Should Your 8 Year Old Play Travel Baseball?

Should I Put My 8-Year-Old in Travel Ball?

Overview: In this episode of the Baseball Dad Show podcast, Paul Reddick discusses the pros and cons of putting an 8-year-old in travel ball. He provides advice on how to make the decision and suggests resources available at baseballdadshow.com.

Scorecard:

Paul recommends using the scorecard available at baseballdadshow.com to determine if your son has the potential to play at the next level.

Facebook Group:

Paul encourages listeners to join the Baseball Dad Show Facebook group, which has over 1200 members and is a great source of advice and experience from other fathers.

Rec Ball vs. Travel Ball:

Paul explains that while he wishes more people would stay in local rec ball, he acknowledges that there are drawbacks. He advises dads to consider whether they will be able to maintain control over the situation if they put their son in travel ball. He compares travel ball to a lion cub, which can grow into something difficult to control.

Paul emphasizes that it is not as crucial for an 8-year-old to play travel ball as some may think. He notes that there is no major leaguer today who attributes their success to playing 8-year-old travel ball.

Setting Healthy Parameters for Your Family

Overview: This section discusses the importance of setting values for your family and how to make decisions about travel ball teams.

Setting Values

• Establishing values for your family is essential in order to make decisions that are in line with your beliefs.

• Be aware of people who may try to pressure you into making decisions that are not in line with your values.

Making Decisions

• When considering a travel ball team, examine how much is in it for the coach.

• Be aware of the pressures that coaches may feel to win and create a return on investment for parents.

• Set parameters for your son's involvement in the team and stick to them.

• Show your son that you can make a decision and stick to it.

Combatting Over-Commitment to Travel Ball

Overview: This section discusses how to combat over-commitment to travel ball and the importance of having your kids involved in other activities.

Making Commitments and Keeping Them

• When a travel ball coach comes asking for your kid to commit to fall, explain that you have already made a commitment to soccer and that you value keeping commitments.

• Demonstrating the value of keeping commitments is more important than risking your son being mad at you for a week.

The Benefits of Other Activities

• High school coach Ray Corn almost insisted that his players do something else during the season to exercise their competing muscles and gain skills and confidence.

• Other activities such as karate, swimming, basketball, and chess are great for developing skills and confidence.

Managing Passion

• If your son has a passion for baseball, the worst thing you can do is put too much structure around it.

• Set parameters around your son's passion to ensure he doesn't burn out on it.

• Books on great performers agree that DNA and self-directed work are two leading factors in excelling at anything.

Self-Directed Work

Overview: This section discusses the importance of self-directed work in order to fuel a child's passion for baseball. It also provides advice on how to avoid overdoing it and burning out the passion.

Self-Directed Work

• Self-directed work is important to fuel a child's passion for baseball.

• Structured baseball programs can stunt development and burn out the passion.

Advice

• You can't make your kid love the game, but you can make them hate it.

• Visit baseball dad show.com to join the Facebook group and access other resources.

• Encouraging comments and feedback are appreciated.