I realize that my post came out that way. But it's not a complaint about playing time (my daughter does get playing time, just at MB, not at setter). It's that the coach refused to even consider a different setter. Also keep in mind that the setter's problems are all fixable problems. The fact that she has the same problems at the end of the season that she did at the beginning of the season is all on the coach, not the player. If the coach doesn't correct poor play, the poor play will continue.

I agree. The way the club volleyball is set around here is that teams generally only play other teams at the same skill level (except at the beginning of the season, where placement games take place). The top players get to play with and against other top players. The not-so-top players aren't stuck on the bench with a bunch of top players, they are playing with other not-so-top players, building their skills, and (hopefully) having fun.

Travel baseball taking over my area. There is barely even a real league anymore, league is done by early May so all the good players can concentrate on summer ball for the next 4-5 months. Back in the day (I'm 33), we would play 2 games a week during the summer for league and then 4 weeks of all-stars where we wouldn't travel further than 45 or so minutes for a tourney.

My nieces are on a travel softball team and they travel to practice during the week and play every weekend all summer and into the fall traveling all over the midwest and further for nationals. I don't think I want my daughters to be involved in that here in a few years.

You really need that one in a thousand chance of your kid making a major league roster to put up with that, lol at super competitive softball leagues

My son just turned 13 and plays high level travel baseball and also plays football. He played 7th grade basketball but decided he wants to focus on football next year (he is at a football crazy school). He started playing some travel ball (just 3 or 4 local tournaments) at 8u and he loved it. I was a little nuts back then. What you think is important at 9u or 10u doesn't seem very important when you are 13u. My biggest piece of advice for parents is to enjoy the ride. They only get to be kids once. Too many parents ruin it for their kids or ruin their kids in the process. Also, don't let anyone tell you that your kid needs to specialize. I was always told that my kid would fall behind by not playing youth football. He started QB as a 7th grader and a lot of the skill guys had never played before. People told me that my kid would fall behind by not playing fall travel baseball, it didn't happen.

You get to see some awesome stuff in sports. This past weekend we had a big tournament that attracted the top teams from 5 states. We had a kid hit one oppo on us about 50 feet over a 300ft fence. Same kid hit 81 against us on the mound. We never put a ball in play. You see some freaks out there that are on the fast track to playing high D1 or being drafted in the first 3 rounds.

For those with daughters, good luck. Girls sports are 10x more insane than boys sports. Softball is the absolute worst. Club volleyball is a lot of fun, though. Just be prepared to get a second job to pay for all of it.

It's not "lol." Their goal isn't to turn pro, it's to get a college scholarship.

It can get excessive, of course. People who spend $10k/year on travel sports to get their kids a college scholarship are defeating the purpose of getting reduced tuition.

Club volleyball isn't quite as expensive. $1500/year. More if the kid is on an ultracompetitive team.

Softball only gets 12 total scholarships. Most girls get 33-50% of a scholarship. If their goal is to pay for college, take all of the money they spend traveling across the country and put it into a 529 plan and they are set. Their goal should be to play softball because they love the game, not for a potential reward.

I have a friend who is taking his kid to Orlando for a 13u showcase. He is going to spend 6k for the potential reward of 2-5k a year. His kid will be lucky to start for his high school team and no one is scouting 13 year olds anyway. The showcase is the only group that is benefitting.

The problem is the travel expense. The big volleyball tournaments are often 4 day events. It's pretty common to spend 10k a year (including travel) for club volleyball if you are on a national team. Nationals alone is going to be a week long tournament.

I think most people don't realize this. I know I was surprised when I found out that only football and basketball players get full ride scholarships, as were several parents I told this to.


Yes, extremely excessive for 13 year olds. The only rationalization is that someone who does well at a u13 showcase will get experience and get more likely to make a good u14 team, then a good u15 team, etc.

But another part of it is just the experience. The kids enjoy it (hopefully), and any other hobby would be pretty expensive also.

Yeah, I was only talking about the local club team. The club has a national team and the $1500/year goes to $3000/year in club fees alone, not including travel expenses or time.

Luckily, only the best player make that team and my daughter isn't one of them. I'm pretty realistic about her expectations--she's simply not going to be tall enough or athletic enough to get a D1 scholarship, so we do this so she can make her HS team. And she's smart enough to get into college without having to resort to getting in because of athletics. She does this because she enjoys it, gets exercise, and gets to meet new people.

I think a lot of parents feel similarly. E.g., while there are 150+ u14 teams in the region, there are only 70 or so u16 teams and even fewer u18 teams . . . by then, parents have a better understanding of just how good their child really is.

Sounds like you guys are doing it for all of the right reasons. Plus, who knows, maybe sports can be the difference in getting into a top academic school.

I put a lot of time, energy, and money into my kids sports. I don't do any of it with any current or future expectations. I do it to help my kids.

my sons travel AAU team also plays in a regular league. league games take place during the week (usually 2 games) and always leaving fri-sun open for the teams to be able to play in tournaments of their choosing. There is normally 2-4 tournaments every weekend to choose from across the state. Most have 6-14 teams signed up for his age and single A division.

We agreed as a group (parents and coaches) not to travel farther than 60 miles for anything other than the state tournament for the first couple of years. No sense in traveling hours every other weekend when the kids are still learning to play together. Playing together for multiple years are the tournament level is near the top of important things for the teams. you can have some kids with serious talent grouped up with randoms and they wont be as good as a group of average/above average kids that have played together for over a year. the cohesiveness is really important at this age

this thread went from cute to sad so quick i feel like im in OOT

Good thing this thread has a great Original Poster, who will under zero circumstances let it fail.

we'll see slappy

I thought this thread was for Austin Rivers

Brought my son to the driving range for the first time this weekend, it was awesome!

I did this with my son last year--it was awesome.

How old is he?

damn gman ur biatch is hot nh nh

Cool thread idea.

I have soon to be three year old twin boys, so we're probably a few years away from doing any sort of organized sport. Some combination of baseball/soccer/basketball/golf/tennis/squash/martial art as per their own interest seems likely, although the wifeacore seems reticent about martial arts. Right now they just love running around outside, throwing and kicking balls around -- pretty cool stuff. Coaching their soccer team, should I have to opportunity to do so, is going to be one of the highlights of my life for sure.

Duplicate post for some reason.

I share some of the other posters' mild concern about posting stuff with too much identification info present, but Facebook is a thing that exists and there are pictures of them on there occasionally; I'm not sure there's anything to do other than exercise a reasonable level of discretion, as others have said.

Living on the far edge of the earth and being armed to the teeth doesn't hurt either.

You are going to have so damn much fun with the minis you won't be able to contain yourself. I don't know if I'd have gone the martial arts route with boys. It just made a lot of sense with girls.

I certainly hope so.

Re: martial arts, it was something I always wanted to do when I was a kid, plus it would have helped my confidence given I was a runt that got picked on a fair bit. Obviously if they're not into it, no big deal.

I also always wanted to do hockey, but it seems like an awfully big early morning time committment. I'm just putting that in the "we'll do it if they make it clear that they absolutely won't live without doing it and for no other reason" category.

3 and a half... my kids are a bit off the wall though, and so being at a driving range requires constant attention... the danger of walking into someone else's stall.

My kid is playing soccer up until 8th grade and then switching over to xc/track. Surefire path to a schollie.

In absolute shock at the text I just received from a parent. You cannot make this **** up lol.

"Is there a game tomorrow? The schedule doesn't have the "V" between the two teams. Just wondering if this is a typo? Sorry to bother you! - Julie"