General Travel Ball

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kvr28

kvr28

I am the Greengo
Nov 22, 2015
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19,096
Anyone do this with their kids? I get why the guy is bitching but it's okay to say no!

I have a buddy that does this with his two daughter for field hockey. Seems every other weekend during the winter they are traveling from Mass to Florida for tournaments. I don't get it.

Don't get me started on the cheerleaders that seem to be fundraising every month for some camp 10 states away but want donations to fund it.


View: https://twitter.com/dannykanell/status/1895113961420529946
 
C

CuddleBug

Posting Machine
Nov 18, 2023
778
1,392
My brother's kids were on leagues kind of like that. Travel was at worst several hours away, but the games were nonstop. 1 or 2 games during the week then tournaments all day Saturday/Sunday. It seemed like utter hell to do that. When I grew up it was 1 game a week and that was it. As a kid that as enough and even to the parents it probably seemed like too much, now it has reached insanity. I'm not sure if it's parents that are spoiling their kids or parents that think they are grooming a future superstar.
 
mysticmac

mysticmac

First 1025
Oct 18, 2015
16,786
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kvr28 said:
Anyone do this with their kids? I get why the guy is bitching but it's okay to say no!

I have a buddy that does this with his two daughter for field hockey. Seems every other weekend during the winter they are traveling from Mass to Florida for tournaments. I don't get it.

Don't get me started on the cheerleaders that seem to be fundraising every month for some camp 10 states away but want donations to fund it.


View: https://twitter.com/dannykanell/status/1895113961420529946
Click to expand...
Some of those cities seem like they would be more than a three hour drive. Where does this guy live?

Also, my HS hockey team would go play tournaments in NY and Montreal. Montreal was 90 miles away and the NY tourny was in the Albany/Troy area.
 
kvr28

kvr28

I am the Greengo
Nov 22, 2015
12,792
19,096
CuddleBug said:
My brother's kids were on leagues kind of like that. Travel was at worst several hours away, but the games were nonstop. 1 or 2 games during the week then tournaments all day Saturday/Sunday. It seemed like utter hell to do that. When I grew up it was 1 game a week and that was it. As a kid that as enough and even to the parents it probably seemed like too much, now it has reached insanity. I'm not sure if it's parents that are spoiling their kids or parents that think they are grooming a future superstar.
Click to expand...
I think my buddies wife is definitely looking for a college scholarship, I would like to see the price comparison for what they are spending versus a scholarship. They both make great money but still.
 
mysticmac

mysticmac

First 1025
Oct 18, 2015
16,786
19,101
CuddleBug said:
My brother's kids were on leagues kind of like that. Travel was at worst several hours away, but the games were nonstop. 1 or 2 games during the week then tournaments all day Saturday/Sunday. It seemed like utter hell to do that. When I grew up it was 1 game a week and that was it. As a kid that as enough and even to the parents it probably seemed like too much, now it has reached insanity. I'm not sure if it's parents that are spoiling their kids or parents that think they are grooming a future superstar.
Click to expand...
How do they find time to work on shit at the house?
 
kvr28

kvr28

I am the Greengo
Nov 22, 2015
12,792
19,096
mysticmac said:
Some of those cities seem like they would be more than a three hour drive. Where does this guy live?

Also, my HS hockey team would go play tournaments in NY and Montreal. Montreal was 90 miles away and the NY tourny was in the Albany/Troy area.
Click to expand...
He is saying for him it was a max 3 hour drive. I think the farthest we ever went for a wrestling camp was an hour.
 
segfault

segfault

Posting Machine
Aug 13, 2024
939
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Activities in my family was getting my ass thrown out the door and told not to come back until the streetlights were on.
 
mysticmac

mysticmac

First 1025
Oct 18, 2015
16,786
19,101
kvr28 said:
He is saying when he was growing up 3 hour drive was the max, the multi city tour is what he is doing for his kid
Click to expand...
Oh, I thought it as a city each weekend and returning home for the week. Aren't these kids in school?
 
C

CuddleBug

Posting Machine
Nov 18, 2023
778
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mysticmac said:
How do they find time to work on shit at the house?
Click to expand...
It was always only one parent doing it and the other staying home with the other kids. My brother at one point had 3 of his kids in those things at once, so it was nearly every single day of the week for practices or games, luckily a lot of times it was multi-field complexes so he just had to shuffle around the area to the different games. I filled in for him 2 or 3 times and it felt like torture. One of the kids is going to college on a sports scholarship, so I guess it kind of worked out. I, personally as a kid, if I played any sport as much as they did growing up I would have burned out on it.
 
MountainMedic

MountainMedic

Rock Kicker
Sep 28, 2017
5,130
10,364
Friend bought a 5th wheel because he was spending a fortune on hotels for his two sons soccer league stuff.
After all that 1of 2 got a soccer scholarship and turned it down.
 
W

Wiggy

We. Live. In. A. Fucking. Meme.
Oct 23, 2015
1,065
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When I was younger, travel ball wasn't really a thing until you got older (7th-8th grade at the youngest) and was really only for the most dedicated kids - especially in high school.

i.e. - these were the kids that didn't just play for fun - they were the ones that at very minimum wanted to play college ball. Typically, they were aiming for scholarships and / or to go pro.

I assistant coached Mini-Wiggy's rec league softball teams when she was in middle school roughly 10 years ago (Christ on a bike...am I *that* old?), and was surprised to find out there was a girl on her team that had been playing AAU / travel ball since she was like 8-10. I gotta imagine that minus the random exception, most kids doing that have Marinovich-syle parents.

Is it a "scam"? I dunno...maybe.

But the fact that travel ball *that* extensive (meaning driving several hours nearly every weekend for several months a year, competing in alternate seasons, etc) almost to the point that it's seemingly not much more uncommon than regular rec league ball is surprising.
 
NiteProwleR

NiteProwleR

Free Hole Lay Row
Nov 17, 2023
5,133
7,944
If they're team sports then there is a team bus. Maybe a mom or two but never dads. The dad's job is a priority for a family to function. If they get an opportunity to get to a local game, the kid is lucky.
 
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