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Travel baseball is probably the worst. My son has played several years of it, but I have no illusions-you could go to Texas or Florida or California and there hundreds and hundreds of great hitters, great pitchers, great fielders-its like winning the lotto to advance high in that sport.

Football there isn't much subjectivity to size and speed, if you are a 230 pound linebacker and can run a 4.6 , they will find you or you can go to a camp.

Wrestling is the least political and the purest merit based sport there is, just one on one, and that's also my favorite.

I wish WSU would bring back collegiate wrestling. OSU still has it.
 
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Wrestling is the least political and the purest merit based sport there is, just one on one, and that's also my favorite.

I wish WSU would bring back collegiate wrestling. OSU still has it.
I was about to say the same. I’d add T&F to that as well. There is no subjectivity. Put up or shut up. Don’t like that you’re on JV? Challenge the guy on varsity and kick his ass.

I miss wrestling at WSU. For me there is no greater sport. I love football but nothing at the high school and collegiate level is as pure as wrestling.
 
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I was about to say the same. I’d add T&F to that as well. There is no subjectivity. Put up or shut up. Don’t like that you’re on JV? Challenge the guy on varsity and kick his ass.

I miss wrestling at WSU. For me there is no greater sport. I love football but nothing at the high school and collegiate level is as pure as wrestling.
Wrestling at the hs level is about the only sport that hasn't been destroyed by money and ego. Some of the college guys tend to strut if they are really good, but most still just take care of their business.
 
There is nothing more exciting as a parent than watching your kid wrestle, and nothing teaches your kids life lessons as well as wrestling, the greatest sport imo.

My son is fortunate to have a former ncaa d 1 champion, hall of famer as a coach and ive learned to just stay mellow, stay in the background and be encouraging. It wasn't easy though-lol.

Wrestling also makes for great football players, very aggressive great balance. Ive seen the politics, cheating kids out of opportunities, psychotic parents in baseball and football...…..but that all goes out the window in wrestling, kick their butt on the mat-end of story.
 
I can attest to the baseball madness having coached Legion/Travel ball recently and it's crazy. We even took the first come, first serve approach to putting together teams to try and remove some of the nonsense from the parents, but you can't alleviate all of it. We try to tailor the schedule to maximize exposure for the kids and keep costs down. The big travel ball programs charge non-refundable tryout fees before you even get to the actual fee for being on the team IF you make it! Some of those tryout fees are pretty large.
It would be perfect if you could organize for a college coach to come in and give a scouting report of each kid and their potential to play at the next level straight to each parents face. It would shock them into reality (well at least most of them anyway). We've had plenty of kids play in college (some here at WSU, most JC kids) and a couple get drafted, but those kids that are D1 level are D1 level from 8th/9th grade as long as they progress consistently. There are very few D1 players that just suddenly improve to that talent level in their junior/senior years. Even in baseball, a lot of what gets you on the radar is potential physical makeup + talent level at whatever age your at. If you're tearing it up as a freshman on varsity, but you're already physically mature and 6', forget it. You're done growing and not getting much stronger. Same scenario, but you're 6'/160 and by looking at your parents, you probably got a couple more inches in you and haven't reached your strength peak, you're getting a look
 
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There is nothing more exciting as a parent than watching your kid wrestle, and nothing teaches your kids life lessons as well as wrestling, the greatest sport imo.

My son is fortunate to have a former ncaa d 1 champion, hall of famer as a coach and ive learned to just stay mellow, stay in the background and be encouraging. It wasn't easy though-lol.

Wrestling also makes for great football players, very aggressive great balance. Ive seen the politics, cheating kids out of opportunities, psychotic parents in baseball and football...…..but that all goes out the window in wrestling, kick their butt on the mat-end of story.
Must be nice.

My kids middle school coach told them to not do certain moves, ie he knows how to do said move because he has experience and has been to camps, but the coach doesn't want them doing it. And we're not talking some high end move, we're talking basic stuff like a firemans carry. Also, they don't drill the basics like stand ups, sit outs, etc. and it shows in their wrestling. I mean, they go over those moves and teach them, but don't drill them so the muscle memory is there. Its really quite sad.
 
Must be nice.

My kids middle school coach told them to not do certain moves, ie he knows how to do said move because he has experience and has been to camps, but the coach doesn't want them doing it. And we're not talking some high end move, we're talking basic stuff like a firemans carry. Also, they don't drill the basics like stand ups, sit outs, etc. and it shows in their wrestling. I mean, they go over those moves and teach them, but don't drill them so the muscle memory is there. Its really quite sad.
we go through a club/academy and not a middle school, you should check into that and most of them offer private lessons. Its isn't all that much money.

Our high school level team isn't that good or that well coached, but I will keep my son in his wrestling academy all the way through and they take them to national tournaments. His club coach is a famous wrestler but a really humble good guy who would rather work with kids than coach in college, hes already done that. Yea we are very lucky.

Im amazed at the jumps kids make at that 13-14 year old age. Two of the top collegiate wrestlers Fix at Ok State and Nelson Brands of Iowa(not top yet but will be) didn't start wrestling till they were in 7th grade. Russians don't let their kids wrestle till they are 14 and they are the greatest in the world. So don't get too worried. If he stays hungry he can get really good.
 
Travel baseball is probably the worst. My son has played several years of it, but I have no illusions-you could go to Texas or Florida or California and there hundreds and hundreds of great hitters, great pitchers, great fielders-its like winning the lotto to advance high in that sport.

Football there isn't much subjectivity to size and speed, if you are a 230 pound linebacker and can run a 4.6 , they will find you or you can go to a camp.

Wrestling is the least political and the purest merit based sport there is, just one on one, and that's also my favorite.

I wish WSU would bring back collegiate wrestling. OSU still has it.

AAU basketball is pretty sad. Fight over who starts, fight over who is the primary ball handler. Season ends, change teams, rinse and repeat.
 
we go through a club/academy and not a middle school, you should check into that and most of them offer private lessons. Its isn't all that much money.

Our high school level team isn't that good or that well coached, but I will keep my son in his wrestling academy all the way through and they take them to national tournaments. His club coach is a famous wrestler but a really humble good guy who would rather work with kids than coach in college, hes already done that. Yea we are very lucky.
We have a nc at the club level here as well, but my kid is notoriously lazy, so he's not sure wrestling is for him or not. I'm hoping he comes around and figures out the value of hard work and how rewarding it can be, but we're not quite there yet. As such, he won't be attending club this year as he hasn't shown the drive to be there as well as accused us of making him go, which is laughable because we only made him continue to go after he made the commitment to attending after asking us to go. Kids...
 
we go through a club/academy and not a middle school, you should check into that and most of them offer private lessons. Its isn't all that much money.

Our high school level team isn't that good or that well coached, but I will keep my son in his wrestling academy all the way through and they take them to national tournaments. His club coach is a famous wrestler but a really humble good guy who would rather work with kids than coach in college, hes already done that. Yea we are very lucky.
That's another trend with all sports as well. Kids are starting to permanently migrate away from playing school sports and sticking to the club/academy teams exclusively. Some of that is due to much poorer coaching at the school ball level and in case of baseball, I know coaches club team coaches that discourage their kids from playing high school baseball all together.
 
AAU is cancer to basketball, plain and simple. Its a huge money maker/ money sucker.
When I was a freshman in high school, AAU consisted of 1 regional tournament (Yakima) every year and if you won it, you went to the National tournament where 50 teams competed, if you could raise the money. We won and went. It was a blast. Got to watch the Big Nasty as a 15 year old man play. It didn't take long for it to turn into a 12 month a year circuit. I don't know what I would've done if it was like it is now. Playing 3 sports today is nearly impossible with the pressure coaches put on kids to focus on 1 only.
 
That's another trend with all sports as well. Kids are starting to permanently migrate away from playing school sports and sticking to the club/academy teams exclusively. Some of that is due to much poorer coaching at the school ball level and in case of baseball, I know coaches club team coaches that discourage their kids from playing high school baseball all together.
Ive had my son in academy baseball lessons, Pat Harrison the former HC of Pepperdine has taught him hitting for a number of years. Hes 14 a very good hitter(600+ travel ball) but pretty lazy on defense and I think hes going to just pursue football and wrestling in high school. In this day and age high school baseball and high school football are 12 month sports-wrestling can be as well if you compete in freestyle over the summer. I am realizing you cant play everything anymore.

Its frustrating for me because my baseball career ended at 15 as I was a good glove infielder but a weak bat. If I could hit like that, I would never have quit playing. But you have to let your kids choose what they love and he isn't me.
 
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Wrestling at the hs level is about the only sport that hasn't been destroyed by money and ego. Some of the college guys tend to strut if they are really good, but most still just take care of their business.
If you’re Bo Nichols, you’ve earned that right to strut:cool:
 
Ive had my son in academy baseball lessons, Pat Harrison the former HC of Pepperdine has taught him hitting for a number of years. Hes 14 a very good hitter(600+ travel ball) but pretty lazy on defense and I think hes going to just pursue football and wrestling in high school. In this day and age high school baseball and high school football are 12 month sports-wrestling can be as well if you compete in freestyle over the summer. I am realizing you cant play everything anymore.

Its frustrating for me because my baseball career ended at 15 as I was a good glove infielder but a weak bat. If I could hit like that, I would never have quit playing. But you have to let your kids choose what they love and he isn't me.
It's very regional. Baseball is year round in the sunny states, not so much up here unless you're good enough to get picked up by a team in those regions in which case, you're getting offers already. Football is tough to focus on because you can't play it year round. You can train for it, but you can't actually play unless your a QB/WR/DB doing the 7 on 7 thing.

Football is the one sport I hate to see kids miss other sports for. Football coaches put a lot of pressure on kids to go to summer camps and stuff while they're in other seasons. The percentage of kids getting a football scholarship might as well be 0% in Washington. I think a lot of kids have buyers remorse after high school because they got sucked into the football thing so hard and missed out on baseball games or whatever else they were doing in the summer.
 
It's very regional. Baseball is year round in the sunny states, not so much up here unless you're good enough to get picked up by a team in those regions in which case, you're getting offers already. Football is tough to focus on because you can't play it year round. You can train for it, but you can't actually play unless your a QB/WR/DB doing the 7 on 7 thing.

Football is the one sport I hate to see kids miss other sports for. Football coaches put a lot of pressure on kids to go to summer camps and stuff while they're in other seasons. The percentage of kids getting a football scholarship might as well be 0% in Washington. I think a lot of kids have buyers remorse after high school because they got sucked into the football thing so hard and missed out on baseball games or whatever else they were doing in the summer.

I grew up in Northern Illinois and you are right. Im in a southern warm state now and the baseball is night and day, but times have changes with travel ball as well. I can remember taking batting practice at the end of march and it was 36 degrees and getting beaned on the hands. Down here its 80 degrees in March and kids are playing baseball 12 months a year. I think kids burn out I know that's part of my sons deal. But hes a weird case, I don't know if you've seen many kids like this. He can hit REALLY well, but he doesn't want to play defense at all. OKay fine I tell him, you wont have a position-well...…..im about done, if he doesn't play any more that's cool with me.

Hes in 8th grade and has year around football with 4 day a week weight lifting. That's kind of crazy to me. When I was in HS all sports were 3 months long and you could play everything if you wanted to.

Youth sports have gotten insane, mirrors society I guess.
 
I grew up in Northern Illinois and you are right. Im in a southern warm state now and the baseball is night and day, but times have changes with travel ball as well. I can remember taking batting practice at the end of march and it was 36 degrees and getting beaned on the hands. Down here its 80 degrees in March and kids are playing baseball 12 months a year. I think kids burn out I know that's part of my sons deal. But hes a weird case, I don't know if you've seen many kids like this. He can hit REALLY well, but he doesn't want to play defense at all. OKay fine I tell him, you wont have a position-well...…..im about done, if he doesn't play any more that's cool with me.

Hes in 8th grade and has year around football with 4 day a week weight lifting. That's kind of crazy to me. When I was in HS all sports were 3 months long and you could play everything if you wanted to.

Youth sports have gotten insane, mirrors society I guess.
It is crazy. I could see tons of kids bowing out of sports at an early age because the commitment demanded a lot of times outweighs any enjoyment they get from playing
 
Mike Trout(he was a New Jersey product), told a friend of mines son to play all three sports-have as much fun as he could-and not to specialize in baseball. My sons wrestling coach, Hall of Famer former D1 college coach told my son not to specialize in wrestling but play everything and have fun.

We have a lot of kids who from 8-10 years old play baseball twelve months a year and nothing else. While baseball is good here, I know for a fact you could go to Florida and see hundreds of kids that are great players. You have to get pretty lucky to keep playing. Genetics do play a role especially pitching, if you are 6-4, 6-5 you will get some interest if you are good.

Academies and travel teams are about making money for the most part.
 
Mike Trout(he was a New Jersey product), told a friend of mines son to play all three sports-have as much fun as he could-and not to specialize in baseball. My sons wrestling coach, Hall of Famer former D1 college coach told my son not to specialize in wrestling but play everything and have fun.

We have a lot of kids who from 8-10 years old play baseball twelve months a year and nothing else. While baseball is good here, I know for a fact you could go to Florida and see hundreds of kids that are great players. You have to get pretty lucky to keep playing. Genetics do play a role especially pitching, if you are 6-4, 6-5 you will get some interest if you are good.

Academies and travel teams are about making money for the most part.

This.

I have friends that have gone down that route with their kids. Some deluded themselves that their kid was the next "it" thing, and others did it because their kid wanted to just wanted to.

But the monetary demands of those teams is just ridiculous. Taking a team across the country for thousands of dollars per kid several times a year so you can have bragging rights on what amounts to a rec league is just stupid. Of my friend's kids softball team, I think 3 ended up playing college ball at all, one was D1 and the others NAIA, and not on scholarship. That's a lot of softball, money, and time for a hobby.

Just my humble opinion. If you do this for your kid, no judgement, but not how I'd roll.
 
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It is crazy. I could see tons of kids bowing out of sports at an early age because the commitment demanded a lot of times outweighs any enjoyment they get from playing
This. I have heard from several coaches who just cannot get kids to turnout for soccer, football or basketball once they get to junior or senior high because the kids are burnt out. Their parents drove them everywhere for travel games, many late nights. By the time they get through the gauntlet at the young age, gain a bit of independence, they tell their parents screw it. Our new AD even mentioned this problem (our school is K-12), and said that his priorities for his teams, in order, are 1) academics, 2) fun, and 3) winning. He does not want kids burnt out before they get to high school. Of course, 90% of the parents at the meeting already had kids in 6-12, so those doing the travel gauntlet weren't there to hear his spiel. But I think the word will get around.
 
Mike Trout(he was a New Jersey product), told a friend of mines son to play all three sports-have as much fun as he could-and not to specialize in baseball. My sons wrestling coach, Hall of Famer former D1 college coach told my son not to specialize in wrestling but play everything and have fun.

We have a lot of kids who from 8-10 years old play baseball twelve months a year and nothing else. While baseball is good here, I know for a fact you could go to Florida and see hundreds of kids that are great players. You have to get pretty lucky to keep playing. Genetics do play a role especially pitching, if you are 6-4, 6-5 you will get some interest if you are good.

Academies and travel teams are about making money for the most part.
A lot of them are money makers. Some of them though have large sponsors or benefactors and they put together fantasy teams from all over the country much like the big AAU basketball teams that get "outside" money. A few years ago our Legion team went down to Salt lake and played the Utah Marshalls travel team/program. Their operation was the summer league version of a D1 program. It was insane. The entire roster was full of D1 commits with a few JC guys sprinkled in. Those kids didn't have to pay anything.
Baseball recruiting is odd. Pitchers typically don't get a sniff unless they can sit at 88-92 mph (RH) consistently. You can't just hit 90mph every now and then. You have to be there all the time. Then there are kids that find velocity late at 19/20 years old due to training or mechanics issues. There are tons of kids that have the raw ability, but don't get any legitimate instruction.
I don't think kids or parents realize that it actually helps you in recruiting if you play other sports. If you're on the radar for one sport, scouts will watch you compete in other sports to see if you're an athlete or just a short stop or to see if you like to compete. Take a big OL kid in football. He's being tracked an he also plays basketball. He's 6'6"/275. Scouts will go watch him play basketball to see if he has good feet. If he can handle himself on the court in a game where being able to stop and start and move laterally quick with stamina is needed, it can be the difference between getting a PWO offer or a scholarship offer.
 
This.

I have friends that have gone down that route with their kids. Some deluded themselves that their kid was the next "it" thing, and others did it because their kid wanted to just wanted to.

But the monetary demands of those teams is just ridiculous. Taking a team across the country for thousands of dollars per kid several times a year so you can have bragging rights on what amounts to a rec league is just stupid. Of my friend's kids softball team, I think 3 ended up playing college ball at all, one was D1 and the others NAIA, and not on scholarship. That's a lot of softball, money, and time for a hobby.

Just my humble opinion. If you do this for your kid, no judgement, but not how I'd roll.

You know what's worse than all of them? Cheer!!!!!!!!! My niece starting in competitive cheer at around 8/9 and the amount of travel every year was insane
 
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Girls softball is pretty insane where I live. I walk into our local ball park when my son was 8 playing machine pitch and I hear grown men screaming like its marine corps bootcamp-just going nuts, and I look out on the field and its 4 and 5 year old girls playing softball. The top girls softball player in our state got a full ride to an sec program and started at shortstop, she quit after the first season from burnout. I know her family well, shes a really good athlete.
 
Girls softball is pretty insane where I live. I walk into our local ball park when my son was 8 playing machine pitch and I hear grown men screaming like its marine corps bootcamp-just going nuts, and I look out on the field and its 4 and 5 year old girls playing softball. The top girls softball player in our state got a full ride to an sec program and started at shortstop, she quit after the first season from burnout. I know her family well, shes a really good athlete.
Yeah, it doesn't make any sense.

Why expose them to the rigors of the highest levels of competition when they are younger? For what? Truly, most of them get burned out. Its really sad.
 
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Yeah, it doesn't make any sense.

Why expose them to the rigors of the highest levels of competition when they are younger? For what? Truly, most of them get burned out. Its really sad.
I started playing grid kids at 6 and played through my freshman year. By the time I got into high school I had already played 8 years of tackle football. I was burnt after that and there wasn't the pressure to train at things in the off season like now. I couldn't imagine.
Grid kids was awesome BTW. We played a game every year in Pullman at Martin before the Coug game started. We would finish up right around the time the students started filing into the stadium. They were drunk at really got into our games. It was a blast, but that old astro turf was shit
 
I started playing grid kids at 6 and played through my freshman year. By the time I got into high school I had already played 8 years of tackle football. I was burnt after that and there wasn't the pressure to train at things in the off season like now. I couldn't imagine.
Grid kids was awesome BTW. We played a game every year in Pullman at Martin before the Coug game started. We would finish up right around the time the students started filing into the stadium. They were drunk at really got into our games. It was a blast, but that old astro turf was shit
There is a saying/ theory in wrestling that kids only have ten years before burn out takes over...,that’s youth to high school to college

that may be true of all sports
 
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Ive had my son in academy baseball lessons, Pat Harrison the former HC of Pepperdine has taught him hitting for a number of years. Hes 14 a very good hitter(600+ travel ball) but pretty lazy on defense and I think hes going to just pursue football and wrestling in high school. In this day and age high school baseball and high school football are 12 month sports-wrestling can be as well if you compete in freestyle over the summer. I am realizing you cant play everything anymore.

Its frustrating for me because my baseball career ended at 15 as I was a good glove infielder but a weak bat. If I could hit like that, I would never have quit playing. But you have to let your kids choose what they love and he isn't me.
I was similar - good glove, good speed, weak bat. I didn't crowd the plate, but didn't get out of the way when pitchers threw at me. Led my team in HBP every year.
Then one day we faced a kid who'd supposedly already been drafted. He threw in the 90s, and in one at bat, I let one hit me. I'm still surprised there wasn't an exit wound, and I'm sure that my ribs have the stitches of the ball imprinted on them. I was....reluctant...to stay in the box for my next at bat.

And that's my brush with higher level ball.
 
To avoid that problem after a beaning on the hip when my son was 9 he went to an open stance with a leg kick. It worked well for him. The open stance popular today is what the old timers from the 20s did they said they could see the ball better with two eyes

I had forgotten all about baseball for many years until my son started playing and then I was into it again. I’ll forget about it again most likely when he quits playing until I am lucky enough to get a grandson
 
Wrestling is one of the two hardest sports I ever tried. The other? Water polo. Both take every last bit of energy to play. I was a limp dishrag after each.
I feel the same about wrestling. Hardest sport I’ve ever done from practice through matches. I enjoyed football the most. But I’m most proud of wrestling.

Craziest sport I ever did? Pole vaulting. Just nuts running down and planting a stick into a box so that you can bend the stick and throw yourself into the air. My last vault I took (just after high school) resulted in a broken pole and stitches in the back of my head.
 
I feel the same about wrestling. Hardest sport I’ve ever done from practice through matches. I enjoyed football the most. But I’m most proud of wrestling.

Craziest sport I ever did? Pole vaulting. Just nuts running down and planting a stick into a box so that you can bend the stick and throw yourself into the air. My last vault I took (just after high school) resulted in a broken pole and stitches in the back of my head.

Pole vaulting is fun. I cleared 8 feet in a decathlon once.
 
I feel the same about wrestling. Hardest sport I’ve ever done from practice through matches. I enjoyed football the most. But I’m most proud of wrestling.

Craziest sport I ever did? Pole vaulting. Just nuts running down and planting a stick into a box so that you can bend the stick and throw yourself into the air. My last vault I took (just after high school) resulted in a broken pole and stitches in the back of my head.
PV was mostly fun for me. I didn't have to run distance, didn't have to run sprints, spent a lot of time talking to girls. I wish i had a coach that gave a crap. I liked him, but i got zero coaching. "Run hard and jump" was about it.

Having since coached it at the hs level and taken kids to state (humble brag), i can tell you that there is a lot more to it than just "run hard and jump".
 
PV was mostly fun for me. I didn't have to run distance, didn't have to run sprints, spent a lot of time talking to girls. I wish i had a coach that gave a crap. I liked him, but i got zero coaching. "Run hard and jump" was about it.

Having since coached it at the hs level and taken kids to state (humble brag), i can tell you that there is a lot more to it than just "run hard and jump".
Always thought Pole Vaulting was cool. Tried it once. Realized I'm just not crazy enough.
 
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