Quote Originally Posted by shoeless joe View Post
Boy this could be an interesting thread…

I’ve done a lot of coaching at several levels but mostly in higher level MS high school athletics. Here’s the deal…travel ball is a necessary evil in my opinion. I’ve got kids that play if because rec league is so terrible and they will be left in the dust by the time they’re in middle school if they don’t play. I do have fun watching them play in tournaments and compete on Saturday’s. We also have a really good coach that is absolutely great, demanding, yet loves the players. I fault no one for playing it and hope those of you that coach it do so for the right reasons. At its best travel programs provide opportunities to get a lot of experience against quality, relatively speaking, competition.

Now for the huge negatives from what I’ve seen. The nature of travel ball does not instill mental toughness. I’ve seen travel ball all stars that flat can’t cut it in a big Friday night district showdown. They’re not used to the immediate pressure of one game, 3-4 at bats, handful of balls hit to them, and most of all knowing they’re the ones being relied upon. On the travel team they’re just one of 4-5, or more, guys that can carry the team at any given time. No real personally pressure that individually they have to perform in any given game. If they go 0fer for 3 games and then go 3/4 they’ll have good feelings at the end of the day. I have seen way more of these, what I call showcase all stars, that have all the tools but lack the toughness than I have absolute dirt bags that remind me of 80s/early 90s ball at the collegiate and pro ranks.

I recognize that this is not a one size fits all statement and I’m making some anecdotal statements here but all I can go by is what I’ve seen myself. There’s also some other traits that I feel the travel ball culture promotes that are not beneficial for the game. Look at 2 of the 3 teams left in the WBC and how they carry themselves versus the teams that are out. Maybe not related but I find things like that very interested.
You're pretty much spot on. These small towns in the South don't have good rec leagues anymore. Kids that only play rec ball til they're 11 or 12 are so far behind the travel ball kids from a developmental standpoint when they get to Jr High that most end up quitting. I mean you're talking going from seeing kids who throw a flat 60 mph FB to a kid throwing a 78 mph fastball with some run. They've never seen anything like that with any regularity.

I agree with you on the negatives as well, out of the travel ball kids I knew growing up I would 7 to 8 out of 10 quit either baseball or another sport when they faced any type of adversity. And some of them couldn't crack the field at the high school level in baseball because they took that travel ball mentality of if I have two hits over a 4 game span then that's successful.

Also I know exactly what you mean about some of those "other traits". It's fine when a major leaguer stares down or does a little celebration when they had a 400 ft bomb. But when a 13 yr old with 9 chains on tries to pimp a 250 ft HR that barely clears the wall then his coach needs to chew his around the bases. If you're Ronald Acuna you can act like Ronald Acuna, but when you're little Jimmy playing for the 13U Mississippi Express then settle the hell down.