Travel ball effect on LL/Pony/DYB, etc.

Hummmmmm

Well, let's get a dad's opinion who has spent a lot of time and $$$ to go this route. Well mine started in LL at six in 1999. Thing with LL at this time Tee Ball was coached by a great group of dads. They taught the kids how to catch, field and to catch the ball. When the kids played it was playing not hit the ball, other team stops it, run in and call time. At six and seven these kids were making plays. Mine even got a game ball for a double play. Caught a fly ball at second base position and tagged the runner leaving 1st. We did keep score and there were many wins and loses by one or two runs. A couple of years later a couple of the LL coaches took a group of (11) eight year olds to play in a USSSA tourney in Roxboro. This was coach pitch. Guess what a win. If it remeber correctly we 10 run ever team. That was four teams in one Sat. A few weeks later we played in the state tourney and won it. This qualified them for the USSSA World Series in New Orleans. We raised the money for the kids to fly down and and play. His team (The Carolina Mariners) played in every USSSA & AAU tourney in the state till he was 11 and placed no less than second (very few) He started playing for the Carolina Angels 13U team. The older group as they were called. This was an older group that was under OAC. Let's throw a few other things out there.
Just some of the player alumni:
Levi Michaels
Matt Batts
Chaz Frank
Tanner Beck
Nick McBride
Brad Wrege
Trey McCraw
Ryan Glover
Seth Mahffey
Tyler Coyle

I missed many other great players that have made their HS teams. Some have made it to the next levels and I expect that they will bring the love of the game to others in the future

Now, Gloveside. If you what to ride in my windstar van (a 98) that made the trip after work on that Friday to see him play on Sat. ( just a 12 hour dirve). Great. If you would like to eat and Mickey 'D"'s value menu. Iwill buy up to a three dollars. All I have. Not all teams are as you put it country club. We could use the same for showcase if that was the thread. I think that travel ball is driven by a dollar. Many of the players are not ready for the level. Do I think that it made my son a better player? Did it put him in a better position? To be honest. Not sure... We do what our kids want. Mine played both for awhile. He left LL after 12. And to be honest the level of play for him was below what he saw in travel. CC yes today I would agree. It is about playing the level. Thing is many of the players need more work.

 

I had to read my post again

to see where I blasted travel ball. I coached an AAU team. I coached a rec ball team. It has nothing to do with rec or travel baseball. It has everything to do with the quality of the coaching these young kids are getting.

I had a kid drafted in the 3rd round that is in double AA that never played travel ball. He played in the local rec league. What happened to him? Man maybe if he had played travel ball at the age of 9 on up he would have been a first round pick? Darn it!

 

Do Both LL and TB

Our local LL started playing all games on Monday thru Thursday.
If kids wanted to play TB on weekends, they could and still be a part of their community league.
Pretty good compromise I thought...

 

No doubt claiming a coach is good or bad is opinionated. They all have their strengths. One man's Joe Torre is another man's Bob Uewker (sp). However when running a league one must look at the customer base; the kids. When you look at the coaches that helped develop/teach or whatever you want to call it, those coaches are in demand, right or wrong. Everyone has an opinion. When running a program one has to listen to the customers a little or there will be no program. You raise a good point.

 

REC BALL

One comment and I will let this thread go.
Since the advancement of travel baseball developed, this youth sport has dropped from the most participated youth sport to eighth in the USA. Yes soccer is number one, I guess because everyone plays regardless of skill.

 

We offer soccer as well as baseball and we experinece the same thing. However we experienced the same thing before we had travel baseball. Having 2000 kids playing soccer we have found there is more to it.

Face it, a kid can get lost on a soccer field and go home feeling like a star. While we all try as coaches, that's tougher to do in baseball. Baseball is a game of failure. Just this week we had a kid in Colt (13-14) have his forst hit in 18 months. That doesn't happen in soccer. Everyone can play baseball regardless of skill. Not everyone has to play travel. And if you have not experienced it first hand, nothing is more rabid than travel soccer; ie. Challenge, Classic, ODP and so on. I swear I think some parents eat their young in travel soccer.

 

good call

and any good rec dept. manager will stand right up at the coaches meeting at the beginning of the season and tell you that rec ball is for ALL children. it is for RECREATION, not for Lou Pinella, or Billy Martin, or Pete Rose types of coaches/attitudes. its REC BALL, plain and simple. i've had kids on my teams, who were in the year round school program, leave for vacation in droves during the season and we forfieted game after game. ive coached girls softball too and its much worse in that respect. times have changed imo from when i was coming up. some communities are growing at a rate that heavily taxes practice/playing facilities, not to mention available coaching and umping. you may get to practice two or three times before the season begins, maybe not. its not a good deal for anybody. some communities wait til May to begin play, while others are playing ball before the last frost. its all over the place. i'd say that if your kid is good, let him play in a viable, AAU or USSSA league if your local municipality isnt up to par. if its travel ball, then so be it. if your local rec league is a good one then stay there.

 

$$

Ive eaten the value meal at Mickey "D.s" more times than I care.

You know what Im talking about though. Today's TB looks a little CC.

I think we as local communities could come up with USSSA/AAU llocal leagues. There is enough talent in each of the big population areas to have local leagues. City leagues. Then each could play each city.

Don't like Fords though.

 

Big effect

Tonight I was umpiring the bases at the local rec little league games. One of kids on the Mets doubles and while he is on second base he is talking to the shortstop on the Athletics. He says "Dude this sucks I wish we could take leads like we do in AAU ball." The other kid answers "Yeah and we would be using our BIG barrel bats."

I did not know what to think!!!!

 

I've coached Tee-Ball,

Coach-Pitch, and Machine-Pitch at the rec league level for the last 5 years for 6,7, and 8 year olds. Not until this year have we had many problems. Most parents of some of our 8 year olds let them play rec during the week and TB on the weekends, but this year 5 or 6 of the better TB players didn't play rec ball at all. Guess what, our league hasn't suffered at all. Each team still has 2 or 3 really good players and 2 or 3 who are average and 6 or 7 who struggle a little. Part of rec ball is for the kids who are more skilled to help work with those who aren't, it's called teamwork! A good coach works just as hard with the number 11 and 12 hitters as he does with the clean-up hitter! What really bothers me is when TB teams want to get in Rec All-Star Tournaments at the end of the year. Even if you just play in AA at the USSSA level, your considered better than Rec All-Star level and shouldn't, as a coach, want to play in the Rec All-Star Tournaments seeing as how you've been practicing since Jan. and played a zillion TB games.