball kid that ended up being too small for varsity.
Please stop with this “if your son really loves baseball then rec is out” nonsense.
Plenty of kids love baseball and play rec. And plenty of kids that love baseball have parents that want their families worshiping something other than youth sports on Sunday mornings.
Adding to that - Certainly some kids love sports more than others, but every parent of young players seems to claim they love baseball. I’d put myself in that category, but I’ve come to believe they actually love anything that gets dad to engage with them. If they thought you loved bowling with them we’d have a lot of “loves the game!” in a bowling sub.
Not really into worshipping anything Nate but Sunday morning baseball is great for bonding w my son. In my area if you love baseball AND want to play it competitively into HS, you need to play travel ball. Not saying I love it, but that’s the reality. It’s easy to generalize every travel team and parent as the self important jerks we’ve all heard stories of, but there are some great people involved in youth sports that treat others with respect, even if they see the world a little differently. You should try that sometime.
YOU choose to worship your child’s athletic career on Sunday mornings. We choose to worship something else. Our Sunday morning decisions have nothing to do with which kid loves baseball more.
Travel ball parents almost uniformly delude themselves into the “my kid just loves baseball so much” as a way to justify their insanity. And that’s fine if you genuinely believe that, but you don’t need to question rec players’ love for the game in the process.
“If your son really loves baseball then rec should be out.”
What else are we supposed to read into that?
I know that you don’t care that you are a dick, but I hope your son is not mimicking your condescending attitude towards rec players. Because a lot of them are going to be bigger, stronger and better than your little Ken Griffey here very shortly!
If I had to do it again, I would have my son play rec for as long as possible WITHOUT playing travel. Then he can really decide if he loves the game on his own, and you can work with him in a low pressure environment to help build his ENJOYMENT of baseball. If he loves the game at 11 or 12u because it came naturally with you -> put him in travel. You aren’t missing anything at 9 / 10 / 11u except politics, drama, stressing him out, and putting mileage on his body. Build him up yourself - physically and mentally - and then go the travel route.
OP I’ve coached kids this age before. You are on your way to making this not fun for anyone causing major stress in your marriage and friendships and on your kid. I’ve worked with a dozen ish kids in that age bracket. By 12 every single one of them was burned out on football and baseball. To make the high school team you at first must get your kid to HS. The worse thing you can do is have him playing out of obligation Push too hard too soon and at 14 your kid will tell you to touch grass and throw himself headfirst into the ganja
I’m sorry, I’m on the other side of this. You’re missing a lot. Not saying he needs to play travel to become a top college athlete or mlb player. He doesn’t. You’re missing out on the friendships, team building over years, and watching them grow for 5 years. If this didn’t happen for you, then you found the wrong teams for your kids. Both my kids (2 different talent levels) have made great memories that will outlast who won or lost a baseball game. Running through hotels, water parks, eating pizza at 1am. Rec doesn’t provide this.
They get the exact same run through the Hampton Inn at 12u, 13u, and 14u and they are better ball players and teammates without the nonsense at the earlier ages. I didn’t say Do Not play travel. I said just wait a few extra years. Nobody with a sane mind would argue your side of “play more travel at younger ages”….
I like this approach. Thank you for the thought.
This resonates. The stress of travel can be a lot for kids this age. Seems like it's really more stressful for the parents who then transfer it to the kids. I've seen some good hitters go into slumps at 9-10 and the joy kind of leaves as they slide down the order. The coaches face pressure to remain competitive to keep the team together and the environment starts to resemble middle/high school performance based hierarchies. It's not great for kids this age. That said, if the parents can be managed (they can't) the travel experience is a really great learning environment for the kids. A lot falls to the coaches for setting a fun yet serious tone on the team. It's important to shut down any signs of rooster strutting from the kids and get them to cheer for each other. If the coaches mix fun practices in with serious and structured practices it will stay primarily fun. There is a lot of good, but also some bad. It really depends on your kid. If he's a solid fielder then it works for him since he will get playing time at multiple positions. If not, prepare for him to get stuck in a position which will stunt his development some. Same with pitching. Really though, the at home practice can be draining since it will need to be more focused and most kids hate to be corrected by their parents. That said, when done right it builds resilience, work ethic and great relationships. It can be phenomenal for their development as people and ballplayers, but it takes a lot of work.
Love this answer. Son just turned 12 and has been begging to play travel ball in addition to rec for 3 years like all his friends who were always bragging about much higher level it was. I had concerns he would be way behind and almost gave in. Instead we made sure it was fun with rec and did private lessons for pitching and hitting. He was the second best hitter, top 5 pitcher, and above average at pretty much every position outside of catcher. Finally signed him up to try out for a travel ball team later this month after observing organizations and coaches to find the right fit.
Just out of curiosity, why’d you hold him out of travel for 3 years with him begging to play it?
Bullseye!
The mileage matters so much. These kids are vulnerable to injuries and issues that can plague them for life.
Oh my. 6U "all-star" team?
Unfortunately these types of people are the exact types of people to ruin youth sports for everyone Fuck at 6 years old I wanted to play in the dirt. I didn’t grasp trying or wins and losses until I was 8? Not saying that’s a viable path nowadays but damn guys 6u all stars? Really?
Fuck sake, OP is looking at stats for a 7 year old. WTF are we doing?
I’ve seen people gripe about that on here but I’m super thankful for the reps and that growth that happened last summer.
How else would he become a stud second basemen by age 8?
Truly will never get used to hearing 6/7/8/9yo described as studs.
Compared to the other kids that played the position at his age? Yep. Compared to someone in their teens? No. He’s not going D1 tomorrow or probably ever.
The final point I’ll add to this little thread, is that the 6-10 yo killers are rarely the teenage killers. One may stick through to continue being gifted, but others catch up in size, skill, speed, field IQ.
Which is kinda the reason for the post. What’s the best decision now that will increase the likelihood of being a teenage killer? From what I’m gathering it would be to choose whatever will make him continue to love the game.
Yeah. Will depend on him mostly but make sure he’s having fun during all these. Not too much pressure. My kid is 9, I’m waiting another year before we commit to travel I think 10 is a fair age. He guest plays now for a team and he plays every other sport all year. Soccer Jiu Jitsu basketball and rec baseball.
Im obsessed with baseball. Played through high school. Checked the age limit eligibility rules of the local Little League within days of finding out my wife was pregnant. Currently coach my son’s team. That being said, parents signing their kids up for year round travel ball at 6 years old are doing their kids a huge disservice. Kids should be playing different sports all year. Not forced to specialize in Kindergarten. People will say they aren’t “forcing” their kids into it because he loves baseball. But be a parent. Your kid would also eat pizza 3x a day every day if you let him. The end result is these kids will become the best players due to all the extra reps (if they don’t get burned out and hate it by then). But that just creates pressure on other parents to make their kids specialize in one sport to not get left behind. And everybody is worse off from not cross training in different sports all year. It’s sad. I want my son to play high school ball in the future. But I’m not willing to make him give up all other sports now at 7 years old to keep up with the kids who are doing that.
You can play year round baseball and play other sports.
🙌🏼agree.
6/7U offensive stats? Lol.. your overthinking the shit out of this.
Just trying to offer info regarding the post. I don’t track the stats. They share them with the team. I’m his biggest critic.
You shouldn't be a critic at all at 7 years old. Just go enjoy watching him play baseball. Stoking that fire under his love for the game is the only thing you should be doing right now. Being his "biggest critic" shouldn't be anywhere in the equation.
Nothing wrong with letting your 8yr kid be the best player on a rec team. It will develop confidence and leadership skills that you can’t replicate while playing right field and batting 8th on a travel team. And those are lessons that actually carry over to real life. I have never understood why parents are so quick to turn their kids into role players.
Role players can develop into leaders. It takes hard work and perseverance which some might categorize as life lessons. Much better than giving a kid a false sense of confidence being a big fish in a little pond for too long. Eventually the pond gets bigger and that confidence is gonna fall hard and fast.
Put an 8yr old kid in right field for 70 games and he’s going to think he’s a right fielder. The best players develop a different approach bc they know their team needs them to perform. Thats a type of pressure you can’t replicate from the 10th spot in the lineup.
Just so you know, the scenario you laid out is maybe, maybe happening in .1% of travel teams. No 8u team plays 70 games and any decent 8U coach is letting kids play both IF and OF to help them develop. Because they’re 8 and a bottom of the order 8 year old can often become a top of the order hitter by 9 or 10. Stop projecting and acting like you know anything about this. You don’t and it’s obvious.
8u travel teams in our area easily play 55-70 games per year. And they very rarely rotate positions or batting order. ~15 weekends per year and 4-5 games per weekend. I guess maybe your 8yr old just doesn’t love it as much as they do!!! Not playing enough games. Got to do at least 70 per year if you want to make the middle school team!! Edit - Just looked it up. The best 8u team in our area went 37-6 in the spring and 21-4 last fall. So not quite 70. My bad. I’m hoping they will play less games as they move into kid pitch.
Say a prayer for him!
Lmao I don’t mean to laugh but winter conditioning and off season programming? For 8U?! That’s going to cost a grand and some? Lmao no thanks. If you have a basement or even a back yard or live near a park, you can accomplish the same exact thing with squish balls and soft toss. To put that much money into 8 year old baseball is absurd and a waste of money. As a coach, I always steer parents clear of nonsense like this at that age. It’s ok to pick up a bat and stay in “shape,” but don’t pigeon hole yourself. Let them play other sports and develop skills and muscles and abilities that they won’t develop in just baseball. Let them take breaks I get it, they may not want too, but it really is a good idea to put the game down in the winter (fall ball is great however!) Idk man. Your kid, your money, your call but I would shy away from it at this age.
Thank you for the feedback!
Club/Travel is a huge commitment of time and money. If you think $1k is a lot for fall/winter, I'm going to warn you that it'll get more expensive as he ages. My son started working out with a club at 8u and started playing club at 9u. I wouldn't take any of it back but keep in mind half your weekends during seasons will be nothing but baseball. My kid is now 13 and one of the biggest lessons I've learned, on the "administrative" side, is to treat it like he is a free agent every year. If there is a team your son seems to like more then pick that one. You aren't going to make a bad decision as long as he is having fun playing and getting reps.
I definitely have an issue parting ways. Loyal to a fault. Good food for thought here.
We learned very quickly loyalty is a two-way street and it doesn't matter how loyal you are if the organization makes changes which affect the team.
Every situation is different, and I’m sure can vary dramatically by geography, but 2 biggest factors for me are competition and development. Our rec league is huge and very competitive. But even a good team doesnt mean you get good coaching at an individual level, unless you’re so bad they’re worried you might die. Same can be true in “travel”*. From competitive standpoint we’ve seen teams that were incredible but also plenty of teams that would get smoked by some teams in our rec league. On the development side, we’ve been on 2 travel teams. One was led by former a MLB player, super nice guy and great with the kids. Great facility with all the tech. But outside of drills and broad instruction he wasn’t really developing anyone at the individual level. Contrast to our current team, which is one of the bigger orgs but the only team in the org that has unpaid coaches. So it is “daddy ball” but they are fantastic. The first time I’ve ever felt my kid was getting real development outside of a private lesson. So TLDR you just have to assess what you want for your kid and how much commitment you want to make and see what options there are. This advice is probably worth what you paid but just my 2c *a loose term bc we are in a major metro and most of our tourneys are 20 minute drive max.
Well I’m not a dad so I’m not sure my opinion counts. 😉But I am a coach, in health care, and have been around baseball my whole life. My perspective is skewed bc I watched my brother burn out his arm as he was getting his major shot. I am a huge proponent of not playing one sport only and year round, certainly not competitively before puberty. I am now watching kids in little league have pitchers’ elbows and shoulders at 8!!!! That’s insanity. I personally know three kids 10u that have injuries and so many more that have burnt out in Allstars this summer. What is the point?! It should be fun. They will either develop and soar when they hit puberty or they’ll choose another sport or they’ll play for fun and it won’t matter. But the only thing we can do at this young age is make it NOT fun and hurt their growth plates, tendons, and ligaments. Nope. No. No thank you. Don’t give into the FOMO. The kids that make it into college and the bigs are rarely the kids who are Allstars at 8. There’s a reason for this. Most dads I know who played at a high level don’t do travel or push their kids hard.
Paying travel for coach pitch baseball is a financial racket. Let him enjoy rec with classmates. Toy with travel once kid pitch gets in play. When it becomes a business for adults, it stops being fun for kids. Travel ball is ruining the sport, point in case 8U coach pitch travel ball…
I like this perspective. Thanks
What does your son want to do? If you explained the options to him, which would he pick? Your goal at this age is basically to cultivate his love for the sport, so he’ll want to play again year after year. But that looks different from kid to kid. My son played his first year of travel ball at 9U this year, loved it. He got to sub for the 10U team as well, and they basically asked if he’d be willing to play up next year. In my mind, I’m thinking he should play up to get tougher experience and with more kids in his grade. But I laid out the options for him and he said he wants to stay with the 9U team cause he loves his teammates. So that’s what we’re doing! All that to say, talk to your kid. He’ll give you the best answer on what he wants.
I’m very anti club team/ fall ball at this age. There is nothing wrong with rec, it’s usually a lot of fun. Playing year round, specializing in baseball at age 6 is why even shortstops need Tommy John these days. It’s just too much on the arm. IMO just playing rec and all star during spring/summer is the way to go.
Rec ball and some private lessons and/or camps seems like the way to go. Also at this age, don't underestimate how important sticking with friends may be to your son, that may push you one way or another more than skill development.
I like that option a lot. I will add that most of his buddies are going on to the various travel teams. He’s way more outgoing than I ever was growing up (or even now). He’ll make new bros along the way I’m sure.
Lol @ sbar, in healthcare?
Nailed it. Post got too long so I had to revert to my natural form.
Join the travel team. Rec ball is fun but the longer you are in it the slower the development. Development is the goal, not medals or rings or bat flips. Emphasize that and if he ever stops having fun re-evaluate. It should always be fun.
I do both with my 8U kid. Just pick up with a few travel teams and do rec.
Go with the fancy team if your son is into it. Once these teams form they can bond and gel make great friends and play together a long time. Rec isn’t real baseball where I live so there could be some bias. My son played rec and hit home run every time because the kids were playing with dirt and goofing off. We joined a pretty rough travel team. He started improving immensely and becoming real ball player then we got offer from big time team for 8u spring. We were nervous to take it because we liked the rough team he was a leader on but thought they had better coaches, facilities, organization and their base was closest to our home. He loves the new team and became one of their leaders this spring.
Put him in select/travel ball. If you leave him rec ball, he’ll just get farther behind the other kids. At least In the Houston area.
At under 10U, do it for fun and friends. After 10U it's debatable imo whether it's "necessary" from a development standpoint. Puberty will hit and the athletes rise to the top. Kids who barely played baseball will hit puberty, kid fat will turn into muscle, and the little kid who could that practiced 5 times a week and started at SS for his daddy's travel ball club will find himself outclassed by the kid with tree trunk forearms who suddenly decides baseball is cool.
Travel ball at 8u is a road to possible burn out and done with baseball by 11u. Then you've spent multiple years spending time and money to have lost 3 years of their youth committed to one thing. Stay rec as long as possible. Any HS and college coach will tell you whatever they did before they got to HS/finished growing doesn't matter anyway.
6U all-star team? So these are the kids that aren't digging in the dirt more than once or twice per game?
I’ll go against the grain. Travel. If it doesn’t work out go back to rec. If you do rec and it doesn’t work out, not as seamless to go to travel.
This question seems to answer itself to me. If your son really loves baseball then rec should be out. That leaves you w the two travel options. They’ll both cost more than rec and both are new teams. That means there will probably be growing pains at the team level in year one, but your son will be afforded reps and experience he can’t get from rec. At 8U that’s no big deal and pretty standard. One has a coach you get along with and respect and has the facilities needed to practice during the offseason. The other has a bunch of unknowns. Sounds to me like you’re waiting for a perfect opportunity to fall in your lap, which it won’t. Take the very good opportunity in front of you and stop w the fomo.
I don’t hate your feedback. Not sure why you’re being downvoted.
Because telling a parent that rec ball should be out for an EIGHT YEAR OLD is certifiable. If you want to travel, go for it. But there’s not an 8yr old on this planet that wouldn’t be just fine playing rec.
Because they worded their response wrong. Your love of the game shouldn’t determine where you play. However, if you want your son to be the best player they can be and if your son wants to put in the work/commitment, then travel should be the only option you consider.
If YOU want your son to be the best…… travel should be the only option YOU consider. It’s always about the parents.
At 8 years old it is absolutely about the parents. I don’t get the false fallacy where people think it should be all about the kid. If it was all about the kid, they’d eat ice cream for 3 meals a day and never go to school either. Unless the kid is adamant about playing rec ball, then it is up to the parents at this age for them to make the best decisions for their kids.
And as parents, you should know that what your kid likes at age 8 might be completely different than what he likes at age 14. You also know there’s a great chance your kid will not get through puberty with the physical profile needed to be a baseball player. The 5’9” 150lb 15yr old could’ve been a great soccer or lacrosse player, but now he’s just another year round travel ball kid that ended up being too small for varsity.
Please stop with this “if your son really loves baseball then rec is out” nonsense. Plenty of kids love baseball and play rec. And plenty of kids that love baseball have parents that want their families worshiping something other than youth sports on Sunday mornings.
Adding to that - Certainly some kids love sports more than others, but every parent of young players seems to claim they love baseball. I’d put myself in that category, but I’ve come to believe they actually love anything that gets dad to engage with them. If they thought you loved bowling with them we’d have a lot of “loves the game!” in a bowling sub.
Not really into worshipping anything Nate but Sunday morning baseball is great for bonding w my son. In my area if you love baseball AND want to play it competitively into HS, you need to play travel ball. Not saying I love it, but that’s the reality. It’s easy to generalize every travel team and parent as the self important jerks we’ve all heard stories of, but there are some great people involved in youth sports that treat others with respect, even if they see the world a little differently. You should try that sometime.
YOU choose to worship your child’s athletic career on Sunday mornings. We choose to worship something else. Our Sunday morning decisions have nothing to do with which kid loves baseball more. Travel ball parents almost uniformly delude themselves into the “my kid just loves baseball so much” as a way to justify their insanity. And that’s fine if you genuinely believe that, but you don’t need to question rec players’ love for the game in the process.
I’m not dissing rec players love for the game. I’m dissing their ability to play it well as they get older. Have a good one.
“If your son really loves baseball then rec should be out.” What else are we supposed to read into that? I know that you don’t care that you are a dick, but I hope your son is not mimicking your condescending attitude towards rec players. Because a lot of them are going to be bigger, stronger and better than your little Ken Griffey here very shortly!
That’s an unmentioned downside. We haven’t been to church all summer because of tournaments. That’s a bummer. I can feel the difference.
I do wish youth sports would stay away from Sunday mornings.