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Hurricane
351 Posts |
 Posted - 12/22/2009 : 08:43:08
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| When is someone going to step up and do a team without all the fancy uniforms and matching bat bags and helmets. When we used to play we would spray paint the helmets before the season, get 2 different colored cotton t-shirts and put a logo on the front and a heat seal a number on the back. Get a ajustable hat for less than $10.00. Grab a glove and go play. No contracts and matching cleats, wear the ones your brother wore and passed down. If your team is good people wont remember your uniform but the name you used when you beat them. Maybe I am old school, but I think other than tournaments this stuff is a waste of money. |
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touchemall
145 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2009 : 10:03:27
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| I think with economy in the tank you are going to see more teams this year trying to keep it simple. I have even heard talk of some not going to the season ending tourneys at the beach just to save money. Where is the stimulus package for travel ball? ha ha |
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gasbag
281 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2009 : 10:12:38
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WOW ....couldn't agree with you more Hurricane. We used to have three wood bats for an entire team....cost $20 ( that's total ! ), nobody owned a bat bag, we showed up with our gloves ready to play, cost
$18 ( or I used my big brothers ! ), we played in tennis shoes or cleats...it didn't matter to us or the coaches, cost to sign up and play ball included a team cotton tee with matching socks ( mom & dad sprung for pants but we didn't get a new pair every season so you bought them big so you could get multiple seasons or once again, you wore your big brothers that mom had mended ! ) cost $20...total costs +- $60....memories provided, PRICELESS ! |
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AllStar
762 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2009 : 10:39:49
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quote:
Originally posted by Hurricane
When is someone going to step up and do a team without all the fancy uniforms and matching bat bags and helmets. When we used to play we would spray paint the helmets before the season, get 2 different colored cotton t-shirts and put a logo on the front and a heat seal a number on the back. Get a ajustable hat for less than $10.00. Grab a glove and go play. No contracts and matching cleats, wear the ones your brother wore and passed down. If your team is good people wont remember your uniform but the name you used when you beat them. Maybe I am old school, but I think other than tournaments this stuff is a waste of money.
Even the tournaments are getting pretty pricey.
I suspect a lot of folks agree with you. I'm not sure when you used to play, but it's a different world from when I played. One of the biggest changes is 8, 9, 10 and 11 year-old boys being "recruited" and the aggressive teams using those kind of things to attract kids.
Or should I say their dads.
The other change is people willing to drive an hour each way to play for a given team. If I had asked to play for a team an hour away my folks would still be laughing.
Judging from the number of folks that think 8 is a good age to start travel ball, it doesn't appear that it's going to change anytime soon. |
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10 BB
264 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2009 : 10:52:34
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Well there are some ways to save money and still travel. The first big thing and this will upset some but leave the wife and family at home. You would only need 5 motel rooms for a 10 man team if everybody would share a room with someone on the team. Also with the wives and brother and sisters not there meals would be cheaper. Most all of us would eat at alot cheaper places. Also you don't have to pay for 3 or 4 entry fees per day to the parks.
These few things will save per family a couple hundred dollars per tournament. With a ten kid team thats a savings of $2000.00 per team per tournament.
This is a way to save alot of money and still play quality tournaments on a limited budget. It should all be about the baseball anyway or at least it is for my sons! |
Edited by - 10 BB on 12/22/2009 12:12:35 |
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whits23
596 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2009 : 11:53:59
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BINGO!!! I throw out bat bags and helmets all the time..too many people want to play bad but look good. Our team is not buying any of that stuff..a helmet is a helmet a bag a bag if you got one use it..
We went to texas one year and came in 4th out of 64 teams wearing KMart t-shirts we got off the rack 3 days in advance
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BREAMKING
323 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2009 : 12:32:15
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| Bags, Helmets, and fancy uniforms are all a big waste of money. I long for the days of putting your glove on your bat if you were lucky enough to own a bat. I must say I am part of the problem though. 7yr. old wanted bat bag with wheels like his brothers so santa will be bring it for him. I have stopped buying expensive bats and the younger one is using handy down bats. Seems like you could do a team for 600.00 per kid. What are people paying for 11u baseball? Is 750.00 too much or is that about right for the average AA/AAA type team out there? Was just curioius what prices other teams are charging. |
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billbclk
164 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2009 : 13:28:17
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The cost goes down as you get older. For 14U we did not do bags, helmets, shoes, etc. We had two pullover two-button shirts and two pair of pants for our main uniform ($163). Nothing fancy but if you try to go cheap on the pants you will get holes and get too dirty. Besides that, there are park fees ($145), tournament fees (~$150 – four events), umpire fees (~$100) (over what the park gives you), batting cage fees (~$100) (because the park cages are always full) and a miscellaneous fee (~$100). Teams that only play tournaments obviously pay more. I’m missing some things but I don’t have my budget from last year in front of me.
Yes travel is more expensive than Rec; but Rec generally has to rely on concession sales to break even. The team budget is setup to be zero at the end of the year with you usually having to come out of pocket for some things that you don’t get back.
My coaches did not wear the same shirts or hats. Personally I have more Collins Hill green, gray and white than I could ever wear so last season I just recycled an old hat and shirts.
The $163 we paid for uniforms is relatively cheap ($84 was for the pants). Yes we could have played with cotton Tee shirts and one pair of pants but (and I guessing) every parent would have gone out to buy new pants at some point in time. We played a 35 game season alternating shirts and pants each game and we still had some ratty looking pants at the end.
For 14U I opted to not do the other gear because they will not use them in high school, so why bother. We had players with blue, green, red, black and white helmets and generally played teams that did the same.
Now when we were younger we spent twice as much for uniforms and got all the trimmings. I think it’s an age thing.
Gasbag: Those days are long gone. Today you have to pay for a place to play home games or pay to play in tournaments. This is why I tell people that sports (especially on the youth level is NOT a game). This is a multi-billion dollar industry. The Pros get FREE stuff to get our kids to ask us to BUY them the same stuff.
BTW, high school ball cost a lot too! The Pain Train is COMING!
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Titan1
210 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2009 : 16:08:12
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| Interesting topic. What do some of your team budgets look like? Just curious. |
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11baseball11
90 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2009 : 16:54:20
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It sounds like some of you guys did it so long ago that you had to feed and saddle the horses to get to the park.ha ha Times have changed, I used to ride my bike to play and we didn't have all the options we have today. Tournament fees are what the bulk of the money is spent on. Yes, you can save a $100 by going trailer park but remember when you where a kid and mom made you wear some ugly piece of clothing to school, how did that make you feel. I know proud wasn't one of those feelings.
1 or 2 cheaper tournaments can offset the cost of decent uniforms and what 10BB said can help with travel expenses but other than that it's still going to cost a small fotune. If travel ball cost too much, maybe rec ball is the only option for some. I just hope that this bad economy doesn't keep some kids that need to play travel ball, to be challenged, from playing. |
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Alter-Ego
802 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2009 : 17:23:18
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All I can say is "If you think I want to be around any team's meeting when the recommendation of leaving mom's and siblings at home is brought up, you are crazy."
What would be agreed on would be the dad's getting left at home. (Which actually might make for a better tournament for the boys)
There is pride in having nice uniforms. Cheap t-shirt uniforms are for league ball, and slow pitch softball.
I can see cutting corners by saying "Everyone go get a navy helmet." but any team manager worth his salt can find inexpensive helmets and get a qty discount for 12+ helmets.
Maybe it is better to:
*Limit the number of out-of-town tournaments (saves a lot of money on gas, hotels, meals, etc)
*Sub out a tournament for a round-robin
For many, the most money spent is on food at the park. Maybe making up sandwiches and having a cooler in the car is a much cheaper solution. $20 might save $100. (I know that is not what the concession people want to hear, but....)
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biged
198 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2009 : 19:30:41
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| 10bb, I tried to leave the family home. Sleeping on the couch gets old real quick. |
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a1prog
164 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2009 : 22:19:41
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| i know its been some time since i coached travel- especially at the younger ages. but- we played 50-60 games per year and left town once at ages 10 and 11. at 12/13/14 we went out of town twice. between ecb, cumming, snellville, conyers and hampton there are plenty of tourneys around- at all levels of competition. and, joining a league (like nwba- our age groups had no less than 20 teams per year) is great for getting in games, meeting other coaches and then having some offshoot home based round robins. |
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SouthSide24
44 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2009 : 23:16:26
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What I have found is that 4 or 5 parents what to spend $ on nicer uniforms, while the other 4 or so want to go cheap as possible, which makes our manager make some tough decisions
We did spend $24 each on custom New Era hats with our logo, and got to tell you that was the best money spent, these kids absolutely love these hats..
We split costs down the middle on tourny average about $45-50..
What absolutely ****** some parents off is the gate fee of $5, when they did not know ahead of time..I have seen some real heated exchanges over this, i'm not kidding. This just starts some off on a bad note and if their kid sits or something happens in the game it just carries over
Personally, I like 3 or 4 ways with the costs about $10 to $15 |
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10 BB
264 Posts |
Posted - 12/23/2009 : 09:22:08
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The Bombers this past year only played 2 tournaments in PC all the rest were out of town and motel rooms had to be paid for. Believe me we have moms that would never stay home either but It was just a suggestion. I think all of the husbands brought the wives into travelball the wrong way. It was made to nice of an experience with going to the mall and letting them make decisions on where to eat and what to do away from the field. Heck nothing wrong with it but we'ev had all the moms go together and get mani's and pedi's while at tournaments, heck they think they are on vacation.
I personally don't have this problem so I don't see what all the fuss is about but me and my boy have great weekends together and don't have to worry about a wife and where she wants to eat or is she ready to go to the ballpark or any of that stuff. It's great to have no worries at the ball park it's just all about the baseball. |
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Peanutsr
171 Posts |
Posted - 12/23/2009 : 12:00:29
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The economic law of supply and demand. As long as there are kids who want to play travel and parents that are willing to pay, then there will be businessmen (people) providing the service.
Capatalism at it's finest.
What a great country. |
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bmoser
1633 Posts |
Posted - 12/23/2009 : 13:12:30
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Cost varies widely by team. Choose carefully!
We played 76 games in '09, and didn't pay for lodging until the World Series. 6 of the 12 tourneys were in our home, or neighboring County's.
We host baseball and basketball tourney's to cover nearly all expenses, plus are building upon a Cooperstown fund for next year. Only out of pocket expenses are: uni's, gate fees, and working the fundraisers. We chose very very well. Room for 1 more (see Warriors posting). 11U AAA team in Cumming.
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Edited by - bmoser on 12/23/2009 14:50:07 |
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coachdan06
433 Posts |
Posted - 12/23/2009 : 16:45:21
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quote:
Originally posted by biged
10bb, I tried to leave the family home. Sleeping on the couch gets old real quick.
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teddy41
421 Posts |
Posted - 12/23/2009 : 17:08:28
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I will take a scruffy looking kid throwing gas by some spoiled kid in a 3 tone ultra fnacy cool looking shirt any day of the week.
Pride is winning and learning the game not dressing like you just came off the runway |
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Alter-Ego
802 Posts |
Posted - 12/23/2009 : 21:26:15
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The kids throwing gas don't end up on the scruffy teams, Teddy.  |
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teddy41
421 Posts |
Posted - 12/24/2009 : 09:34:38
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| valid point..they get sponsored |
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PCV
27 Posts |
Posted - 12/24/2009 : 10:12:47
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quote:
Originally posted by 10 BB
I think all of the husbands brought the wives into travelball the wrong way. It was made to nice of an experience with going to the mall and letting them make decisions on where to eat and what to do away from the field. Heck nothing wrong with it but we'ev had all the moms go together and get mani's and pedi's while at tournaments, heck they think they are on vacation.
WHAT????? |
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12uCoach
357 Posts |
Posted - 12/24/2009 : 11:24:52
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Cost is all relative. As a coach without kids, I never took the parents cost into account, onoywhat it would cost for me to have thier kid on the team for the year. I lumped everything together and was accused of having a huge cost, but when they played for other teams and I asked the same whiny parents to look at total costs, it all averaged out.
When I did an upper age Summer Program, parents paid for hat & shirt, plus a small fee for my costs/baseballs/registration, the kid was then resposible for all the rest in a color I selected. We had 15 players, and I paid for the tournament fee up front, if you wanted to play you gave me a check for your share of the tournament cost, and stayed where you wanted.
I asked one of the parents who had played on a 12U team to keep tabs on the cost, and in the long run, costs were about the same at the end of the year.
Only real way to cut costs is to take the "travel" out of "travel team". |
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Injun Chief
16 Posts |
Posted - 12/24/2009 : 13:28:31
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Since most of you are younger ... i've got bad news for you ... it's getting more expensive as you get older !!
I have a 17/U team .... our annual budget is $ 30,000 !! |
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bmoser
1633 Posts |
Posted - 12/24/2009 : 16:52:43
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12UCoach said: Only real way to cut costs is to take the "travel" out of "travel team".
That's what we did. We played in 12 tourneys, and only our end-of-season World Series required an overnight stay. Playing in a travel team league like NWBA, and playing scrimmages, also reduces cost.
When teams play in a league and some scrimmages, the tourneys retain more of their luster in the boys' minds eye. If all you do is play tourneys, the magic wears off faster.
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baseballpapa
1520 Posts |
Posted - 12/24/2009 : 20:32:45
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moser makes a very solid point about staying as close as you can to home. But this only works if you can find the competition you need to be pushed to the next level. No team can get better by playing in a lower level division. You must travel to the teams as good or better than you if you really are looking to better the team.
The Bandits would love to stay at Heritage Park in Dalton and Jack Mattox in Ringgold or East Brainerd in Chattanooga as we would not need a hotel room and would eliminate 60% off parents expenses. But if we stay home we cannot find the Sandtowns, the Cougars, the Chili Dogs, the Jaguars, Titans, Team Georgia's, Stars, Express, Scorpions, Colt 45's, and all the other teams that push us to be better.
I think as moser and his team improve and get better and better that they will find that they have to travel further and further to find the teams that will push them the next level and then further to get to the next level.
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Why is travel baseball so expensive?
