ADS - Select baseball questions

[Bercy]

I’m looking for opinions/thoughts from those of you whose sons have progressed through select baseball from 7U through junior high and/or high school. Obviously, the level of play is better depending on what level you are in and kids vastly improve the more they play. I presume there is a fine line between too much and not enough.

I have (8U) son who started with select the last couple years, played several local tournaments, did well, had fun, and we are planning on doing it again this year. We played rec and will continue with rec as well.

What are you guys with older kids (junior high/high school) seeing now and (1) glad you did or (2) wish you had done with/for your sons a few years ago?

Thanks.

[yankee]

Get Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers and read the chapter on youth hockey. The entire book is good, but the hockey chapter talks about slightly older kids who are sightly better, and get picked to play travel hockey. The coaches are better, and they get better, and essentially they are in an accelerated program for the rest of their youth. It's a great book for sports parents, and it translates to baseball, lacrosse, etc.

[Young Duck]

I have a son who is now a Sophomore in HS. Played travel ball since he was 9y/o. Had a ball doing it (both him and me), but we played for a coach that was a collegiate player; therefore, he knew what was too much, due to doing when he was young. We did play a couple years of rec after starting travel, but then stopped to allow more time for competitve ball.
IMO:
1) If the kid don't want to play it---dont
2) Competetion is tough, but without making it a job for him try to keep it fun and competetive at same time, keeping him interested.
3) If plays rec----be mindful of what he has done for travel team (pitch counts--goes for catchers too, when age appropriate)
4) Take atleast 4-wks for summer OFF (let kid be a kid and enjoy his/her summer)
5) Make sure the Coach is a respectable person, dont get him/her involved with someone trying to live thru there own son on the diamond and willing to win whatever the cost----you'll see what I mean if he sticks with it

Just a few opinions. Now, I'm not sure my kid, nor any other kid, makes the HS team without it. HS competition is so different than when I played. Good Luck and enjoy it, it passes quickly.

[Deltaquack]

[yankee]

I have seen him on the talk shows--strange dude, but in the case of the youth sports thing, and some of his other concepts, he is dead on.

[ScottyLee]

[bigoak]

A few things to think about.

1.) Make dang sure the kid truly loves baseball and wants to play year round. I am of the opinion that a 7yo is not old enough to make that decision. A lot of kids say they love it because their dad is so obsessed with it they fear what would happen if they admitted they don't want to play. I will get blasted for this but I have seen kids get brainwashed by obsessive parents.
2.) Realize that your child will likely not play college ball. When you are at one of those big tournaments look around for a second at the hundreds of kids that all think they are going to play at USM or Ole Miss or State. Realize that less than 10% go on to even play JUCO. Less than 1% of travel ballers will play in the SEC. About .00001% of youth travel ballers end up in MLB. Again, they need to play because they love it, not because they think they are preparing for the big leagues.
3.) Don't become so obsessed as a parent that you do not allow your child to play other sports. This is probably the thing that bothers me the most and is quickly becoming a problem in small high schools. Parents thinking that if their kids play multiple sports it will take away from baseball (see #2) Let them try basketball, football, soccer, etc... Let them go out for every sport they are interested in. A good example is Hunter Renfroe who played Football, Basketball, Baseball and Track in high school. Playing multiple sports in high school did not hurt his baseball career.
4.) Don't turn it onto a travel ball "cult" where you only socialize with other travel ball parents and you only let your kid hang around boys who also play travel ball. Let them have a life outside of baseball. Same goes for the parents.
5.)Don't neglect your other children and drag them all over the place on weekends to take their brother to baseball games.

[no fly zone]

Some good points in the posts.. Def would take those to heart. I and a lot of others played the game before travel ball evolved, and made it to some of the levels discussed in the posts. also, Major League Baseball existed 100 years before travel ball, so it's more proven to date that kids can make it to the bigs without travel, than with......to date.

Here's the biggest problem I see. You put your kid into it and he wants to do it as you say. That's great. But travel ball is about winning. If no one cared about progressing in competiton, it would not have been invented. Better competition will breed better success, so you put in the money, you both put in the time and sacrifices. In all this what gets lost is your son s and other kid s health. I'm not talking about allergies, but fatigue of body part ONLY USED IN BASEBALL. It's the only sport where an athlete uses unnatural motion, along with long periods of time of being stationary. Even when he s standing in the outfield or 1st base etc. A young boys body is still evolving at this point. When guys in the bigs throw you hear "goin on 3 days rest or 5 days rest" etc. they re grown men and need that much to recover. I've gone and watched my nephew games and other friends of mine s sons , they ll pitch the first game, then be playing the second and third cause he s a good hitter as well, or it s a tournament and who wants their son to sit the bench. And because they re young, it's thought of as ok.... This is a huge mistake, and not just for pitchers, but position guys as well. There s no time to take care of the body, because its always about the next game or tournament. And throwing a kid out in right field thinking he won't get much action after he s pitched, is just as bad.

putting so much on his body, because of the strain of trying to squeeze in 5 games in a weekend with travel, followed down the road with rec will show up later. I promise. Baseball is brutal in that regard. The other sports are more constant exertion.. When baseball and other sports were just rec, kid s bodies got the rest it needed in off season, but also the workouts through soccer, football, etc.

Play tournament ball for the competition your son will get when it s his turn to compete. But you need to remember winning is not the most important thing right now in your son s life. It teaches invaluable lessons no doubt, but don't sacrifice his health at 10 yrs old or however old for it. Those trophies end up in the trash or in the attic on down the road, but to make it in that 1%, he ll definitely need to be healthy. Get educated on taking care of his body, because its gonna be your job to do so, remember he s just a kid

[levi127]

Here is the biggest thing, when playing competitive baseball you have to be comitted to it 120%. Regardless if he starts or not. Practice-practice-practice then games. Some kids are cut out for it then others are not at all. We played sometimes 4-5 games in 1 day depending on how we did and stood in the rankings.

Do allow him to play different sports and figure out what he wants to do. Explain the goods and possibly bads of it. Look at where yall stand financially. I never knew how much my parents spent till I got older and figured it out. I have traveled all over the US in tournaments and world series.

I was the 2nd kid in HS to start on varsity as a freshman at our school. I worked hard bc I wanted to be the one to make it to majors and have the life alot of them live, only bc I wanted it. I was put in the draft my senior year and going in possibly 1st round to Cleveland Indians. Excited as can be trust me at that age. I had offers from all over for scholarships- I picked OK state to go to. Bad thing was it was all jerked out from under me bc of my decisions. My senior year 3 weeks before season I was in a truck wreck leaving school. I ripped my face off on right side (surgery fixed all that), windshield sliced through the back of my knee, cracked my ribs, broke my fingers on throwing hand and messed up my shoulder. Once word got out about it I lost everything. But 2nd week into season with face and body put back together and stiches all over I was on the field regardless of who told me I wouldnt be able to or was not going to. I had a drive to prove it wouldnt hold me back and it didnt. But the life I have right now I wouldnt take anything in the world over it.

Read some about Matt Cain. He played with me in HS. We are still to this day great friends and always watching him. He didnt start playing till like 12, never 1 day played competitive ball, didnt make varsity till his senior year and only pitched then. Now he is the highest paid pitcher in the MLB, leads all different statistics wise all over. Luck maybe, no. He had a drive in him that most people would never think about having for something.

On the % of players someone talked about. That can be true but then not true. Alot of that boils down to the coaches they play with. Well known coach has alot of connections. Sometimes its not the kids decision on how far they want to go with it, it is taken out from under them by a coach. Ive seen it done many times before growing up.

[Odis]

My son is 13 and has played select/travel baseball since he was 7 (I think, maybe since 6). His school does not have a team until 8th grade and he is currently in the 7th grade. Since we're not quite there yet, I can't comment on whether or not it helped in high school or college; however, overall it has been a very good experience. We have tried football, he did not like it; soccer wasn't his thing either. For him, baseball is it. He's played all over the place and made a lot of friends through it, very good friends that he probably would have never had if not for baseball. I've never forced him to play, this is all his choosing. The only thing that I might can add is to be sure he's doing it for him and not you AND that he gets good instruction. I was one of those parents who thought select baseball was a joke before we started this, and I completely understand how others may view it. The most any of us can hope for is a chance to play high school ball, anything after that is a gift. I know this isn't exactly what you asked, but it's my $0.02, if it not fun at a young age (unless its school) it's not worth doing. If you asked my son today, what are the most important things in your life right now? He'd say God, baseball, hunting and fishing. My goal has been to keep it fun. I've never coached him except in T-ball or coach pitch. The only reason he ever started select was because rec. ball wasn't enough ball FOR HIM, every kid is different. It is expensive and time consuming but I believe as long as its fun, the rest will take care of itself. Send me a PM and I'll look for you at the park

[Odis]

One more thing to remember, gasoline and perfume could change EVERYTHING in short order