Interesting article in the WaPo: Stealing Home: travel baseball eroding the community

There are travel teams in the Austin area with 8 and 9 year old kids. Seems crazy.

On the other hand, as expressed in the comments to the article, we've been somewhat surprised by LL parents who simply drop kids off at practice without helping prepare the child with a few basic skills. Frustrating for the child and for his teammates.

Here's an excerpt:

“The fast growth absolutely blindsided us,” she conceded. “Those days of rec ball and local Little League, or just going to the park and playing ball — those days are nonexistent. They’re gone. Now, it’s all about travel.”

That’s an overstatement. Yes, Little League enrollment has declined 20 percent since its peak in 1997, from 3 million to 2.4 million. But 2.4 million players hardly suggests that community leagues are disappearing. And many young travel team players also play on their local teams.

Still, it’s true that the playing field for youth baseball has changed dramatically since Little League was founded 75 years ago. And with the loss of so many players and their families to travel teams, our community league games have lost a certain sense of community.

That is a great read. Thanks for sharing.