A few questions and thoughts on travel sports:

I would like to begin by saying I am not a parent and have not raised a child. My perspective comes as a coach and athletic administrator, and yes, I am young. Nonetheless, these are a few contemplative questions and thoughts on travel sports reflecting on some observations and experiences coaching travel baseball and hosting tournaments.

I hosted a tournament this past weekend for 8u and 9u travel baseball players. I’ll repeat, these players are between the ages of 7 and 9, and I think that detail is important. It was a tournament with two “pool play” games, and the top seeds would play in the Championship game for both divisions. With only four teams in each division, every game matters drastically for getting into the Championship game. During those games, these are a few things I witnessed. I want to emphasize, not all observations are meant to be presented as negative or “bad”; rather, they are meant to be taken as objective observations to contemplate with questions:

Observations:

Coaches played loud music in warm-ups, walk-up songs for the hitters, and in between innings to hype up the team.
These young players wore eye black, wristbands, tape, and/or chains during the games. Some players would bump their chest or throw signals to the dugout after clutch hits.
Parents were cheering loudly during the game when their team got a hit, scored runs, or a pitcher struck a player out.
A few coaches said to 14- and 15-year-old umpires that they missed calls and said to me that if those calls were not missed, their pitcher would not have thrown so many more pitches.
A parent came up to me and said this is too much responsibility for a high school-aged umpire to call games for this age.
I overheard another parent say it is not fair to the kids that the umpires are younger and not as experienced as adults.
Multiple players crying into their mitt on the field when they make a mistake. Multiple players crying after a loss.
I met with two coaches to discern different pitch counts from their scorekeepers and whether a pitcher was eligible to pitch.

Like I said, not all of these observations are meant to be presented as negative; rather, I want to consider what these observations point to -

What is most important for children participating in travel sports?

We have these conversations with each other. “Travel parents are crazy.” “That coach is too intense.” “That team only cares about winning; they are too intense.” But what do we really mean? We all desire our children to grow and be successful in the things they participate in.

Questions:

Does success always mean winning?
Do we believe that children learn just as much from their losses as their wins? Do we really believe that?
Should children have winning as an end goal?
Do we desire to create space for children to find success regardless of wins and losses?
By rewarding a child for a “win,” are we unintentionally creating a narrative for them that winning the game is an avenue for self-worth and value? Could that narrative also create a dynamic of power for the child to desire to “win” over others as a way to feel in control of their world?
How does that prism affect the way they grow and make sense of the world as a “competition to win?”
Are there healthy and unhealthy ways to compete?
How can we, as adults, create spaces for children to “compete healthily?”

I will not pretend to know the answers to these questions. But they are ones I am considering and contemplating. And I want to do my part in my corner of the world to aid the growth and maturation of athletes playing travel sports instead of feeling complicit in the next generation of athletes attributing their value to the ups and downs of wins and losses.