Youth Baseball Travel Teams - The Challenges and Benefits

Youth Baseball Travel Teams - The Challenges and Benefits
By Jake Wyatt

When your son is asked to join a youth baseball travel team, a parent will feel proud at first. Then reality hits - the cost involved, the weekends away from home, the extra practices required. If your son is good enough to make such a team, how important is it that he actually participate for his future baseball prospects?

Your son will benefit in many ways by competing in a baseball travel team. The fact that he has taken part in this type of team will only affect his future baseball career in that he will improve his skills. But it won't guarantee his high school/college prospects.

So, when deciding whether or not to allow your son to play with a travel baseball team, consider the following positives:

1. Playing with and against a higher caliber player will help your son increase his skills. This is noticeable. If your son has always played Little League, you will be amazed at how much better he will play in a baseball travel team.
2. Teamwork becomes much more important in a travel team. Tournaments may involve several games in a day. The coach has to keep his players fresh and may play different kids on the same day. Players will soon realize that playing every game is not possible.
3. Youth baseball players will learn how to win, and how to lose, more professionally.
4. The play is more aggressive, which will require your son to step up his own game. These are not just fun Saturday afternoon games, these games are played for trophies and rings.
5. Finally, travelling with the team can be a lot of fun for the entire family.

But these positives must be weighed against the negatives:

1. The cost - for hotel rooms, possibly airfare, tournament entry fees. This can all add up to a strain on the family budget. Some of this can and should be mitigated with fundraising.
2. The time - what are your commitments during the travel team's play? Can your son commit to the games even if you can't?
3. Possible parental over-involvement, although my experience with travel teams is that even the parents are more professional.
4. Possible win-at-any-cost coach attitude, which can lead to a bad experience for your son. Make sure you know the coach's style and are comfortable with it.

Allowing your youth baseball player to participate in a baseball travel team can be extremely rewarding and will certainly make him a better baseball player. He may even end up with a special trophy or winner's ring!

In order to be the best possible baseball player, training should happen year-round and be a joint effort between the coach, the player and the parents. Get FREE tips to improve baseball performance, reviews of e-products related to baseball, and links to training resources at http://youth-baseball-training.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jake_Wyatt

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5630515

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Problems With Travel Baseball: Not Enough Practice Time

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Problems With Travel Baseball: Not Enough Practice Time
By Andy Pohl

When travel league schedules revolve around tournament play, winning inherently becomes the primary focus. Rarely do these teams have time to practice due to the heightened amount of travel and games. This is a glaring problem with travel baseball, as kids need a combination of practice and games to best facilitate athletic development. Simply throwing young kids out on the field to play as many games as possible does not necessarily facilitate athletic development, as younger athletes need considerable practice time to develop their hitting and defensive skills in a pressure free environment.

Basically, what travel baseball has done is put 8-11 year olds in an adult created setting where the pressure to win and perform takes precedent over the emotional and athletic development of the players themselves.

A bi-product of this reality is the coaches themselves acting as if they were managing professional players - the yelling, the throwing of equipment, the arguing with umpires, the sulking after losses. And while it may appear that these travel coaches know what they are doing with their custom made dry-fit coaching shirts and Oakley Sunglasses resting on the brims of their fitted caps, the fact of the matter is that most of travel coaches possess the same amount of knowledge as your average house league coach. In fact, the majority of travel players are being coached by parents who don't know the first thing about baseball or the social and emotional development of kids. Many of these parent coaches cannot even properly parent their own kids!

Rather than winning, the focus for youth baseball needs to be on development. After all, once these kids hit puberty, it is really not going to matter which travel team your son played on and how many tournaments they won. Athletic excellence and success cannot always be identified at an early age, and inferior athletes will frequently blossom and attain success in later years given the right opportunity to compete and develop their skills. Consistent practice time is a critical component to this development.

Though some may disagree with several of the statements in this narrative, understand that my goal is to report in an honest and straightforward manner what I know to be true from my many experiences working with youth baseball players. I have no hidden agenda. The well-being of kids is always my top priority, hence the reason why I created this article.

Andy Pohl - Co-Founder, DNA Sports

DNA Sports specializes in personalized baseball and softball skill programs, college recruiting education and preparation, and coaching clinics. Learn more: http://www.dnasportsonline.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andy_Pohl

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Is Travel Baseball Right For Your Kid?

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By Matthew Jorn

Throughout my years as a young baseball athlete I have played on many different traveling teams, as well as local and high school teams. From this experience I have come to find out all of the different pros and cons of each type of league. Many parents ask "Is it better for my child to play on traveling AAU or non-traveling City Leagues?" Some even want to know if they should play neither and simply wait till high school to travel. For each individual the answer is different. Based on the availability of money and time to drive the child all over the country, it is primarily also related to the passion that the individual has to actually play baseball now or even at the next level.

Starting with the local City Leagues there are many great opportunities for your child out there. Depending on the area in which you live there are usually several quality City Leagues for them to participate in. The upside of City League is that it is relatively inexpensive, almost all of the games are played on the same set of fields close to home and the games are usually scheduled around school obligations. This makes it easy for parents to get the child to the game, be able to afford the required equipment and keeps the kid from missing out on necessary school work or sleep.

City League has some downsides. For one, you get what you pay for. Many of the coaches are dads who have volunteered there time that really do not know much about the nuances of baseball, let alone teaching it to your child well enough to prepare them for the next level. Also, the equipment supplied by the city is usually beaten hand-me-down items which in turn means buying extra equipment. If your child is just looking for something fun to do on the weekends and you are desperate to get them out of the house then City League is for you. However, if your child wants to excel at the next level and learn from the best then you should probably look into some sort of traveling team.

This brings me to AAU and USSSA; these are the two principal traveling ball leagues. These leagues are nationwide and require a very large amount of time to be put in by each player. The expression "you get what you pay for" applies here as well, only the player gets the highest quality baseball education available. Depending on the popularity of the team the cost is as much as $5,000 per season. Where that may seem like a lot of money it covers all of the uniforms, top dollar equipment, entry fees for games played in huge stadiums, and the knowledge of a highly experienced coaching staff. The upside to traveling ball is that your child will receive the best training, play more games than they can count, and visit places that they have never been before. Every ten year old dreams of playing in Yankee Stadium and many times these teams do play in Minor league stadiums or spring training stadiums. The only real down side to all of this is that it is expensive, requires at least one parent to, for the most part, not have a job and can really burn your child out if they are not that serious about the sport.

Now that you see the difference in the two types of leagues you may be thinking well why not play both? Well if your child is that dedicated and you have the time and money then maybe they can play in both leagues. I will caution you though; it really can burn your child out both physically and mentally.

Mentally you may see a fall in academics because all they think about is baseball and becoming a professional so they don't need school. This is wrong because you have to go through high school and college ball to play in the pros these days. Physically, playing that many games can really take a toll on a developing body. While they may be young and not feel the effects immediately, once they are 20 years old and playing in college they could finally tear that ligament or rip that muscle that has been over used throughout the years. Playing in both leagues means that you play all year long with no breaks, which is terrible for the healing process of muscles and non vascular tissues. In my second year of college ball I tore my Labrum which required surgery. I was a star pitcher in Florida and now I can barely play catch with a child. This was all due to over use, playing nonstop in high school and AAU as well as City League. Taking care of your arm and body in general is always priority to playing as many games as possible. If something doesn't feel right take some time off to heal, in the long run it will pay off.

The best advice I can give you is to ask your child to evaluate their passion for baseball. If you think they have the skill to take it to the next level then stick to travel ball for all of their pre-high school playing days. Once high school rolls around have them concentrate on playing for their school. If your child is good enough a college or even pro scout will find them no matter what league they play in. Just remember to play with moderation because a broken player is not a player at all.

Email the author of this story at Strikeout1352@aol.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matthew_Jorn

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