News report about commitments for travel baseball

folks in the Triangle area probably saw this article in the Sunday N&O, about travel baseball time commitments, expenses, etc. Based mostly on experiences taken from the recent national USA tourn. at Cary.
http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/story/1586543.html

 

Parents need to think about the cost. If you were to take all that money spent on ball. Put in a college fund over the years. Guess what you would most likely have enough for four years, grad school and a nice car for graduation. Depends on school of course. With what you get IF they play at the next level. It is not a wise investment. The odds are stacked against you for those few spots. But we still throw money at it for the chance.

 

You can not discount the memories that are made. Most of the kids would rather be playing baseball instead of fishing,hanging at the beach, etc. There usually is some where for a kid to play, if that is what he wishes to do. It is not always just about the scholarship.

 

Plate,

Seems a little exaggerated on your part. My sons been playing for several years and looking back on those years, as a family, they are filled with great memories that were not very expensive at all.

 

Oh we have great memories. Great times. You add it up from a scale of Feb thur November travel every other weekend to venues, lunch, admission, dinner, over nights, gas and other. Traveling to other states for events for three days to a week. That is what I'm refer to. You are correct if it is a local team playing local. Pack up the family go to Georgia, Tenn, Virginia, Florida, SC not to mention Showcase events. Adds up. I would spend it again. Just saying that if you are doing it to get money for school forget it. Save it and use it for tuition,

 

Although every family would like to see an end result in continued playing of baseball in college, I have yet to meet one parent that made that the sole reason for participating.

But what you will find in common with all parents participating are the following things:

- You know where your kid is and who he is hanging out with at all times

- You get to spend time with your family at some great locations

- You meet people that become long lasting friends

- You get to spend some quality one on one time with your son. You have an opportunity to watch and teach life lessons that he won't find cruising the malls with his "new" friends.

- You won't have to worry late at night where he is on the weekend or who he is with---he's usually the one snoring in the corner of the hotel room exhausted and sunburnt.

- No late night phone calls from the police department telling you where and when to pick up your son.

- Great memories shared by everyone in your family and your extended family.

I could go on and on, but you get my point. Sure I could have traded in the boat to help pay for college. Sure I could have bought a cheaper car to help pay for college. Sure I could have discouraged my son to stop playing games and go to work to help pay for college. There were alot of things I could have sacrificed in doing or buying that would have helped pay for college---But I like the fact that I invested in my son and hope the time spent with him will make him a better young man and it gave him a better chance to succeed in life with a stronger foundation. In return what he has given me....that, my friend, is priceless!

 

Great post Braves! I completely agree!

 

I am glad I held off and waited to write anything because Brave put it perfectly. In our area we have little choice but to travel. Chances are very slim that our guys will ever be seen locally. We had some real players this year but only two will move on to continue to play. My son only received one call from a college that did not see him at either a weekend tournament or college camp. Funny thing is he is probably going to attend the only college that actually attended a local practice and saw him.

Question is, knowing now that his college of choice did not see him at a traveling event, would we change all the money spent, miles on the cars, time spent away from home......? Not a single thing and wish we had done more for all the reasons Braves stated above.

It’s all winding down now and the yard will probably start getting mowed, the house will finally get cleaned, home cooked meals and I may even have time to wash the dogs!! I could not be sadder! I will really miss my best friend as he goes off to college but I know that with the experiences he has had, he is ready. I am very proud of him and I know that baseball, every part of baseball has been a big part of who he is. Baseball has given to him more than we could have ever spent! In every way you look at it, it’s been a Blessing.

 

This quote struck me as what separates one kid from the rest.

"I'll play this game every day the rest of my life," Chris Diaz said. "I'll never burn out."

 

The Most Important Point of ALL!!!!!!!!

I couldn't pay enough for the great conversations we had riding to and from the games.