belowpar said:

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We are one of those families that probably spend too much on their kids sports but I'm perfectly fine with it. I have no expectations of my kids to play in college. If they did, great, but not my expectations.

We do it for very simple reasons:
-It's what they want to do
-It teaches hard work, dedication, responsibility, etc.
-It teaches them how to win and lose. They learn that if someone is better at something than them and they want to be the best then they need to work for it.

I enjoy watching them do what they love while learning life lessons and I'm ok with those dollars spent. It's not for everyone and I understand that but I'll always do my best to allow my kids to go after it as long as they are the drivers.

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Same for my family

I always kind of thought that youth sports were one of the things that upper-middle class parents pushed their kids into doing and not something that they'd continue to do into high school/college/etc.

Stuff to get them out of the house, basically.

We have one in travel baseball and another in travel basketball. Baseball is probably $7-$8k a year only because he is not in high school yet. The cost will jump next year once he is in the high school program and they do more out of state tournaments.

Basketball was a little less last year, but could be pretty close to the same this year due to 5 out of state tournaments.

Our daughter, at one time, played soccer, little league baseball, swimming, gymnastics and golf. 3 years ago she quit all to concentrate on golf and I feel like I got a pay raise

Competitive travel golf, while not "cheap" is cheaper than all of the other sports believe it or not. Maybe it's the lack of demand for it, but as of this posting is pales in comparison to cheer or baseball.

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HOT tax is like fentanyl to the city council. Forget to building green space and developing parks for our own people to use. People who come from out of town pay the HOT tax and spend in our restaurants. And if you want to use the fancy fields, you better pay up or stay off the grass.

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That's not an accurate accusation. At all.

I've been here since the early 90's and CoCS has tried create more parks and upgrade playground equipment to existing parks and it kept getting shot down.

The city was going to buy land on the west side of Welborn road off of Rock Prairie in order to build a park with a covered playset, tables, grills, backstops and a field with soccer goals...just like the one on Victoria. The reasoning was that there was no such park in that area for the people that lived there. People complained and it was shelved.
People complained about spending money on the skate park.
People went to city council meetings and complained about a bond to improve the basketball courts, pavillion, and playground at Oaks Park off of Harvey because it was "mostly college kids". That finally passed after several attempts to get a bond on the ballot.
I'll edit to add the numerous dog parks that have been attempted in areas close to multi-family house that have been shouted down. That was because the "apartments" should be providing those for people.

The excuse people used for those bonds were "we have enough parks, what about the roads".

It hasn't been the city that keeps those projects from developing. It's the "I don't use it so, I don't want it" crowd.
Or the crowd like one or two posters on here that think that every project should have some financial ROI.
They want a financial return on citizens having places to be outside and have fun. And if there isn't, they aren't going to to vote for it.

I don't agree with a lot of things that CoCS does. Blaming them for lack of green space or not trying to develop new parks is completely inaccurate. It's pointing the finger in the wrong direction.

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And like clockwork...

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"And like clockwork" as if you made this thread and then that came out.

Stupe said:

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And like clockwork...

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"And like clockwork" as if you made this thread and then that came out.

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Better?

"Better" what?

You made a random, general thread about youth sports. Nothing specific to this area, just random. Then later that same day, made your "clockwork" post about a story that had run prior to your thread.
That phrase is usually used for events happening in chronological order.

I just found it amusing that you didn't just start a thread about the parks since that seemed to be the purpose of it in the first place.
Nothing more.

I have a high school friend whose daughter was a student manager for Volleyball as well this year. Great experience for them!

Our sons played competitive home school basketball, and the fees aren't anything like AAU or travel ball, but they were still a lot. They tried out for a local travel team, and I was honestly relieved that they didn't make it.

Now it's the K9 4-H club and show fees and dog maintenance costs that add up.

It's always going to be something.

Stupe said:

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"Better" what?

You made a random, general thread about youth sports. Nothing specific to this area, just random. Then later that same day, made your "clockwork" post about a story that had run prior to your thread.
That phrase is usually used for events happening in chronological order.

I just found it amusing that you didn't just start a thread about the parks since that seemed to be the purpose of it in the first place.
Nothing more.

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I edited "Better" to read "Coincidentally" in the aforementioned thread.

In the "real world," most of us won't be on a select team, and need to know how to adapt in different situations.

With that said, and it's already been said, in my opinion, the greatest aspect of "select" sports is having a team of like minded kids, that want to work toward a goal, and occupy their time, to keep them out of trouble. That's it.

You can't control the variable factors that will largely come into play over the 14-18 year.

I was a parent of a son who played travel baseball 12 years ago. I would change nothing, as we made great memories. We had no aspirations of collegiate baseball but only for our son to develop the best skills and have a great experience. No regrets at all. Just so happens our son did continue his baseball dream through college, even pitching in a D2 championship game. Wonderful memories that we parents and son will never forget.

Added bonus, your kids get to interact with a diverse group of kids

trouble said:

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belowpar said:

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We do it for very simple reasons:
-It's what they want to do
-It teaches hard work, dedication, responsibility, etc.
-It teaches them how to win and lose. They learn that if someone is better at something than them and they want to be the best then they need to work for it.

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You can accomplish all of that playing local little league.

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Sorry but this simply isn't true anymore. It wasn't true in 2008 when my son left Little League/Pony so I'm certain it's less true now.

My son was "that kid" on the baseball field. He was so far ahead of his peers defensively that in 6U tee ball we didn't play him at pitcher because with him there the SS and 2B got no chances. During some random game we got way behind to a team that couldn't hit the ball more than 30 feet across the entire lineup so they hit dribblers down the 3B line and just ran the bases.

After 2 innings of them maxing their 5 run per inning allowance one of the dads came to the dugout and said the parents appreciated our commitment to not playing Kyle at pitcher but they were all talking about telling us to make an exception for this game because we weren't winning this game any other way. So we made the change, he shut them down and we won the game.

Fast forward to him playing live pitch the first time in 9U ball. We'd left Pony at that point and he was still ahead of his peers defensively but on our travel team it was competitive. We took him to practice with his friend's 9U Pony team and it was night and day. He pitched to nine kids and struck out 8 whereas he barely pitched for his travel team. When he played some SS at that practice three kids hit the ball towards the 2B bag and ran half speed to 1B with no concern for not making it because they always made it when they hit the ball. The shock on the first two faces when he dove behind the bag to snag the ball, popped up and spun before throwing them out was humorous but exactly what their coaches wanted to see happen. He knew Kyle would show them the importance of hustle by just being Kyle. The third kid hit a soft liner that was dropping in front of the 2B bag and he'd learned from his friends so he was running hard. Then was shocked when Kyle dove and caught it in the air. But at least he hustled and was praised for it. All the kids knew him from tee ball and coach pitch and they all knew why he'd left for travel ball.

Point being it's simply not the same level of competition. In Little League/Pony kids that are good learn to coast rather than compete because they're better than the others. In travel they figure out quick they have to work or lose and my son HATED losing. It just is what it is.

And just because they are in the 5-7% that make it doesn't mean they stay. Cuts happen quickly in the fall at all levels. If you have an apartment at your school and you get cut that has to suck.

Fortunately, my son didn't get cut. He played a lot and had opportunities to go D1 after JUCO, but decided to cut himself. He wanted to get a good degree in the major of his choice. It's hard to stop competing (which is what they really love along with the sport). He still misses high level competition, but has learned to enjoy baseball in other ways.

His reason for walking away? He had to decide if he wanted to get a degree from A&M vs other D1 schools. He knew he had 2 years left and the grind would start over. He would be the new guy again. The odds of getting signed for the minors were low and he was better served to get a degree.

I wouldn't change a thing. The ride was fun and he has developed into a wonderful man.

No one said it's the same level of competition.

You CAN accomplish those goals.
They want to play baseball.
They learn about hard work, dedication, responsibility.
They learn how to win or lose. They learn that they have to work hard of they want to be better than someone else.

Those were the stated goals. My boys are learning that every time the step on the field.

Sell more cheese cakes!

Your boys will be in select ball before you know it.

Participation in rec ball drops off significantly after 12. How many teams your local LL or Pony have 13-15?

If your boys want to play HS ball, then it will be a must.

Revisit this post in a few years and report back...

No, they won't be. Even now the oldest wants to try other things along with baseball. He sees his friends that play select and travel ball have to miss many other things. He doesn't want that.

Even if he did, parents are not obligated to fulfill every want a child has. We're not giving up the time or money that travel ball takes.

You either don't know or have forgotten that I've raised one child.

Plenty of other things to get involved w/.

4H/FFA, band are equally expensive.

If not more so...

Yes, I know what raising kids costs. Even college.