There has been a seismic shift in our culture regarding child safety and now parents (for whatever reason) don't feel its safe for kids under the age of 14 playing outside unsupervised-and now we need to pay adults to supervise their play -and as parents we have rationalized it as being something better than we can provide or had--which is every parent's hope. However, there are significant play studies that conclude that unsupervised play (no adults) is an accelerator to develop sports skills (less supervision = accelerated skill development) through age 14 because it increases the quantity of play time significantly and is excellent from an overall development standpoint for kids in terms of decision making and becoming independent. A possible solution to this problem is the move back to remote work delivering parents back into local neighborhoods during daylight hours that we hope will fortify parents to let the kids play unsupervised in their neighborhoods-and shift the balance of play back to the neighborhoods --vs 100% adult supervised sports play.
I worked for a summer managing fields at a travel baseball "Mecca" and the scouts were there but they only followed the stud pitchers. No one was looking at the 2B, LF, or even catchers. Do not spend your kids college fund to be window dressing for a kid on his way to Tommy John! Unless your kid is unquestionably the absolute stud on the elite team (and I am talking 16-18U, not even going to entertain kids younger than that), invest your money in a good 529 college account, and let your kid enjoy playing HS ball.
The process of getting to where we are now also has priced many kids/families out of playing sports which also adds to the class disparity that will only continue to get worse.
OUtstanding conversation. Baseball in the south is such a big business, for someone. It certainly feels like a train, and if you dont get on it, or you get off at one station, it is very difficult to get back on down the road. Feels like if you arent on the train then you are dooming your kids chances at playing HS or college ball one day. On the one hand its great that the kids are active and you arent having to drag them out of the house, but one the other it feels a bit like a rat race and burn many weekends that you could do other stuff with them. I am not sure what the answer is!
The ROI is a kid who grows to love being active their whole life, not the scholarship. Amen!
There has been a seismic shift in our culture regarding child safety and now parents (for whatever reason) don't feel its safe for kids under the age of 14 playing outside unsupervised-and now we need to pay adults to supervise their play -and as parents we have rationalized it as being something better than we can provide or had--which is every parent's hope.
However, there are significant play studies that conclude that unsupervised play (no adults) is an accelerator to develop sports skills (less supervision = accelerated skill development) through age 14 because it increases the quantity of play time significantly and is excellent from an overall development standpoint for kids in terms of decision making and becoming independent.
A possible solution to this problem is the move back to remote work delivering parents back into local neighborhoods during daylight hours that we hope will fortify parents to let the kids play unsupervised in their neighborhoods-and shift the balance of play back to the neighborhoods --vs 100% adult supervised sports play.
It's an arms race - really hard to alter that kind of momentum. Really grateful we're having the conversation, though.
Discussions that are long overdue. Than you.
I worked for a summer managing fields at a travel baseball "Mecca" and the scouts were there but they only followed the stud pitchers. No one was looking at the 2B, LF, or even catchers. Do not spend your kids college fund to be window dressing for a kid on his way to Tommy John! Unless your kid is unquestionably the absolute stud on the elite team (and I am talking 16-18U, not even going to entertain kids younger than that), invest your money in a good 529 college account, and let your kid enjoy playing HS ball.
The process of getting to where we are now also has priced many kids/families out of playing sports which also adds to the class disparity that will only continue to get worse.
OUtstanding conversation. Baseball in the south is such a big business, for someone. It certainly feels like a train, and if you dont get on it, or you get off at one station, it is very difficult to get back on down the road. Feels like if you arent on the train then you are dooming your kids chances at playing HS or college ball one day. On the one hand its great that the kids are active and you arent having to drag them out of the house, but one the other it feels a bit like a rat race and burn many weekends that you could do other stuff with them. I am not sure what the answer is!