The Life Of A Travel Baseball Dad
So, your child wants to play travel baseball? My son loves the game. He works hard and he's getting better every season. Sorry we don't have images for this post...new computer and I have not loaded any pictures yet.
Great! Here is a look into what his (and my) calendar looked like for the last 5 days.
Wednesday- Short day at work... took him to the fields to work on hitting. 75 swings. Home, cooled down, back to the fields for 5pm - 8pm pitchers camp. Dinner at home at 8:45.
Thursday- Home from work by 4. Travel ball practice with Team B at 6pm until 8:30. Sit down for dinner with the family at 9:15.
Friday- Home from work by 2pm. Pitchers camp from 5pm - 8pm Dinner by 8:30. Nice easy day!!!
Saturday- Another easy day. He has a Strength and Speed workout from 10am - 11am and a 6pm practice with Team B.
Get home from the workout (I left my phone at home) 3 frantic calls from Team C...need my son for the 2nd game of a doubleheader. In and out the door in 20 minutes. Easy day, just became crazy!
Plays all 7 innings in a very long game (goes 2-4 with a single, double and a walk... long fly ball caught at the fence, just missed his 1st homer of the season) Goes home, showers and changes for his 6pm practice. With a whole hour to ourselves, we both nap on the couch. Practice by 6 and it's another 2.5 hour grind. His last 30 minutes and he's mentally and physically wiped out. Dinner by 9 and he is asleep by 10:30pm
Sunday- Doubleheader with Team A. 2 away games approximately 50 minutes from home. Game starts at 1pm, players arrive for a 12pm warm up. It's hot and humid again. The coach wants him to start on the mound in Game 2 (he was hoping for the game 1 start, while he was still fresh) Plays all 7 innings in Game 1 and goes 1-1 with single, sac fly and a walk. We hold on for a 1 run victory.
Game 2 starts and he is struggling on the mound with his landing spot. It's rock hard and his spikes can't dig in, so he is sliding forward instead of planting and sticking. He walks 3, but gets out of it with a strikeout and a 5-2-3 double play. We fill the hole with dirt from another field and his next two innings are 7 and 10 pitch, 3 up, 3 down innings. In the 4th, his 2nd baseman commits 2 errors and fails to cover his position properly on another play and our 4-0 lead has been cut to 4-3. My son's pitch count has elevated beyond where I want him for this day (68 pitches) and he leaves the game with 2 on, 2 out and the lead.
We got out of the inning without any more damage and my son is reinserted into the infield following a short breather on the bench. We end up losing the game by 2 runs. My son plays 13 2/3 innings of the 14. He went 0-1 in the 2nd game (sac fly, flyout to center and a hit by pitch, along with a couple of stolen bases) It's an Applebee's dinner and then the long ride home in weekend traffic. A bowl of ice cream later and he has checked out for the night by 10:30.
We live near the ocean and once again, we spent the entire weekend and much of the week on the baseball field. The next 4 weekend will be more of the same, as his schedule has him playing in 5 tournaments (in multiple states) He indicated during the 2nd game on Sunday that he needs to see his hitting instructor this week and we'll try to squeeze in a session between his strength and speed and various practices.
His mom and I enjoy watching him play a game he absolutely loves. The beach can wait. We should have a weekend or two in the fall when we can go. Maybe...
How old is your kid? Mine is going into 8th and his team takes the whole summer off to rest. He did play ll also, but that is done now. Their team didn't get through the districts. Studies show that they need a break of at least 3 months, which mine will only rest from July-Sept. I am going to guess you live in Florida or somewhere close? Some of these elite teams push way too hard and I know one kid that was on an elite team playing every week. They pitched and caught by the time he hit 15 he had his first surgery. He just graduated high school and the count is now up to 5. He was an excellent ballplayer! The other story right now is we have a stud in our town at the 12u level he could pitch 75 mph. They sat him the whole 9th grade year, never played him at all on the High School level. Now the kid pitches 90 and is a dominate force going into the 11th grade. He almost quit the High School team, because his parents were furious! The coaches said, "We know what we are doing, just lets us condition him this year and NO TRAVEL!". They listened to him and now the kid is reaping the benefits! Well, have fun it is an awesome experience and I myself want to go practice so bad with my kid. for we are in the second week of nothing, but I will wait a couple more weeks!
My son is 14, starting his freshman year of HS in the fall. We are in the north east and his break away from the game will be from late October thru the beginning of February. He will pick up his bat for winter hitting workouts I mid-December, but no throwing. He has played travel since he was 8 - we are a small Ripken Baseball organization and the level of competition just wasn't enough for our all-stars to compete in Districts. So we turned to limited travel and went from there. Outside of rec games (2 innings max at all levels) my son never pitched until this season. He did pitch for his middle school team this season and did well (had one complete game, 10 strikeout game, giving up two runs, 1 earned in 90 pitches) They didn't start him again after that game, though they did use him for an inning or two in relief. For travel this summer, I have him at 60-65 pitches max and he will not be pitching for his fall team.
I do agree that some of the travel programs push hard. There are many in my area that require the player to NOT play school ball. It sounds like the coaches in your area have a good grasp on the health and safety of the players. That is not always the case when they have a pitcher who can strike hitters out and sometimes getting the win is more important than the player's future. Enjoy your time on the field with your son, he will remember the time you spent with him playing ball forever.
I played a lot of Travel Ball growing up. This post brings back memories. I didn't have a dad to train me as well as you are with your son. You are being a great father and it is awesome to read about how dedicated and fun it is. Makes me miss playing ball :) I can't wait until my son is old enough! I want to teach him the game as well! Nice post have a great summer of baseball :)
Thank you! I hope he loves the game as much as my son & I do. Hope you both make some great family memories.
Thank you for your positive words :) I look forward to those good times and memories made.