Written By: T.K. Kawasaki
Travel ball has become a staple within the youth baseball/softball community since its emergence within the last 30 to 40 years. It began predominantly within the high school baseball realm where top players within one region would travel to other regions to face other top players. It was a concept created by baseball coaches believing in the athletes developing through competitive situations. Now, travel ball has expanded to holding nationwide tournaments for not only junior high school athletes, but to athletes seven to eight years old. Popular travel ball programs host teams from 18u to 8u. With the emergence of travel ball, we must be certain that this is the athletes’ “golden ticket” to the highest level! But instead, the baseball/softball community is creating an environment that is NOT conducive to the development of their youth athletes.
To decode this outdated model of athlete development, we will organize it into three categories:
1. Physical, 2. Technical, and 3. Mental.
1. Physical Development refers to the improvement in the athlete’s physical abilities such as motor control, strength, speed, agility, quickness. In order to ifncrease your exit velocity, arm strength, fielding ground coverage, etc. physical development becomes vital.
2. Technical Development is the direct work on improving the athlete’s baseball skills. Although technical development is limited by the physical, we will treat them as binary for this categorization. Technical improvement refers to the development of an athlete’s hitting, pitching, and fielding mechanics.
3. Mental Development encompasses all qualities relating to an athlete’s mindset. This refers to direct connection to the game such as hitting and pitching approach and in-game situations. It also refers to the self-efficacy of the athlete, as well as their ability for goal-setting, execution, and adaptability. In all three categories of athlete development, travel ball is not the optimal tool, but merely an assistant in the process. At Champion’s QUEST Athlete Academy, we refer to travel ball as a feedback tool that allows us to face competition and understand how our abilities (the Physical, Technical, and Mental) are translating to the field. Our athletes develop their physical abilities through strength, speed, and agility sessions. Their technical skills are refined through accurate assessments and hitting/throwing menus that are most applicable to their growth. And they shape their mindset through our mentoring coaches to learn how to process failure, apply a champion mentality, and develop self-efficacy.
If the child’s goal is to become the best athlete that they can be, parents must prioritize their investment in developmental tools such as physical performance development and skill clinics/privates rather than travel ball.
