(10-18-2017 04:38 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(10-17-2017 03:48 PM)Wedge Wrote:  For college sports other than football and men's basketball, I could understand that because the resources for recruiting are very limited. They recruit from travel teams because they are getting athletes who have competed in the sport for several years at progressively more competitive levels. Also, because coaching staffs are stretched thin, it's efficient to have a coach spend a weekend at a large tournament of travel teams, because the coach can watch many potential recruits in 2-3 days.

That's a tactic happening in soccer, volleyball, and lacrosse, too. Can't forget camps.

Where it comes to limited resources, I'll sell. There's more money and larger staffing lines running through football and basketball; the ever-rising salary lines aren't for increased responsibilities but for retention. I'd argue the expansion of staff in football and basketball programs is due to responsibilities taken off of your head coach and top coordinators and assistants and the need for their address elsewhere among the staff.

And camps, if coaches get in on that action, is frosting for compensation. It also looks like a pay-for-play scheme. You pay money for your kid to be seen by coaches and assistants because it's likely they won't bother coming out to see your kid otherwise.

So as a father of several toddlers, what should I do to give my kids the same type of athletic experience I had?

I was athletic but a late grower. Freshman year of high school, I was 5'2" and 120 lbs. But I played on my high school football team (didn't see the Varsity field much, but played a lot on Frosh and JV teams the first 3 years). I played organized organized basketball and baseball all the way through 12th grade.

We don't plan on doing travel teams because we want to have a lot of kids - there simply won't be time. Is there any hope of finding opportunities for my kids to play on an organized team sport?