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Travel ball- how necessary? (1 Viewer)

glvsav37 said:
We are just starting with travel ice hockey this season with my youngest, 8. Honesty travel wouldn't have been in the picture if he wasn't goalie. But there are so few goalie positions available, I wanted him 'in the system' early so he can get the development needed to play the position as he gets older. Our association has 3 levels of travel, Major, Minor and Dev—each with their own level/frequency of travel and overall cost. I knew the kid who plays net for the major team, excellent kid, very solid goalie—that spot was locked up. Had a feeling about the position for minor was going to be another kid, and was content with dev for my son being he only started goalie full time in September. However, they made 2 minor teams and my son got one of them.  So good news/bad news, he played well enough to make the mid level team, but now we will be traveling more and cost me about a grand more in dues. 

Overall, my son loves it so far. He enjoyed playing out before, but I could tell he wasn't aggressive enough or developing in his stickhandling or shooting vs other kids his age. Once he asked to play net and got in there, it was 180 degree turn around. Now the kid has a little swagger in him on the ice that I've never seen in him at home. We got a helmet camera for him for a special thing he was playing in (Madison Square Garden between periods of FDNY/NYPD game) and it recorded him talking to himself from inside the mask....was really great to hear how he was verbalizing his thoughts. 

Also good that they asked me to be an assit coach on his team. So i do get to spend a lot of time with him on the ice as well. We will see how it goes. 

How do parents with other siblings handle it. My daughter, the oldest, is involved with sports, but not on a travel level. Its not fair to her for her too miss games or events if we are away? 
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I have a peewee and squirt in travel hockey.   Basically my wife is in one place and I'm in another the entire season, same with summer time sports being the kids do different stuff there, but also still play summer hockey on top of it.   If they both have a tournament out of town on the same weekend we are dropping like a grand that weekend between the two of us (figure $500-600 each tourney for hotels/gas/food). I am not sure where you are but all of our stuff is in MN so no flying is involved but we are up north so a lot of driving is, I know MN hockey is a lot different than other parts of the country (in a good way imo).  I have no clue what I will do with all my time and money in 5 years.

 
Travel ball is pointless until the kid hits puberty and you have an idea if he's going to have the physical make up to play big time college ball. 

Playing travel ball in hopes to get a partial ship to a D3 school or juco seems like a joke to me 

 
Rick James said:
Travel ball is pointless until the kid hits puberty and you have an idea if he's going to have the physical make up to play big time college ball. 

Playing travel ball in hopes to get a partial ship to a D3 school or juco seems like a joke to me 
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If those are the only reasons for letting your kid play sports, then yes.  Otherwise, it's also about building memories, friendships and the opportunities that travel sports may lead to. And if you're focusing on 'big time college ball', then you're setting yourself up for disappointment.  Despite the apparent large numbers of kids in D1 college ball, they really are at best the top 2-5% maybe of all kids playing ball.

I only know for sure is from what my son went through, and that's to this day as a rising college sophomore, baseball is still the thing that lights him up most, and he was lucky enough that a DIII school that offered a major he wanted was interested in him playing ball for them, so to me, the cost in time and money that we spent doesn't matter; he is doing what he loves and gets to do for 3 more years.

We're all told at some point in time that we can no longer play the children's game, we just don't know when that's gonna be. Some of us are told at eighteen, some of us are told at forty, but we're all told. 

I'd rather wait until they reach their natural end of the journey than tell them it's not worth it before they can decide for themselves whether or not it was worth it.

 
Rick James said:
You have to be honest with yourself though. Are the thousands of dollars combined with no summers or weekends off as a family worth it if the kid is only out there because he likes the game? The answer is different for each family, but mine is a resounding no. 
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It was totally worth it to me and my family and would do it all again if we could.

 
Witz said:
Honest question and no malice intended - what are you doing on the weekends and summers with your kids?
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Vacations, getaways, cookouts, movies, whatever. When In season, sports for the kids. 

Kids don't need to play travel ball to learn leadership and other life skills 

 
Rick James said:
Vacations, getaways, cookouts, movies, whatever. When In season, sports for the kids. 

Kids don't need to play travel ball to learn leadership and other life skills 
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Maybe we are talking about two different things in that case - in season sports occur on the weekends. 

Are you just talking just during the summer since travel programs exist ‘in season’?

 
Sabertooth said:
I've found that the travel softball girls have a very tight knit group and will not socialize with my daughter anymore.  They've all lived on the same street since they were 4 or 5 but she's not cool anymore because she's a band kid and a "smart" kid now.  :shrug:   That's my older daughter.

Just two night ago, two of the younger "travel kids" showed up and asked if my younger daughter (11) could come out and play.  Being like 9:00 PM and very suspicious of them, I said she's in the shower and can't.  They said, and I quote "oh ok, can we jump on your trampoline?"  Of course I said no.  They haven't been back. 
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Wow. That sucks 

 
Travel Ball - 2 boys who played for years. Would not trade the memories for anything.  It was not about getting a D1 scholarship, but about love of the game. I will soon have my weekends back and to be honest the thought of it is bitter sweet and I wonder what the heck I'll do with my free time. 

 
Cowboysfan8 said:
Wow. That sucks 
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Yeah it's pretty sad.  Parents are pretty much the same way.  So not a surprise.  I think back to the poster on here who said "all my kids friends are kids he plays ball with" and how that's a two edged sword.  Oh well, what can you do? :shrug:  

 
Rick James said:
Cool. I value my weekends and summers so mine won't play travel 
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But if you enjoy watching your kids play sports, they enjoy playing and you like traveling to different areas then how is playing travel a bad thing (when just comparing the time involved not the possible other good/bad aspects of it)? 

We treat our travel tournaments as vacations.  Kids play in the pool when the games are over and we socialize with the other parents.  It is a vacation of sorts because we enjoy doing it.  We value our weekends and summers too but enjoy the process and have a good group of kids/parents that make it enjoyable. 

To each his own and if you don't like that aspect of kids sports then it isn't for you.  Hopefully your kids don't enjoy sports to the point they want to be challenged and play in a "travel ball" type of environment.  If you are both on the same page then it's good for you.

 
Rick James said:
Travel ball is pointless until the kid hits puberty and you have an idea if he's going to have the physical make up to play big time college ball. 

Playing travel ball in hopes to get a partial ship to a D3 school or juco seems like a joke to me 
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This is absolutely false.  Depending on your area if your kid needs a challenge AND enjoys the challenge then travel ball is very important.  It doesn't matter if it does nothing more for the kid than make him the best he can be at something he enjoys.  You don't need a scholarship to justify playing travel ball.  You just need to find a match to a travel team that has your priorities and skill level so it meets what you need.  There are bad ones out there for sure that are just money grabs and they prey on the parents whose only goal is a scholarship.  But for those that aren't making that a goal (just a possible by-product) you can usually find something that suits your needs both monetarily and time wise. 

We play 2 to 3 weekends a month from March through July (baseball).  We charge about $500 per kid total to cover the costs of tournaments, insurance and uniforms.  We practice about 3 times a week (sometimes more or sometimes less).  We break in August and kids play other sports until we start practicing again in February.  Tournaments are treated like vacations and everyone has a good time.  There are growing pains (slumps; errors) and excitement (winning tournaments) and everything is about total growth as a person.  This is far from pointless.

 
My boy is trying out for a 9u travel team tomorrow. He finished playing in our LL in July and made the junior minor all star game. He said he wants to give it a shot. I have confidence in his abilities but you can clearly tell the difference between him and the travel kids. They just do the little things and are more consistent. He will also be playing LL fall ball (with me managing). I hope its not too much for him (or us lol)

 
shadyridr said:
My boy is trying out for a 9u travel team tomorrow. He finished playing in our LL in July and made the junior minor all star game. He said he wants to give it a shot. I have confidence in his abilities but you can clearly tell the difference between him and the travel kids. They just do the little things and are more consistent. He will also be playing LL fall ball (with me managing). I hope its not too much for him (or us lol)
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Good Luck!

 
Daughter started playing on an 8u softball team.  She loved it and we enjoyed watching her play nearly every  weekend during the summer.  She turned 16 and didn't want to play anymore.  Said she didn't have any fun anymore and wanted to spend more time with her friends.  At times I feel like like we wasted her summers. 

 
I'm briefly, at least, diving into this crazy world.

My daughter is 15 and in 10th grade. She's about 5'10" to 5'11".

In 8th grade, she started playing volleyball. She has some friends who play club/travel so she wanted to try. So, we signed her up for a season of house/rec volleyball her fall season of 8th grade. (Wow, that was painful to watch.) Spring season we signed her up again. At the house/rec assessments, they asked her to stay after to run some drills and try out for travel (more of a local travel - not club volleyball with a ton of crazy travel). She made team, started to learn how to play. She didn't play a ton, but she was tall and they wanted her on the team. It was cheap. Like $150 and the "travel" was all local.

Fall of Freshman year, she tries out for her high school. She makes the Freshmen team. She plays quite a bit and learns more about the game. She's starting to be able to consistently get an overhand serve in! Spring season of Freshman year she makes the local $150 travel team again. She's on a team with grades ranging from 9-12. She's getting better again and by the end of the season, she's the starting middle hitter over a senior (partially because the senior missed several practices because of work, but also because my daughter is improving).

This past Fall, it's Sophomore year. She's concerned she may not make JV. I tell her not to worry about that and prepare herself for maybe making varsity. Her high school doesn't usually have a good varsity team and based on some conversations we had about how tryouts were going, I thought it was possible. Indeed, she makes varsity. We entered the season thinking maybe she won't play much. She had definitely improved but wasn't sure if it was enough to warrant a lot of playing time on varsity. Well, when your team doesn't have much at your position, then you get playing time. She was the starting middle hitter pretty much all season and did pretty well. There were a few sets here and there that they tried a different rotation and I think one set where she didn't play at all. Other than that, she was the starter.

Like I said, she's had friends who have been in the club volleyball scene for a while. Some pretty good players and, equally important, parents in a higher income bracket than us. They've asked us if we're interested in club before and we've told them no chance. Their team is $5500 a year (only like $2500 to be a practice player!). Another $400 for the uniform kit (must be some amazing uniforms). And, of course, travel expense for about 7 tournaments (probably about 18 hotel nights and 1 requiring a flight; some we might be able to stay with family or friends). I believe there are some cheaper clubs around, but still way above what we're willing to pay. I like the $150 "travel" teams; decent level of play, decent competition, way cheaper. If my daughter isn't likely headed for some bigtime volleyball scholarship, then I'm not investing that much money.

A couple days ago, our friends contacted us again. They said their team is in bad need of a middle hitter and they are probably willing to offer a scholarship and waive the $5500 fee. So, we figured we'll hear them out. She went to a practice last night. The coach and the organization director said they are definitely interested in having her on the team and confirmed they'd waive the fee. They said we can just do the $400 for the uniform kit, a $500 commitment fee (they've had scholarship players before with attendance issues so they think this will incentivize more commitment), and of course all travel costs. Since it's such a great offer, we're doing it. She's really excited about it.

As I've started to get some of the info, I can tell the financials are still going to annoy me. There's a push towards certain hotels and they want you to book things way in advance. "Stay and Play"? Anyone else heard of that? Sounds stupid. I'm guessing most are going to be spending way more on meals than I would and I'm sure there will be pressure to bond as a team and with other parents. Um, I don't really care to get to know the other parents. We'll see how this goes. It should be fun and hopefully and I can keep my cheapness to myself and just try to have fun. It probably means no family vacation that we were thinking about this year unless we try to fit one around one of her tournaments, but we'll see.

When I was talking to the coach last night, he started to tell a story about how he grew up poor and was on free or reduced lunch so now he likes to help others out who need help, so we should let him know if we want even a better deal because he really wants my daughter to play. He said he's willing to chip in some himself to make this happen. I'm pretty sure he's an elementary school teach and volleyball coach. Not bragging, but my income is much better than his (based on those assumptions). It was nice of him to offer, but no way I was going to take him up on that. I told him were not a free or reduced lunch situation. We aren't poor. We just make less than many others around us and aren't in that "hey, let me reach into my saving account for a few thousand dollars right now" category. We don't have $5500+ for volleyball right now. That's the type of thing I'd need to plan for well in advance. Afterward, my daughter even said "Do people not realize there's a gap between free and reduced lunch and being able to pay $5500 for this? It's not one or the other." We've run into that perception other places. If we express a disinterest in paying for something, we get a quick speech about how there are programs for people who qualify for free or reduced lunch and we're like, "No, I just have no interest in renting a $300 violin from the fancy music shop so my kid can play an instrument for year and then get bored with it. I'll go slumming on craigslist, thank you!"

Anyway, this should be an adventure. I hope I win the lottery soon. Even just a smaller lottery.

 
Travel ball is a family decision because it is a huge, almost year round commitment for the athlete, to a lesser degree (except financially) the parents, and other siblings.  That said I would not trade those 7 years my son spent playing travel ball for anything.  The time we spent traveling or staying in hotels was an added bonding experience between father and son - not to mention our shared love for the game made it great to be able to watch him play and grow as a player and a young man.  So aside from the baseball benefits of great competition and instruction (which he could have gotten outside of travel ball - I know), there was that bond that was just so awesome.  Sure it was fun watching him in HS as well - but it was different.  Now that he is playing in college (and out of state) it is still fun but very different.  Now it seems from the outside looking in that it is more like a job - but back then it was all about the joy of the game.

 
dgreen said:
I'm briefly, at least, diving into this crazy world.
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Don’t want to quote the whole thing but I know what you are saying. My youngest is big into baseball and has been playing on tournament/travel teams for a few years. Maybe he decides to keep playing in high school and maybe even college (my dad and sister played ball in college), but I’m not willing to do the crazy travel. We are lucky to have a more local team and Charlotte has a ton of good baseball all within 45ish minutes and we usually go to one away (Charleston or similar) tournament a season. There are teams with similar talent that play multiple away tournaments and pay a few thousand more, probably $5k+ including Florida and Cooperstown at age 11. I’ll take that per year and pay for his college at a top academic college. It’s crazy. Pay for all the baseball and get a scholarship to a DII school or have fun and pay for UNC.

Luckily my middle son is into sports he can play at middle school (football, which is his favorite, and lacrosse) and good enough to start but not good enough that I’m going to spend thousands on travel for his second sport. He loves it and all his friends play. Even my 11 year old decided to wrestle at middle school this winter and has loved it.

I played all kinds of sports at my junior high and high school and loved it, but the amount of money some parents pay and the “we and the kids have made such good friends” is silly to me. My kids have all their school friends on their teams (local travel team has a bunch from our school) and it’s not like they don’t hang out the same amount. It’s big business.

 
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@stbugs

Yeah. They made the “friends” and “scholarship” arguments to me too. But, to me, it just doesn’t add up.

My daughter has plenty friends. But, if she didn’t and we were seeking ways for that to happen, I think there are options that cost a little less.

With scholarships, I understand that can be a driving force. But, realistically, how likely is that? And if someone does get a scholarship to a D2 school in a sport like volleyball, how much money is that? My guess is putting that money in a 529 or whatever over the years is the better financial return. 

I have never seriously judged anyone for doing these things. Sure, I’ve made some jokes, but I don’t care how others spend their money. I just find their arguments lacking for why I should spend my money in such a way. 

We are really thankful for this opportunity right now. And who knows, maybe we can ride the club scholarship train again and they (or another club) will offer us a great deal next year. If so, I will probably also request they provide a personal driver limo service, steak and lobster dinners while on travel, and a shoe deal. 

 
dgreen said:
@stbugs

Yeah. They made the “friends” and “scholarship” arguments to me too. But, to me, it just doesn’t add up.

My daughter has plenty friends. But, if she didn’t and we were seeking ways for that to happen, I think there are options that cost a little less.

With scholarships, I understand that can be a driving force. But, realistically, how likely is that? And if someone does get a scholarship to a D2 school in a sport like volleyball, how much money is that? My guess is putting that money in a 529 or whatever over the years is the better financial return. 

I have never seriously judged anyone for doing these things. Sure, I’ve made some jokes, but I don’t care how others spend their money. I just find their arguments lacking for why I should spend my money in such a way. 

We are really thankful for this opportunity right now. And who knows, maybe we can ride the club scholarship train again and they (or another club) will offer us a great deal next year. If so, I will probably also request they provide a personal driver limo service, steak and lobster dinners while on travel, and a shoe deal. 
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In this forum I’ve seen the friends comment and I see the scholarships comments all the time. Heck, a kid on my son’s 8th grade football team is a decent basketball player and his mom told my mom they hope he gets a scholarship. He’s white and his parents are both small. He’s got no shot unless it’s a really small school. I had to laugh.

My kids have lots of friends and in some ways I think spending all of their free time with one set of kids (and no girls ;)  ) isn’t going to help them.

 
The only thing I will say, kids who have learned to compete at the highest levels they can get to are much more prepared to compete in other parts of life. The right coach, the right nurturing environment, and the right balance of play to win while realizing that having fun is important to and learning how to win and how to step it up in big moments, are life lessons that can't be found elsewhere. 

@dgreen  enjoy every minute of your daughter's travel volleyball experience while you have it in front of you. When it is over, you will look back at these days and wish you had one more  tourney to travel to, at least I do. 

 
If your kid was a budding superstar, then I could see paying $5K to play volleyball for a few months.

But $5K for a part-time starter? Good lord.

If she's that serious about volleyball, spend a few bucks on training and tutoring.

If she's not that serious about volleyball, spend the $5K on her college tuition in 3 years.

 
My son has made so many friends from baseball. More than I ever had and more than he even had just from school alone. Im so glad he's doing this. Also,  his travel is going to cost 1600 this year plus uniform. That includes winter workouts and summer season. The time doesn't bother me because he's our only child and i don't have to run around for other kids. I do hope we can go on one vacation but other than that I really don't do much during summer. 

 
Angry Beavers said:
The only thing I will say, kids who have learned to compete at the highest levels they can get to are much more prepared to compete in other parts of life. The right coach, the right nurturing environment, and the right balance of play to win while realizing that having fun is important to and learning how to win and how to step it up in big moments, are life lessons that can't be found elsewhere. 

@dgreen  enjoy every minute of your daughter's travel volleyball experience while you have it in front of you. When it is over, you will look back at these days and wish you had one more  tourney to travel to, at least I do. 
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Don’t get me wrong, I love watching my youngest son play. He’s clutch and he’s probably the hardest driver of all 3. He’s had season championship game winning hits and diving catches to win games. I’ll definitely miss it when he’s done. I was his coach in little league and we won 3 out of 4 straight championships and it was a great experience watching my son get the championship winning hit in an amazing extra inning game. 2 of the 3 were against stacked teams and my son was the best kid on those teams.

That said my oldest isn’t into sports and he’s extremely organized and self driven as well. He’s a senior and he did all of his college prep and signing up for tests/college apps with us just doing a quick review. He also works his ### off will getting straight As and has a lot of friends as well. You don’t have to be in sports to learn those life lessons and you don’t have to have a coach be the one teaching life lessons. He’s already gotten an $80k scholarship to an SEC school (not his top choice unless he gets into honors college) so I couldn’t be more proud.

My middle son’s the “lazy” one but he’s also the most popular and the biggest/strongest. I’m going to have to keep on him but he had a great football season as the starting center and his coach told him he could do that in high school.

Anyway, I get your point. Athletics were great for me as a kid but it’s not the end all and there’s a ton of other things out there and travel sports are a huge business and friends/scholarships are sales tactics as well. There’s also parents who push their kids way too much and I’d say there’s a lot of the kids who aren’t having great experiences and probably are losing the point of being kids. I’ve seen that many times on the teams we’ve been a part of even though I’d say the parents we play with are easily amongst the more reasonable that I’ve seen out there. 

 
shadyridr said:
My son has made so many friends from baseball. More than I ever had and more than he even had just from school alone. Im so glad he's doing this. Also,  his travel is going to cost 1600 this year plus uniform. That includes winter workouts and summer season. The time doesn't bother me because he's our only child and i don't have to run around for other kids. I do hope we can go on one vacation but other than that I really don't do much during summer. 
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This is the big part...  I had 1-3 kids in travel baseball at the same time for 18 years.  I also coach each of them.  Biggest “issue” was the time, and subsequently lack of time for other things.

 
Keerock said:
This is the big part...  I had 1-3 kids in travel baseball at the same time for 18 years.  I also coach each of them.  Biggest “issue” was the time, and subsequently lack of time for other things.
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Yeah my big dilemma now is whether to also keep him in little league at the same time as travel. Most kids here do both. I manage his little league team which I really enjoy but concerned with if he will get worn out or if I won't be able to coach some games I need til find good coaches to help me. 

 
[scooter] said:
If your kid was a budding superstar, then I could see paying $5K to play volleyball for a few months.

But $5K for a part-time starter? Good lord.

If she's that serious about volleyball, spend a few bucks on training and tutoring.

If she's not that serious about volleyball, spend the $5K on her college tuition in 3 years.
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I’m not sure how good she can be. She keeps surprising me and everyone says so many positive things about her and her improvement. It’s fun to watch.

I don’t think she’s had the best coaches. They obviously know tons more than me, but maybe could be better. For example, one of the things she needs to improve is her power. She said her varsity coach told her she’d be a “beast” if she hit it harder but didn’t tell her what to do differently to make that happen. I’m looking forward to see what this club coach can teach her. 

 
shadyridr said:
Yeah my big dilemma now is whether to also keep him in little league at the same time as travel. Most kids here do both. I manage his little league team which I really enjoy but concerned with if he will get worn out or if I won't be able to coach some games I need til find good coaches to help me. 
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We didn't have that option here in Nebraska.  If a kid played USSSA then he was ineligible for local rec (we have very few little league teams in Nebraska, typically either USSSA, rec or parochial league).

If you do go that route - just be up front with BOTH coaches, especially if your kid pitches or catches. You don't want your kids arm getting abused because the coaches are not aware of how the other coach is using your child.

 
Mr. Know-It-All said:
We didn't have that option here in Nebraska.  If a kid played USSSA then he was ineligible for local rec (we have very few little league teams in Nebraska, typically either USSSA, rec or parochial league).

If you do go that route - just be up front with BOTH coaches, especially if your kid pitches or catches. You don't want your kids arm getting abused because the coaches are not aware of how the other coach is using your child.
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That's part of the reason i want to still manage because he does pitch

 
Angry Beavers said:
The only thing I will say, kids who have learned to compete at the highest levels they can get to are much more prepared to compete in other parts of life. The right coach, the right nurturing environment, and the right balance of play to win while realizing that having fun is important to and learning how to win and how to step it up in big moments, are life lessons that can't be found elsewhere. 

@dgreen  enjoy every minute of your daughter's travel volleyball experience while you have it in front of you. When it is over, you will look back at these days and wish you had one more  tourney to travel to, at least I do. 
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:yes:

 
Any experiences with NCSA (Next College Student Athlete)? When I registered my daughter with USA Volleyball, there was a checkbox about whether she's interested in talking to college coaches/recruiters. I figured best to say Yes than No. The next day, NCSA is calling me asking about her interest and has set up a 45 minute phone call for this weekend to talk about how the process works and setting up an online profile for my daughter.

 
dgreen said:
Any experiences with NCSA (Next College Student Athlete)? When I registered my daughter with USA Volleyball, there was a checkbox about whether she's interested in talking to college coaches/recruiters. I figured best to say Yes than No. The next day, NCSA is calling me asking about her interest and has set up a 45 minute phone call for this weekend to talk about how the process works and setting up an online profile for my daughter.
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Nothing against NCSA - as an overzealous Dad I paid for the service and my son got recruited and is now playing college baseball.  BUT....

really all we used it for was to get contact information and help narrow his college source based on the information that they make readily available through their website.  I know many people with much more time on their hands that can get that same information absolutely free of charge if they are willing to do the internet legwork to search it out.  There are some decent videos and literature also available through NCSA - but again much of that same information can be gathered free of charge through google searches.

Note of caution - recruiters don't have a lot of time so a place like NCSA with a friendly website makes it easy to spam out a lot of initial contact e-mails to coaches but before your daughter does that make sure she is personalizing the contacts, keeping them short, and grabbing their attention in a positive way by researching the schools she is contacting.  You will be tempted to help her write e-mails - DON'T - recruiters get contacted enough that they can see through e-mails written by parents for students.

 
Me and my son just got back from the YMCA shooting and playing 32 with an older kid, preparing for his first travel basketball tournament tomorrow.  I just settled in and open the FFA and see this thread up top. Great stuff.  

I love the bonding experience and the traveling tournament style of basketball.  As I said, tonight we played 32 with a 6-4 8th grader who also plays travel ball (according to him, I didn't think he looked good enough).  He was not very athletic but taller than me and my 10 year old son and you could tell he played at some level.  I'll try not to brag too much but my boy won the first game easily over both of us.  I coach my boy and we've put a good amount of work into basketball over the last few years and I've always stressed dribbling and ball handling since he was probably 7.  We actually do the drills from the Pistol Pete homework basketball series.  Been doing them since age 7 and my son is by far the best ball handler on all of his teams. We don't do them every day, it's sort of seasonal. During basketball season we'll do dribbling drills 3-4 times per week. When he turned 9 we started to put a lot of time into shooting but that's also seasonal usually in warmer weather in my backyard.  Unfortunately we don't get as much shooting in during the colder months but he's also at practice 4 days per week (school and travel combined) so he's getting his shots in some capacity.  We try to hit the Y 2x per week which is better than nothing I guess.  We both love shooting and I'm not gonna lie, his shot is money.  When he won 32 tonight, he probably hit at least half his points in 3s and he was just netting them, it was truly a thing of beauty.  He's got a natural shot/rhythm just like his old man!  When we do shooting drills, we only count perfect swishes.  We haven't always done it that way but he's graduated to that level of shooting now.  So yeah... first tournament tomorrow.  Locked and loaded, ready for a fun day with my buddy!  Great stuff in this thread.  Kids are the best thing ever.  Sorry, i totally bragged too much about my man.  Don't even get me started on his football skills!

 
Mr. Know-It-All said:
Nothing against NCSA - as an overzealous Dad I paid for the service and my son got recruited and is now playing college baseball.  BUT....

really all we used it for was to get contact information and help narrow his college source based on the information that they make readily available through their website.  I know many people with much more time on their hands that can get that same information absolutely free of charge if they are willing to do the internet legwork to search it out.  There are some decent videos and literature also available through NCSA - but again much of that same information can be gathered free of charge through google searches.

Note of caution - recruiters don't have a lot of time so a place like NCSA with a friendly website makes it easy to spam out a lot of initial contact e-mails to coaches but before your daughter does that make sure she is personalizing the contacts, keeping them short, and grabbing their attention in a positive way by researching the schools she is contacting.  You will be tempted to help her write e-mails - DON'T - recruiters get contacted enough that they can see through e-mails written by parents for students.
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In my initial phone call with them, they said some things they offer and said it’s free because of their association with USA Volleyball. He also said they offer other services for a fee, depending on what we are looking for. I don’t remember what was free and what wasn’t. We have a longer phone call with them Sunday night, so maybe I will clarify what it is they do for free. 

 
anyone have experience with the resistance bands?  Do they help strengthen the arm or work on flexibility?  Any brand recommendations or other reviews of them?  My boys are in 6th and 4th grade currently.  They are about the same size.  They younger one has a stronger arm, but the older one has more accuracy (compared to his own team and his brother).

 
Have any of your kids used the baseball velopro harness? Seems like the concept makes sense, but not sure it will yet be helpful for my kids who are still young. 

 
Mr. Know-It-All said:
Nothing against NCSA - as an overzealous Dad I paid for the service and my son got recruited and is now playing college baseball.  BUT....

really all we used it for was to get contact information and help narrow his college source based on the information that they make readily available through their website.  I know many people with much more time on their hands that can get that same information absolutely free of charge if they are willing to do the internet legwork to search it out.  There are some decent videos and literature also available through NCSA - but again much of that same information can be gathered free of charge through google searches.

Note of caution - recruiters don't have a lot of time so a place like NCSA with a friendly website makes it easy to spam out a lot of initial contact e-mails to coaches but before your daughter does that make sure she is personalizing the contacts, keeping them short, and grabbing their attention in a positive way by researching the schools she is contacting.  You will be tempted to help her write e-mails - DON'T - recruiters get contacted enough that they can see through e-mails written by parents for students.
Click to expand...
My son is currently being recruited for baseball (hey, look at me!) and I did not find NCSA to be something we needed to pay for.  We did the free profile and got the sales call from them ("if xxxxxx wants to play college baseball, call me back right away!  I've got coaches looking for athletes just like him!").  Nothing much beyond that.  I think NCSA is really a football focused thing as we did get some D3 emails off his football profile there.  Like Mr Know-it-All said, you can really do everything for free online these days.  When he is ready and you are confident he can produce, go to a PBR, Perfect Game or other highly scouted event (i.e. Ed Santa) where you can get his numbers out there.

One new thing that his travel coach set up recently and seems to be getting a lot of traction is the FieldLevel app.  You set up a free profile, upload any video you have, and college coaches find you in searches through the app.  You can also put in your target schools which, I assume helps you come up in their searches.

 
Al Czervik said:
My son is currently being recruited for baseball (hey, look at me!) and I did not find NCSA to be something we needed to pay for.  We did the free profile and got the sales call from them ("if xxxxxx wants to play college baseball, call me back right away!  I've got coaches looking for athletes just like him!").  Nothing much beyond that.  I think NCSA is really a football focused thing as we did get some D3 emails off his football profile there.  Like Mr Know-it-All said, you can really do everything for free online these days.  When he is ready and you are confident he can produce, go to a PBR, Perfect Game or other highly scouted event (i.e. Ed Santa) where you can get his numbers out there.

One new thing that his travel coach set up recently and seems to be getting a lot of traction is the FieldLevel app.  You set up a free profile, upload any video you have, and college coaches find you in searches through the app.  You can also put in your target schools which, I assume helps you come up in their searches.
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I think that coaches prefer to see players for themselves, and clearinghouse-type recruiting websites only get you so far.  After going through this with my son, the lesson I learned late in the process is that there's no substitute for getting in front of the coach's eyes. When my son went through it, he got a couple of emails from 'interested' schools, but they always ended with 'come to our camp' language. I wouldn't be surprised if part of that wasn't just to drum up business, but I also think that since their time is so limited, coaches don't have a lot of time to go on recruiting visits, so again, getting in front of them is a must.  In my son's case, he was lucky in that the school that showed the most interest in him was the one where the coach saw him at a local skills camp/showcase, where it was about skill-improving drills and the games were between teams made up of players that attended the showcase as opposed to a pre-set travel team, and according to the coach who recruited my son, what he said stood out to him was how my son carried himself at the showcase as opposed to just how his skills stacked up to other kids. I don't want to discourage using online recruiting tools, but just point out that it's a numbers game, and I would again say that getting in front of the coach will do more for you than posting videos.

As for Perfect Game, I think you have to tread lightly with them.  Yes, there are scouts there, but with 100+ teams/week rolling through all Summer and into the Fall, only the kids that either are already known (i.e., they play on ultra-elite showcase teams that are stacked with ungodly talent) or throw a 90+ mph fastball during a game end up on their radar.  The week my son was there, one of their last games was against one such team, and it was later in the afternoon, so only about 2-3 scouts showed up to see that team's #4 starting pitcher, as all their better players were already committed or not playing because my son's team wasn't as good by comparison. A couple of players on my son's team had decent games, including my son robbing a home run at the wall, but nothing came of it for any of them, because these scouts have seen so many ballplayers that unless you have the measurables, you're just background noise.  To me, the bottom line is that D1 players are pretty much on that track by 9th grade (mainly because of their freak size/athleticism) and everything else just kind of shakes itself out from DII on down.

Good luck to your son, hope he gets at least 4 more years of higher level ball.

 
Charlie Steiner said:
I think that coaches prefer to see players for themselves, and clearinghouse-type recruiting websites only get you so far.  After going through this with my son, the lesson I learned late in the process is that there's no substitute for getting in front of the coach's eyes. When my son went through it, he got a couple of emails from 'interested' schools, but they always ended with 'come to our camp' language. I wouldn't be surprised if part of that wasn't just to drum up business, but I also think that since their time is so limited, coaches don't have a lot of time to go on recruiting visits, so again, getting in front of them is a must.  In my son's case, he was lucky in that the school that showed the most interest in him was the one where the coach saw him at a local skills camp/showcase, where it was about skill-improving drills and the games were between teams made up of players that attended the showcase as opposed to a pre-set travel team, and according to the coach who recruited my son, what he said stood out to him was how my son carried himself at the showcase as opposed to just how his skills stacked up to other kids. I don't want to discourage using online recruiting tools, but just point out that it's a numbers game, and I would again say that getting in front of the coach will do more for you than posting videos.

As for Perfect Game, I think you have to tread lightly with them.  Yes, there are scouts there, but with 100+ teams/week rolling through all Summer and into the Fall, only the kids that either are already known (i.e., they play on ultra-elite showcase teams that are stacked with ungodly talent) or throw a 90+ mph fastball during a game end up on their radar.  The week my son was there, one of their last games was against one such team, and it was later in the afternoon, so only about 2-3 scouts showed up to see that team's #4 starting pitcher, as all their better players were already committed or not playing because my son's team wasn't as good by comparison. A couple of players on my son's team had decent games, including my son robbing a home run at the wall, but nothing came of it for any of them, because these scouts have seen so many ballplayers that unless you have the measurables, you're just background noise.  To me, the bottom line is that D1 players are pretty much on that track by 9th grade (mainly because of their freak size/athleticism) and everything else just kind of shakes itself out from DII on down.

Good luck to your son, hope he gets at least 4 more years of higher level ball.
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I agree about Perfect Game.  My son went down there and played last summer, but it didn't really put him on any team's radar that I'm aware of.  I agree about hitting college camps.  Pick a few schools you are interested in and hit their prospect camp.  Google '[school of interest] baseball prospect camp' and there will be a camp 2-3 times per year.  There are also camps around where there are multiple schools hosting.  You could spend a fortune going to every camp.  Try to map out a strategy that will give your kid exposure to the most schools.

I do think the D1 players for the big programs are on track by 9th grade, but there are plenty of other D1 schools that pick up on guys later.  It's important to remember that every kid's recruiting goes at a different pace.  Don't get caught up in comparing him to another kid who gets an offer early on.

 
Al Czervik said:
It's important to remember that every kid's recruiting goes at a different pace.  Don't get caught up in comparing him to another kid who gets an offer early on.
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I fully agree with this point.

There were 2 kids my son played against who were on track for D1 schools; one he had played against since 10U and the other he only faced in HS.  The first one had always been a freakishly hard thrower and when we were at a showcase at Virginia Tech before his junior year, this kid was there touring the school and being shown the facilities while my son's team was playing a game in front of probably zero scouts.  He continued to progress, but by his senior year, he had opted for a local, smaller but still D1 school.  The other kid was probably the most all-around skilled player at that age that I've seen up close, but he was beyond prima donna in his behavior.  He ended up quitting the team in the home stretch of his senior year when the coach called him out for not hustling.  Because he played on a high-level showcase team, he already had a D1 school lined up, so he didn't care.  However, he also didn't care about his grades and the college pulled their offer.  He ended up getting drafted in the later rounds right out of HS, but he scuffled for part of a Fall season in rookie ball and appears to have fallen off the map.

 
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