American Legion Baseball vs. Travel Baseball
Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 9:29 am
Have at it...
Southeastern Ohio Sports Message Board
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Imagine if all that talent went back to legion ball. Travel ball usually runs quite a bit longer then legion ball. Which, now after 3 generations of travel ball, I don't think is really needed. Kids at this age really burn out and need that break. I know a few years ago we played 80 some games between spring to late summer. That was too much by far. Of course there was a lot of talent due to age. No legion ball yet. Now at U16 we have a team that is better then most. But the rest of the pool is watered down. We usually go to a tournament and run rule 2 or 3 teams in pool play and first round. Then we don't see the real talented teams until late bracket play. Most of the time. And directors usually know which teams are strong and don't pool them together.mrwonderful wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2017 11:51 am Travel ball is all about the money for the most part.....If your family doesn't have money your not going to be on team...How many families can afford 1000 to 1500 dollar fee plus tournaments basically every weekend to Cincinatti ,louiville, lex, the smokeys , to the beach.... ends up costing thousands of dollars....Like the above poster said a lot of mediocre players......iv'e seen parents spend hundreds of dollars to these teams on private pitching and hitting lessons..Of course these kids are going to make the team... Not all but a few of these travel teams are basically a business.. their about making money.. you pay your on the team.. American legion teams are more talented overall
Yea, there are, without a doubt, legitimate travel programs out there. The key is "programs", not one of these fly by night organizations that runs for a couple years, and goes defunct. I know of a young lady playing travel softball, where 8 or 9 of the girls have already been offered D1 scholarships, and are only at the 16U level I believe. Those programs are out there, but they are very expensive. By the time it's all said and done, IF the player gets a D1 schollie, the parents have basically already paid college tuition in travel ball costs.Watson40 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2017 12:29 pmImagine if all that talent went back to legion ball. Travel ball usually runs quite a bit longer then legion ball. Which, now after 3 generations of travel ball, I don't think is really needed. Kids at this age really burn out and need that break. I know a few years ago we played 80 some games between spring to late summer. That was too much by far. Of course there was a lot of talent due to age. No legion ball yet. Now at U16 we have a team that is better then most. But the rest of the pool is watered down. We usually go to a tournament and run rule 2 or 3 teams in pool play and first round. Then we don't see the real talented teams until late bracket play. Most of the time. And directors usually know which teams are strong and don't pool them together.mrwonderful wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2017 11:51 am Travel ball is all about the money for the most part.....If your family doesn't have money your not going to be on team...How many families can afford 1000 to 1500 dollar fee plus tournaments basically every weekend to Cincinatti ,louiville, lex, the smokeys , to the beach.... ends up costing thousands of dollars....Like the above poster said a lot of mediocre players......iv'e seen parents spend hundreds of dollars to these teams on private pitching and hitting lessons..Of course these kids are going to make the team... Not all but a few of these travel teams are basically a business.. their about making money.. you pay your on the team.. American legion teams are more talented overall
Where travel ball is strong is the bigger tournies that mist legion ball teams don't attend. Kids can get a lot of exposure from them, if they are thinking about college level ball. For instance we were just at the Worthington wood bat and there were almost as many scouts in the bleachers as parents, for some games. If you are thinking about travel ball I would recommend an established program with a coach you trust. Most elite programs don't allow fathers to coach their kids for obvious reasons. Yes it does cost but most teams will have some form of fund raising.
However as I mentioned, the recruiting process is mainly done, these days, by reaching out to a coach. Find a school or schools you like and contact them. Go to their camp or let them know what your game schedule is so they can see you. Send them video. You don't need to spend 5K a year on travel ball.
Be careful. Some programs are under fraud investigation. One I know of for sure.