Ready for the Crazy Life of a Travel Baseball Parent?
To the new travel baseball parent - you got this!
After a few years of tee ball, then coach pitch, your son has fallen in love with baseball. And now he has landed on a travel team.
You’re probably wondering “what have we gotten ourselves into?”
Well let me tell you, you’re in for practices, lessons, gear, jerseys, scrubbing baseball pants, blind umpires, jerk coaches (on the other team, of course!), a little drama, a lot of dirt, melting your face off during those late summer games, freezing to death when your face isn’t melting, whiny little brothers, about a million miles added to your odometer… AND
Homeruns, double plays, no-hitters, pick-off plays, stolen bases, sno-cones, pool parties, giant smiles on your son’s face, and the most amazing lifelong friendships you can imagine!
Travel baseball is not for everyone. When your co-workers and your friends from the kids’ school find out what you’re doing they will not be shy to tell you that you’re craaa-zaaay!
They’re going to tell you about how you’ll go into debt funding this adventure and how your life will now be revolving around practices, games, and everything else baseball. And you know what? They’re probably right. But after quite a few years of living this life, I don’t even have to think about it. I would not change it for ANYTHING.
That said, I do want to prepare you for a few things.
Baseball Gear
Your kiddo is going to need all kinds of gear. Bats, gloves, cleats, batting gloves, catchers gear, and the 30 pieces of flair (a.k.a. protective gear) if they choose to go there.
This stuff is not cheap, so be on the lookout for places where you can sell a kidney… KIDDING! But seriously, I WOULD watch for things you don’t mind buying used. A glove that’s already broken in but not too worn out, or baseballs that you can use for practice. Don’t buy a used bat—they have a limited shelf-life already. And don’t buy a used athletic cup… wait, you knew that one already!
You may or may not be surprised to learn that there is just as much (or more) gear required for frequent spectators. Okay moms, I’m talking about the mom gear. You’re going to need a good chair. All the cool kids have the fancy chairs like rocking chairs, swinging chairs, or chairs with built-in shade. They range in price anywhere from about $10 to around “take out a second mortgage.” But it’s going to get a lot of use, so maybe go somewhere in between on this one.
Once you have your chair all figured out, you can add in extra spectator gear as you see fit, but you will probably end up with some combination of cooler, wagon, umbrella, pod (for the really cold games), blankets, visors, fans, tote bag, blinged-out baseball mom shirts, hair bows for little sisters, and the list goes on.
photo by Kali Van Hilsen
Messy House, and Meals in the Car
With all this time now spent schlepping your kids around to various practices, lessons, and games, something’s gotta give.
For most of us, it is our homes that suffer. In our case, meals happen when we can fit them in. We still make it a point to sit down together as a family for dinner, but that doesn’t always happen. When it does happen, we may have dinner at 5:00 or it may be 9:30. A lot of times, though, dinner happens in shifts or ends up being a sandwich or slice of pizza in the car.
My house is messier than I like, my floors don’t get vacuumed as much as they should, and the lawn may get a little taller than we want it to before we have the opportunity to mow.
Here’s what I’ll tell you about all of that. Five years from now, which thing is going to seem more important? That you spent your time and money making memories with your kids, or that you kept a spotless house and had a gourmet meal on the table every evening at 6PM sharp?
I know that I am going to look back on this season of life with great love and gratitude. I am so very thankful that we became a baseball family. It brings us together and we are doing things and going places that we would never have had the opportunity for otherwise.
So congratulations on making the travel team. Embrace the chaos—it won’t last forever. But the memories, the friendships, and the life lesson absolutely WILL last forever.
