There seems to be an overreach of state high school associations in several states that don’t always have logic in their rules…

In Illinois, players were removed from the field because the state high school association said they couldn’t participate in “travel all-star games”. After much controversy, this was later clarified and amended. Another state says a coach can only practice with four kids at a time out of season and only at certain times they allow. Another example in one state an ambidextrous pitchers’ pitch counts are tallied for the player and not each arm. Finally, in many states after high school tryouts you are not supposed to be at your travel facility(especially with players from your high school team), play in travel tournaments, etc. Doing so can get you suspended from High School Baseball. 

These are just a few examples of the overreach of some of the state high school associations. Their heart is probably in the right place, however, some of these organizations do not understand the ever changing landscape of youth sports. There is also a pressure to win for HIGH SCHOOL coaches that drives all of this.  I think looking inward, instead of focusing so much on policing travel sports would be advantageous to the student athlete. 

The problem to me isn’t in really travel baseball coaches either…for the most part. Most baseball coaches I have  encountered seem to be understanding of multi-sport athletes and STUDENT athletes. The baseball season is pretty short overall April-June in HS and June-August in Travel baseball.  Do some travel organizations and coaches go overboard, of course they do; however, the discussion for the moment is about High School Athletics.

I very much understand the overuse argument too. High school associations should focus more on these things rather than be so hyper-focused on travel sports:

1. No HIGH SCHOOL practices(or very Limited) when the school is closed or on break for any high school sports(coaches always want more and are going to try to keep up with the joneses). Snow Days especially. If school is closed because of inclement weather, there shouldn't be practice. Dead periods for these times would be recommended. Also,  dead periods for out of season HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS in the SUMMER.
2. Instead of making athletes work in small groups, just tell HIGH SCHOOL coaches when the season can start and limit  practices/contact for out-of-season sports. From there an athlete can train on their own. 
3. Quit allowing HIGH SCHOOL off-season sports to encroach on in-season sports. (See number 2) Not sure the answer, but there has to be a way. Some sports are now going 9-10 months out of the year and working through loopholes of the State Associations. (Hint: its not Baseball)

In many states, football and basketball start a week after school is out in the Summer during the height of baseball season. While these workouts aren’t mandatory, they are expected. Athletes have enough pressure on them and feeling like they have to choose between three sports at a time is not logical. Many are juggling these 2-3 sports and are exhausted without time for recovery and/or free time with friends.  Many athletes are being pulled in all directions. As a result, this is pushing MORE kids in to choosing(specializing).

From a parents' perspective, we need to just teach our kids to say no. Sometimes they want to do everything all at once and it is just not sustainable. If a coach cannot deal with it, so be it. Finally, there needs to be more representation from travel sports in these associations. Travel sports have a lot of bright minds that could provide valuable input to these organizations.

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It is Winter. What better time to reflect on baseball? Not all heroes wear capes, some do wear umpire gear though. At TBR tournaments, we do what we can to attempt to get games in through inclement weather. Behind the scenes, it can be hectic when a weather event hits. We scratch and claw to get games in and the competitive spirit in me wants to prove mother nature, and sometimes coaches/parents wrong.  Unfortunately, mother nature sometimes wins, but we NEVER go down without a fight. I am fortunate that some of my partners (Shoutout to Kyle, Shawn, Billy, and Logan from Action Sports Center) have a similar viewpoint as me. Umps have things to do and places to go and when a rain delay hits some are not always able to stay.

One game Left...
We had one game that needed to be played in order to finish moving all teams to bracket play. If the game didn't get played the other two contingencies were: 1. to revert back and erase games played OR 2. restart the ONE pool play game left on the next day. Taking a game played away is not good, especially if a team "upset" another team and/or is vying for gold bracket status. The second option of moving the ONE final pool play game to the next day, then starting the bracket right after, leaves teams in limbo overnight. This is also less than ideal for teams and the tournament as a whole. Neither are good positions to be in.  The only other option is to figure out how to play the game. 

The Problem...
We didn't have a place to play or have ANY extra umpires willing to stay. Many were already umping other games. The field agreed to let us play one more game and both teams also agreed to play. Now we needed to find an ump. The ump assigner and myself were striking out left and right.  It occurred to me that I know an experienced ump playing in the 16u division playing in game right now in my tournament. I called his mom and he was more than willing to come down and ump a game, right after his game was finished.  He was even prepared to be the home plate ump if needed. In the end, another home plate ump stepped up and the young man ended up umping the bases and did a tremendous job. We also finished the hectic day with two umps per game, every game!  More importantly we were able to advance ALL teams to their respective brackets. 

We oftentimes feel battered, bruised, and mentally exhausted after tournaments, especially ones filled with weather events. We always do what is best for the MOST teams and also balance it with the teams that have performed well up to that point. Our umps, ump assigner, and park personnel are such hard workers and that is another story altogether. In this particular case I would like to thank Noah D., for saving this age group.

Here are five things I heard/observed this year as a parent and/or as a tournament director. From parents trying to steal wins from other teams on technicalities, to relationships getting in the way. All of these could probably have a full article for each.

1. D1 College Coach: “Mom and Dad are doctors and have money, so that isn’t an issue”.

I was at the MPL in Grand Park and the conversations you hear coaches having audibly on their phones is astounding. Money is just a part of life and the fact that this kid’s parents had money was a factor. Coaches have a budget and the more they can allocate toward kids in need, the more rounded their baseball program will be.  So don’t take offense if you don’t have money,  but realize that it could be a factor especially if the budget is running low.

​2. D1 College Coach “We aren’t even looking at 2025s anymore".

Only the transfer portal and 2026’s ” This was at a tournament in early June at the beginning of the travel season. Coaches couldn’t even offer 2026s yet, they are done looking at 2025s?  Let’s preface this by not making this a blanket statement for all D1 coaches; however, it seems like those coaches are looking for that diamond in the rough at a young age AND/OR the seasoned vet from transfer portal. College baseball is even more competitive, and 17-year-olds are competing with 22 year old men. For the younger kids they are probably thinking life isn’t fair. They are right…it’s not. The older kids have already learned this. Coaches will dump you for non-performance as quicky as a boss will. Don’t complain, get better. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

3. NAIA College Coach:” We haven’t even sorted through our 2025s yet”.

At a college camp in August, one coach at a NAIA said we haven’t got through our 2025’s yet. So, depending on the level colleges are still analyzing certain classes/players. Depending on your child’s goals, you still have time.  Ball don’t lie.

4.  Dad of Player: “Relationships are a Distraction” (That dad was me).

This is 100 percent true and 100 percent part of life.  Little Johnny is at that age where he likes girls…ALOT. The problem is not with relationships, the problem is with being able to balance goals with relationships. Unfortunately, many athletes are not able to balance friends, sports, schools, entertainment, and girlfriends. There is only so much time a student-athlete can devote to each slice of pie in the “human pie graph” of time management/daily life. If they are willing to sacrifice hard work for other areas, they will get surpassed by someone who is willing to sacrifice other areas for hard work.

5. Observed: One College Coach was extremely interested/engaged in a kid he wasn’t even there to watch.  Another college coach was on his phone/computer the whole time not paying attention to gameplay.

This really happened. We were at a tournament and a college coach came to watch a specific kid, let’s say kid A for this scenario. A different college coach was there watching an older kid on another field (Kid B). The one watching kid B on the other field heard the mitt popping and came over to observe kid A. He said “That is the type of stuff I’m looking for, what is his X handle?” . The other college coach that came to watch the specific kid was on his phone/computer the whole time.  He missed a no-hitter into the 5th, a few wood bat doubles,  a 3-run bomb, and just a fantastic game between two very high level teams. These two teams will likely have multiple college players.  Coaches have options… so do kids. Athletes go where you are wanted!

6. Heard at tournament as a director: “I have something up my sleeve, I’m going to check this team’s roster”.

Ugh…at the Kentucky tournament specifically, but not limited to this tournament though.  I have never had so many complaints, whining, and crying about rosters…all of which were wrong. Get a grip folks. The reality is if someone wants to cheat, they will cheat.  They can say a Birth certificate is someone else’s, there is no photo ID. The vast majority of high-level teams don’t need to cheat. Trying to win on a technicality is lame. The likelihood that your team is just inferior and lost 14-2 is the true problem at hand here. The reality is travel baseball is the wild west. Kids are being added and dropped from rosters throughout the season. Some are being added to bolster pitching and get through a 5GG or possibly even due to injuries. Would you rather have a team drop from a tournament OR add a player that is eligible? 95% of high-level coaches don’t care, the other 5% are clinging on and looking for a reason to not allow their kids to take accountability for their losses.

7. From a coach, “these were the worst umps ever”.

95% of my umps are high school certified and have been doing this for a while. The problem I admittedly have with SOME of my umpires is they have a short leash and argue back at times. Last weekend I saw umps handle a situation VERY well that was likely a bad call.  Most umps may have forfeited a team over their behavior. After an argument on the field, the issue was dropped, and the game moved on. These umps were great at diffusing the situation. On the flip side, coaches that constantly use the umps as an excuse are also a big problem.  There are going to be bad calls. Stick up for your players, make a point, and move on to the next pitch.  There is no instant replay in travel baseball.

8. Parents from a team, “We got cheated out of time, not your fault boys”.

At a recent tournament, one team had their excuses ready to go pregame. Let me say that from those that play TBR they know we do not like to cancel, and we rarely do. This year we were able to get 99% of games in despite some significant weather or rain event at every event. In one tournament, we had to shrink game times to 90 minutes (finish the inning). One team was more concerned with the outcome of the game before them than the championship of the game they were about to play in. This team already got their full 2-hour game and was waiting for the semi to finish. They were more concerned about cutting the semi-final game short than preparing for their upcoming championship game. Then in the championship they got shutout in a 5-inning game and said they “got cheated out of time”. Great job at making excuses for your kids who YOU set the tone for prior. Great job to the other team who didn’t make excuses and left no doubt who was better in that game. Two very different attitudes, two very different outcomes.

I hope you glean a thing or two out of the observations from the 2024 travel baseball season.  I heard a lot more, but my main point to everyone for 2024/2025 is to “JUST PLAY BALL” and “BALL DON’T LIE”.  Don’t forget to continue to check back for more great tournaments and content at travelbaseballrankings.com.