Travel ball 8 and 9 year old

Classic ncsu!!!!!! This may be my new signature

cougar man- I'm sorry if it seems we didn't answer your question (outside of baseballman.) Most of us haven't participated in TB at that level, so the only experience we have is at the older group where tournaments are held on Sunday, as well.

But wouldn't it be nice if a tournament provided a minister on Sunday mornings and have a designated time for a service and have no games played at that time.

 

Braves,
That would be great! Anyway its warm outside and I'm ready for baseball.

 

It's hard to believe, but college baseball starts next weekend

 

Thank you.


It is unfortunate circumstances about not being able to play. However we all understand. Maybe when he is older, he can play in fall ball leagues. We have one for our high school conference. Missing a game there isn't a big deal.

And missing an AAU game for Church isn't a big deal either. Maybe he could participate in sports. And only play the games he can get to? Say play saturday, get up Sun. morn, go to church, then head to play baseball.

IMO, not a better day for anyone. Church then baseball? If you can only fit ice cream in there somewhere....

 

Some of you know that I'm a Pastor. When Ty was playing the Travelball circuit (including baseball, soccer and basketball), our rule was clear: church comes first. Here's how we managed this:

1 - Before he joined a team, we informed the coach that God comes first. We never had a coach who disrespected that.

2 - We insisted that Ty attend Sun PM, Wed PM, summer camp, and other youth activities whenever possible. That kept him in contact with the kids from our church.

3 - Whenever possible, Ty attended our early Sun morning service and then MaMa drove like a bat-out-of-you-know-where to get to games.

4 - At out-of-town tournaments, we searched local church directories (newspapers, phone books, internet) to find a church service that could be attended between games. Most cities have churches large enough to hold multiple services (8am-9:30-11am) and even Saturday evening services (both Catholic and Protestant). Ty would change into his uniform in the car afterwards.

It wasn't easy and the burden was 100% on MaMa (I was kinda busy on Sundays), but we refused to compromise our convictions for sports. I encourage others to do the same. It actually served as a positive, allowing us to tatoo on Ty the priority of God first.

 

Awesome

That is simply awesome the way you handled that. If there is one regret I have about my son traveling when he was younger and playing baseball its missing so much church.

I must admit I allowed myself to get suckered in. When I was first approached about my son playing on a travel team he was 9 years old. I had no idea this stuff even existed. He played in a rec league and played basketball and football at the same rec league. When I told him a guy wanted him to tryout for a travel baseball team of course he wanted to go tryout. When he was selected for the team we were told "We will only play from April to July and we will only play one or two weekends a month. Well I figured we could miss church one or two Sundays a month for this period of time so if he wanted to do it we would give it a try.

The problem was he liked it too much. He loved to travel and stay in the motel rooms. Eat out all weekend and get to play baseball all weekend. What could be better than that for a 9 year old kid? Well one or two weekends a month started being 2 to 3 weekends a month. Then it was 3 to 4 weekends a month. Then it was every weekend a month. Then some fool decided we needed to continue to play during the fall. And then all of a sudden we are playing 9 months out of the year.

Great memories and a ton of fun. Great competition and made a lot of friends along the way. But the problem is by the time you realize the down side its too late to do anything about it. Its real hard as a dad to sit there and preach the importance of being in church and having your spiritual life in order when you are driving him to the ball park every Sunday for a game. You know what I mean?

I think its a lot different when they are older and they are playing for an opportunity to earn a scholley. When they are older and can understand the situation a little differently. You can get back go to service on Sunday night and make sure you make those Weds night services as well.

Looking back on it I believe there is plenty of time to start this stuff later on. And where there is truly a will to make time for whats truly important you will do just that. So thats my real regret. I am very fortunate that in spite of me my son turned out to be a fine young man. God is good.

 

Coach, you're a good man. I admire your honesty and appreciate your sentiments. We all make mistakes raising our kids. My wife has a bumper sticker that says: "All men are idiots, and I married their King." She's got me nailed...

Just a thought: you might consider doing what I've done. Early on I spent too way many hours working instead of raising/being with my 3 daughters. So not long ago I went to each one of them and asked them to forgive me. And then I explained that one of the most important reasons why I was apologizing is so they will see my error and not repeat it themselves.

That didn't erase my mistakes, but it did give me a teachable moment. God bless...

 

Forget TB, play local, and spend your money on clinics, camps, and fun kid things that have nothing to do with playing ball.
Build a stable foundation for your child to grow upon; school, church, sports and just time to be a kid. They grow up way too fast.

fishman

 

OUCH!!!

My toes are being stepped on here. I went through this about 10 years ago myself. My son was asked to play on a travel team and I had just given my life to Christ about a year earlier. I wasn't raised in church and I had a real thirst to be in church learning about God and his word. I gave in to the temptation to have my son on this team and it constantly tortured me. I brought myself eventually to approach the team and see if I could lead some devotionals with the players between games. I was scared to death when I had to start the 1st one but I felt good after we started having them. We tried to have them between games on Sundays. About the 3rd or 4th time we had them I got the wonderful experience to lead 2 young men to Christ right beside the ball field. Parents and players were hugging and crying and praising God at the little ballfield the train track ran by near Webb field in Concord. It was awesome. I would have never gotten to be a part of that wonderful day for these 2 fine young men if we had not played travel ball. These 2 young men are still playing ball in college now and when I see them I remember that day in Concord and smile. GOD is good.

 

Wow! Just Wow!! To use a worn-out phrase: "This really is what it's all about."