Travel Ball - The Good and The Bad

I agree Cheeze. My dd is growing tired of all the games and no "vacation" within the vacation. Just to be a kid, go jetskiing or to the amusement park. After she returned from the showcase tourney in Rock Hill, which CF Ball so graciously invited her to play in, she got bacl and said she was just "tired". I told her, "From this point forward play it for some fun or don't play at all. I will FIND a way to pay for college. Softball games are our best memories. I will not le it be destroyed by pressure, externally or internally." Maybe I released some of the pressure. Who knows. Frankly, maybe we as parents should learn to start preparing better for our childrens future, quit being tight A$$ES and let them be them. Make sense? I would rather for Steph to never pick up a ball again and be happy than to keep playing, trying to be what I want her to become. I would give up a winning "Powerball" ticket to be sure that she was happy.

 

Math...

Interesting comments about getting $$ for college.

Wonder what the nest egg would look like if we took this example:

$150 average (sometimes way more with hotel rooms, meals, etc) x average15 weekends from March-October (thats playing every other weekend)

Thats $2250 per year that could have been put away for college rather than gas, hotel, meals, entry to park, darn tshirts from every tourney ever played, etc.

How about adding in the $400-$600 average we pay to have the kids play...

thats a total of $2800 per year for college X 10 years (playing from 8u-18u)

Thats $28,000 (compounded from the minute you started putting it in) would be worth $40-50,000.

That being said, how much should I put in for memories?

Point is you can't, and if the kids aren't liking it anymore, either cut down or cut out.

 

I remember getting a phonecall last year from a dad who was interested in playing for the pride. He lived outside of the 50 mile radius and therefore could not play on the team. Before we got to where they lived he asked how many tournaments we were going to play. I told him 6 tournaments (summer) and he said he was used to his DD playing in 12 to 14 and could she play for another team when we weren't playing. I told him to get a life....Some good posts here about money spent on travel ball and just how it has it plus's and minuses. Memories, can't put a price tag to them. But, if the memories end up being they dread going to the next tournament then you know you've scheduled too many. Madison had a good post as well. The first year we started Southern Explosion we scheduled 4 major tournaments and that was it. It worked really well. Went to 6 last year and that worked out ok as well. Anything over that and you risk the burnout factor. Remember I am talking summer ball only. 12U and below and either half of the 14U schedule should play local if at all possible and not exceed 8 a year as they start earlier than the older groups. Bring the players back to the local rec ball and find a solution where both groups can survive. My DD wanted to play her last year that she was eligible for rec ball and they told her she had to choose either rec or travel. You know which we chose...