GYERO
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Who gives a shit
Maybe horse racing fans ???? But hey, you do you, great post. The Preakness is a pretty big horse race and KY is a pretty big horse racing state with lots of fans. I take it you are not one ? Oh, EAD.
That stretch run in The Preakness scared the shit out of me. I thought there was about to be a huge disaster. Great effort from a great colt. That had ‘05 Afleet Alex vibes.
Oweh being “all in” on the draft (even if it’s just him saying what he needs to say now) is not gonna work out in the long term.
- building a little clubhouse with the boys today out of spare wood from our deck rebuild.
- next weekend is a fire pit revamp. Ours was from a previous owner and is in serviceable but not great condition.
- my kids officially hate playing baseball. We’re trying football soon, I’m going to force one more season of tball/coach pitch. Oldest is 6, but his interests are clearly not sports outside of swimming. He tried out for the local kids swim team and just missed. The wife swam in HS and college and I think she’s subtly influencing that.
- I really don’t know how you parents do it with multiple kids in multiple sports and the focus on travel teams. I need a less intense job.
- building a little clubhouse with the boys today out of spare wood from our deck rebuild.
- next weekend is a fire pit revamp. Ours was from a previous owner and is in serviceable but not great condition.
- my kids officially hate playing baseball. We’re trying football soon, I’m going to force one more season of tball/coach pitch. Oldest is 6, but his interests are clearly not sports outside of swimming. He tried out for the local kids swim team and just missed. The wife swam in HS and college and I think she’s subtly influencing that.
- I really don’t know how you parents do it with multiple kids in multiple sports and the focus on travel teams. I need a less intense job.
I can tell you it’s stressful and the few people I know killing themselves to do it all for their kids will privately tell you how god awful it makes life dealing with travel ball.
Typically though if your kid is any good at all you need to try to push toward travel ball because rec league will limit their growth. The biggest advantage isn’t the experience or coaching it’s simply playing with better kids that do what they are supposed, ie good throws and get to the right positions etc, that rec leagues are too inconsistent with.
Also the last tip I was given on travel ball is to make sure the whole family, grandparents aunts or uncles can jump in and help some.
Since I was my moms only child, and adopted by my father and most family ties splintered we decided to just stay with rec league and like a student not challenged in school my son is just bored and doesn’t get after it 100%. After games I’ll ask what’s up and he’ll tell me “kids can’t throw so why be in position when they’ll make bad plays if I am”. It’s like by doing less he is forcing teammates to do right and hold the ball. There have been a few times at 3B where instead of throwing the ball to 1B he’ll just send a ground ball over there which has actually worked.
Typically though if your kid is any good at all you need to try to push toward travel ball because rec league will limit their growth. The biggest advantage isn’t the experience or coaching it’s simply playing with better kids that do what they are supposed, ie good throws and get to the right positions etc, that rec leagues are too inconsistent with.
Also the last tip I was given on travel ball is to make sure the whole family, grandparents aunts or uncles can jump in and help some.
Since I was my moms only child, and adopted by my father and most family ties splintered we decided to just stay with rec league and like a student not challenged in school my son is just bored and doesn’t get after it 100%. After games I’ll ask what’s up and he’ll tell me “kids can’t throw so why be in position when they’ll make bad plays if I am”. It’s like by doing less he is forcing teammates to do right and hold the ball. There have been a few times at 3B where instead of throwing the ball to 1B he’ll just send a ground ball over there which has actually worked.
I’m not a fan of travel ball at all. Honestly, it’s semi-tearinf one part of my family apart. Two kids in it. Never see that part of our family at all. Plus they both play winter sports. I dunno. Neither kid is going to go pro. One maybe has a chance at a scholarship. But the stress of everything is palpable. They pretty much nearly ditched seeing our grandmother before she died for a travel game.
Plus, didn’t ESPN talk about the effect of year round focus on sports and kids coming into college and pros with knees and ligaments of 35 year olds? Pretty sure that was focused on the year round approach to intense basketball via AAU.
Plus, didn’t ESPN talk about the effect of year round focus on sports and kids coming into college and pros with knees and ligaments of 35 year olds? Pretty sure that was focused on the year round approach to intense basketball via AAU.
Before they're teens you don't have to do travel ball. That's ridiculous. Find a good local league, travel if they just want more and you enjoy it. Otherwise, Just work at home or get lessons in the off season.
Give football a chance. So many redeeming qualities….plus it “stays in its lane” seasonally better than most youth sports and is not “club” heavy. Lends itself to playing multiple sports which I’m a huge advocate. Both of my sons play football and a second sport. Oldest plays two at the varsity level and is aspirational to play college football at some level at least. Don’t get me wrong, football can start to expand past its borders in middle and HS, but it’s much better than the other serial travel offenders.
Football has been a game changer for my sons and an awesome experience for me coaching at the youth and MS levels.
Daughter on the other hand is big into field hockey, and that is travel heavy. But plays basketball in the winter as a break from FH and time to do something else competitively with a different set of friends.
1. Football
2. Multiple sports
3. Profit
Football has been a game changer for my sons and an awesome experience for me coaching at the youth and MS levels.
Daughter on the other hand is big into field hockey, and that is travel heavy. But plays basketball in the winter as a break from FH and time to do something else competitively with a different set of friends.
1. Football
2. Multiple sports
3. Profit
I don’t know anything about travel ball but if you want to drop some serious coin on something they won’t do professionally then I suggest purchasing a show horse. Just bought the little lass a horse that she will do shows with, both dressage and jumping. Damn thing was 20 grand and that doesn’t even begin to get into the barn lease, vet bills and all of the crap that she just “has to have” like blankets, saddles, boots etc. Oh well, it’s why we do it…..I guess.
That new dog I got has been quite the handful. We ended up sending her away for a few weeks to get some advanced training, and I’m able to let her off leash during our walks - mainly because she now has a shock collar and if she isn’t listening I press a button and she gets a “correction”, which causes her to high-tail it to me immediately.
Tonight at 10:30 my wife and I took her out for a walk but her shock collar was dead. No big deal, she’s pretty much great on walks now and there’s really not much around at night to distract her.
So we walk down by the pond near the amphitheater. I let her off her leash like I normally do, but this time she goes straight into the pond. Not that big of a deal, she occasionally will wade around and get out and the only downside is that I have to give her a bath when I get home.
But something is different this time. She starts going further out to the middle of the pond. And then she starts swimming in circles. Then she starts coughing. Mind you it’s almost pitch black and I can hardly see her. Finally, she gets her wits about her and swims over to the side where I’m waiting. She gets to where she can stand, looks in my eyes, and turns around and swims back out.
She stays out there and you can tell she is starting to struggle. Only one thing to do for a dog where you just spent $3500 on training. And that’s you jump in the pond, swim out to the middle of it and yank your stupid dog back to shore by her collar.
Not exactly the peaceful Sunday night I was expecting.
Tonight at 10:30 my wife and I took her out for a walk but her shock collar was dead. No big deal, she’s pretty much great on walks now and there’s really not much around at night to distract her.
So we walk down by the pond near the amphitheater. I let her off her leash like I normally do, but this time she goes straight into the pond. Not that big of a deal, she occasionally will wade around and get out and the only downside is that I have to give her a bath when I get home.
But something is different this time. She starts going further out to the middle of the pond. And then she starts swimming in circles. Then she starts coughing. Mind you it’s almost pitch black and I can hardly see her. Finally, she gets her wits about her and swims over to the side where I’m waiting. She gets to where she can stand, looks in my eyes, and turns around and swims back out.
She stays out there and you can tell she is starting to struggle. Only one thing to do for a dog where you just spent $3500 on training. And that’s you jump in the pond, swim out to the middle of it and yank your stupid dog back to shore by her collar.
Not exactly the peaceful Sunday night I was expecting.
In Mount Washington our parent groups are borderline extreme with their kids stuff. I’ve been told at the next level, kid pitch, is where good players separate and some travel ball kids come back to rec league.
At our 8u level 30 kids got pulled out from last spring in a 10 team league. That’s basically 3 teams and those spots are filled with lower aged kids coming in. It’s not all bad and sounds worse than reality, but where I am the travel ball circuit kills rec league by either doing both and not being involved with their rec team or just being taken out of the league all together.
I agree about not doing travel, 100%.
And to the comment about football being in its seasonal lane, honestly fall baseball has been a blessing for my son and caught him up very quickly. Having 2 seasons a year at baseball is great IMHO.
At our 8u level 30 kids got pulled out from last spring in a 10 team league. That’s basically 3 teams and those spots are filled with lower aged kids coming in. It’s not all bad and sounds worse than reality, but where I am the travel ball circuit kills rec league by either doing both and not being involved with their rec team or just being taken out of the league all together.
I agree about not doing travel, 100%.
And to the comment about football being in its seasonal lane, honestly fall baseball has been a blessing for my son and caught him up very quickly. Having 2 seasons a year at baseball is great IMHO.
My unathletic children picked up tennis in middle school and play tennis during tennis season. It’s been a fantastic experience for them and my son and his doubles partner made it to state where they’ll get walloped by some kids probably named Preston and Paxton or Trip or something like that who’ve got access to indoor courts and can play year round.
They’ll be going pro in something other than sports.
They’ll be going pro in something other than sports.
The hottest girl in my high school married a tennis player named Tripp. Never met the guy, but F him.
Tripp
Tripp
City/county leagues here (BG) are excellent, at least up through age 12. After that, there's middle school and high school baseball if the kid is good. If not, we'll stick with rec. Travel ball is for the birds. Neighbors are all into it and they're almost never home. I just want my kid to stay active and hopefully love the game of baseball like I have my whole life. I played in some capacity from age 8 into my early 40s. Had some great seasons growing up, but hands down my best baseball experiences were in men's leagues and playing sandlot baseball as an adult. Probably because coaches, parents and pressure are removed, and you're just out there enjoying a dusty summer evening with the boys.
**CK Journalism. Bastard cost me win money on the #9 Gosgar (15-1). Instead of the $39 I cashed for Place/Show, it would have been in the $110 -$115 range. With no injury, I wish he would have stumbled a little more. What a recovering to win. I was already celebrating my win. Looked up and the sumbitch passed Gosgar like he was sitting still. Belmont should be a battle with the derby winner.
Just because the travel ball teams poach good players doesn't mean a kid can't progress without travel ball. Let me tell you, go stand in a hot field in Cynthiana on a 95 degree Saturday/Sunday for 12 hour 8a/3p double header... and get back to me on how that weekend improved your kids ability. They improve M-F not on those weekends.
Not trying to pile on, krazy, but 👆.
The whole “you better play or you’ll be left behind” state of mind is exactly what these tournament organizers want, and it’s why youth baseball is ridiculous and out of hand now. Yes, reps are necessary, but these dumbass tourneys with shit talent and shit competition are not helping anybody.
It’s a flat out money grab for the large majority of the tournament backers. Complete joke.
The whole “you better play or you’ll be left behind” state of mind is exactly what these tournament organizers want, and it’s why youth baseball is ridiculous and out of hand now. Yes, reps are necessary, but these dumbass tourneys with shit talent and shit competition are not helping anybody.
It’s a flat out money grab for the large majority of the tournament backers. Complete joke.
There are parts of the state where travel ball is the better option if you have a talented player. Leagues in rural areas basically don’t exist. Lexington has 3 of the best rec leagues in the state. If you live in that area, I highly suggest playing in one of those.
Travel ball is great for kids wanting to play college tho. I feel like I’ve had this convo on here 20x but I stand by the opinion that serious baseball players have to do travel in ages 15-18 if they want to play at the next level. Colleges don’t recruit high schools anymore.
Travel ball is great for kids wanting to play college tho. I feel like I’ve had this convo on here 20x but I stand by the opinion that serious baseball players have to do travel in ages 15-18 if they want to play at the next level. Colleges don’t recruit high schools anymore.
I’m just not sure what I’m saying that is taken how you all are taking it, but sounds good.
I actually do not recommend travel. Most parents with kids in travel are all complaining and financially complaining too.
I mentioned fall ball as a blessing for extra reps and catching my son up. I also throw him 50-100 pitches a few times a week and 25-50 ground balls and pop ups.
Honestly fall ball has been a better season for us as we don’t have as many rain outs and cancelled practices.
In the end I guess like Brad says, rec leagues are different everywhere. Our travel ball network subscribes to an indoor facility called the bat cave where their travel ball fee includes their membership. Otherwise it’s like an extra $150 a month to get reps there. Thats part of it in our community too.
I actually do not recommend travel. Most parents with kids in travel are all complaining and financially complaining too.
I mentioned fall ball as a blessing for extra reps and catching my son up. I also throw him 50-100 pitches a few times a week and 25-50 ground balls and pop ups.
Honestly fall ball has been a better season for us as we don’t have as many rain outs and cancelled practices.
In the end I guess like Brad says, rec leagues are different everywhere. Our travel ball network subscribes to an indoor facility called the bat cave where their travel ball fee includes their membership. Otherwise it’s like an extra $150 a month to get reps there. Thats part of it in our community too.
I also think people are too quick to say “it’s for the parents”. Definitely sometimes, but not always. Most of the kids I know worship playing baseball all the time. They wouldn’t have it any other way. We started travel ball at 10, which some may consider too young, but it worked for us. If my youngest turns out to be a good ball player I’d assume he’ll want to play as much as his brothers do. But I don’t think I’d consider travel before 9/10, mostly bc I live in an area with good leagues close by. If we didn’t have so many friends/family locally we’d be playing in Lex this year.
Our regional Catholic school touts travel athletic programming that has games against California teams… I mean, NJ v California is a natural rival🤨.
It’s all for show.
It’s all for show.
I don’t understand why the market hasn’t corrected for all this travel ball nonsense. I feel like if you live in a decently sized big city (e.g., Louisville, Lexington, Indianapolis), you could have a travel-ball "lite" team where you did the following and corner a lot of the parents.
I'd also make some rules that you can't play the full "travel" teams to cut off their market. But that can come later.
- Local players on team only
- Majority of games are within 25 miles
- Couple of regional tournaments per year (no further than 150 miles).
I'd also make some rules that you can't play the full "travel" teams to cut off their market. But that can come later.
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A million percent incorrect. "Travel ball" isn't necessarily the "cream of the crop"....it is often an ego feeder for the players and the parents especially at 15U ages. Now if you start talking about "select" teams that are the best of the best in the upper teen years then that is a different animal. Scouts, college and pro alike, are always aware of the next HS star that can bypass college, and "next level" in college baseball has numerous options.
People always go to “the next HS star that can bypass college”. No shit that kid doesn’t need to do anything special.
But for the kids looking at getting a low D1, D2 or NAIA offer, those will come more from travel teams/college camps/Showcase events than hs can provide.
But for the kids looking at getting a low D1, D2 or NAIA offer, those will come more from travel teams/college camps/Showcase events than hs can provide.
Nothing like spending $15K per year on travel ball to get your kid an NAIA offer!
This is basically what Iam3rd's Development Academy is for soccer. No clue how successful they are but it's a good balance.
We live right in the heart of BIG TIME YOUTH BASEBALL in Lexington so a lot of my kids friends play. They have replica jerseys with City Connect alternates, lots of eye black, each kid has their own helmet and back pack with 2 bats, all the coaches are decked in in official MLB gear, and I tend to forget my kids friends are 5-8 and playing Tee-Ball and Coach Pitch.
Did anyone else's little league coaches carry around bats and gear in one of these in the 80's and 90's or was that an experience unique to Russell County?
Wayne increasingly indicates a troubling financial situation.
Can’t afford activities for his kids.
Has to swim in neighborhood ponds to retrieve his dog rather than have a hired handler that follows him everywhere doing that.
Entertaining trim from some lady who wanted to play pickup basketball with him in the driveway in lieu of spending any money whatsoever.
Troubling, to say the least.
Can’t afford activities for his kids.
Has to swim in neighborhood ponds to retrieve his dog rather than have a hired handler that follows him everywhere doing that.
Entertaining trim from some lady who wanted to play pickup basketball with him in the driveway in lieu of spending any money whatsoever.
Troubling, to say the least.
Not spending a dime until I figure out if AI is going to take my job.
Warren Co (Bowling Green) just like with football, has a stout LL baseball program. Every year BG East and BG South have good / great teams. Several years Logan County has a good team. To be a smaller / rural area, BG Little League is as good as any in the state. And just like everywhere else, it is a money grabbing shit show with travel ball.
That's my worry about the US economy. In the last 25 years we've figured out how to monetize everything. Most of it financed via debt. One big money grab economy.
Agree 100%. If they're good after 12 and still have the desire to play baseball, cool. That seems to be the age they either want to play, or decide baseball is too much, and move on to other sports.
We started last year at 9, because it's the All Star Team, which was 10U. I don't love it at that age but don't really have the option, if you make and decline, you're likely done for the 12 yo season. We also don't travel during the season like all the other rec leagues so it's a little easier to digest. This is like 4-5 tournaments in the summer including district and state.
We have kids at 5 and 6 traveling all summer. Lol. This just isn't baseball by the way. Basketball, soccer, cheer, dance, swim, etc. All these sports are on the move constantly. It's pretty wild.
Youngest will follow the same path. If he's god enough for the AS team at 9, he'll play. If not, lake time.
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