By Tim Clark / / Column, Tim's Two Cents
Two

I didn’t watch the World Cup much. I briefly watched some of Team USA’s games. The hype was hard to avoid, and certainly the uproar after the U.S. team was eliminated was hard to ignore.

It reminded me of one thing.

The way we operate youth sports gets worse and worse all the time, and it is hindering high school sports and beyond.

The debate became why the United States can’t develop a better national soccer program. Kids are playing soccer at the highest rate ever. Yet, it is clear the United States isn’t in the same stratosphere as the upper echelon countries.

Soccer experts had a raging debate, with many experts suggesting our youth programs don’t get it right. In most other countries a club team can earn money by developing star soccer players. In America, players pay the travel(club) teams money to simply participate. So talented or not, a player whose family can write the check can be on the team. And they never get weeded out.

Welcome to travel team sports.

These teams and programs have often asserted themselves as more competitive, more influential, and more important than high school sports. That is both a crock and a shame.

I live in a small rural town, and even here travel ball and AAU has taken over. I am still waiting for the first athlete from my hometown to make it big because they played a zillion years of travel ball.

Some kids start playing travel ball as early as eight years old. This is insane. Many of these kids will play upwards of ten years of travel ball. That is a lot of cash fees, fundraising, gas money, hotel rooms, etc, and for what? For 99 percent of these kids it won’t change their high school careers or get them anything more than a division II or III roster spot. A spot they would have reached without ten years of travel ball.

The real tragedy in all of this isn’t the wasted money and time —that’s on the gullible parents— but the damage it does to some high school sports programs. Notice I didn’t say all. When I watched the joy and excitement as Central Dauphin High School won its first state championship in basketball I realized there is still room for both. However, in small communities like mine, kids are far more interested in their travel teams than playing for their school.

During my local high school’s softball season a couple players informed the coach they would have to leave early during a game because they had a travel basketball game. This after the coach had the parents and players sign a contract that during the season the softball team came first.

Think about that. High school coaches now have to draw up contracts so players stay focused on the school team and not a travel team.

Part of this is on the parents, maybe a large part. Every parent thinks their kid is great. Far too many parents lose perspective, especially those with the bank account to pay these ridiculous fees for travel teams. I asked one parent if she thought her kid got better playing travel ball. Her reply was, “Well, yes.” I sensed a bit of hesitation so I followed up by asking if it was improvement she wouldn’t have made just by staying local. The answer was a clear no.

Somewhere along the line our sports society has thumped it into kids(and parents) heads that to get truly good at a sport you need to focus more on just that sport. Year round play has become commonplace. I had a fifth grader years ago tell me he was going to Florida to pitch in a Christmas tournament with his travel team. This after his Little League season, travel team schedule, and Fall ball. I asked him when he was going to rest his arm and he looked at me quizzically. His baseball career ended without even playing at the high school level. Money well spent.

There are plenty of summers leagues and local tournaments you can go play in to keep working, and you can do that without sacrificing other sports and paying a mint to do so. Ninety percent of professional athletes will tell you focusing on just one sport is not the way to go.

After reading to this point you may be surprised to find I am not against AAU or travel teams. With one caveat. Those programs were meant for elite players to play against other elite players. They weren’t meant for everyone with a bank account big enough to afford the costs.

This brings me full circle back to the World Cup and America’s lack of soccer prowess.

The people I listened to, and who know 1000 times more than me, seem to think it is because club or travel teams are simply taking everyone’s money, regardless of whether their kid is elite enough to be on the team. Consequently, you rarely get elite on elite.

I personally think great athletes in America are looking at how much money they can make playing football, basketball, and baseball, and forego soccer.

Still, it is yet another example of how bad travel teams actually are to a sport. Simply put, they are money makers. Making money comes first, while developing talent is an afterthought.

Elite AAU basketball gets it right to an extent, but the corruption you read about with AAU hoops makes you realize it certainly isn’t immune from the dark side.

If your kid simply loves a specific sport and can’t get enough, then a travel team would serve that kid well. That also isn’t the type of kid who would put travel ball ahead of playing for his high school team.

Travel sports teams —as the World Cup displayed— aren’t developing a ton of elite players. As a matter of fact, travel teams aren’t even elevating most players above where they would have been anyway. What they are good at is making money.

Ah, money. It’s always about the money.

Tweet of the Week

Preach Mr. DeCourcy, preach.

 


The Weekly Shiny Penny

More and more runners —I assume they are bionic— are literally running down the 4 minute mile marker. The mile record has held for more than 25 years. Enter Josh Kerr. 3:42. Goodness. It takes me longer to get from my couch to the bathroom, and I don’t have a big house.

 


A Penny For My Final Thoughts…

From the beach…

  • Philly talk radio is a trip. I found out the only people allowed to rip their own is them. They spent an hour complaining about how low Jalen Hurts was rated in the QB rankings recently released. Last summer, coming off winning the Super Bowl, they bashed half the team.
  • Philly fans want nothing to do with LeBron James. Who facilitates the offense? How does he fit? His ego is too big. He and Embiid will miss far too many games. Do they have to take Bronny James also? The radio guys were a bit more open minded. I still think that is where LeBron ends up.
  • The Phillies need pitching and outfield. Taylor Ward was a na,e brought up, but they weren’t sure he was an upgrade over Derek Hill.
  • I couldn’t watch the Home Run Derby because my hotel didn’t get Netflix. Genius idea by MLB having the Derby on Netflix.
  • Shoutout to Mariner’s Arcade. Always fun, and this year I came away with a signed Rocky Bleier Steelers helmet, a Bill Mazeroski signed Cooperstown bat, and a Charlie Sheen autographed Wild Thing Funko Pop. A much more fun way to acquire sports memorabilia.
  • Every year it happens. Someone with USC ties gives me a “Fight On”. This year it was a waitress at Ike’s Crab House whose brother just graduated from USC. We talked, discussed the upcoming Penn State game, and as she left she gave me the “Fight On”. The USC beach streak rages on.
Just my two cents…