About the same time Taylor was winning the 10U Little League State Championship, EJ was going through his own struggles with Travel Ball.
The year before EJ had played on a local travel team in Coach Pitch and with very little practice and just a few tournaments, we were looking for something more. The following year there didn’t appear to be any plans on putting a team together. So, we went looking.
The Search
Lindsay and I had to decided to move to Cincinnati that same year so we began looking for a team that EJ could play on in Ohio. In Cincinnati they have something called Southwest Ohio League (SWOL) and it’s basically a league for travel teams to play in. I found a couple of teams on the SWOL site looking for players and I started reaching out.
I called the 1st team and when they learned we lived in KY at the time, they just told me to call when we actually moved to Ohio. The 2nd call was to the Cincy Flames. At the time, the Flames were a big deal (I had no clue who they were). They touted their records and Kyle Schwarber as their poster child. Schwarber was just about to break into the big leagues and he was a former Flame. When I spoke to the coach, he said “we practice tomorrow, can you have him here by 5:30”. This was exactly what I wanted to hear, at least I thought it was.
The Tryout
I watched EJ go through a couple hours of workouts and I was astonished at what these kids could do. I was also amazed at their physical size and their arm strength. I wasn’t sure if EJ would even make the team but at the end of practice the coaches came by and offered him a spot. I’m pretty sure I was happier than EJ and I was definitely happier than Lindsay.
The Season
The coach of the Flames had a hard rule about batting orders and lineups. He ONLY batted 9 players, EVERY game of EVERY tournament. Now this isn’t a bad gig if you are one of the 9 but if you are player number 11. Well, it can be a lonely miserable season. My excitement and joy quickly turned to frustration and EJ shed more than 1 tear on the way home from tournaments. We had joined a team that made the finals of EVERY SINGLE TOURNAMENT and EJ was getting 1 At Bat per weekend and playing a total of 3-4 innings in the field for an entire 5 game tournament.
It was such a miserable season that weekends where we would have a player out for some reason (sick, injured, vacation, etc.) instead of letting EJ play, they would pickup a player and play him over EJ. He was literally the 12th man on an 11 man roster.
Very similar to Taylor, EJ was solid fundamentally but physically he was just behind the other boys. The birthday stuff really hurt EJ. Being born in late March with a May 1st cutoff for travel ball is tough. The other boys were turning 10 in May and June and EJ had just turned 9.
Key Takeaways
- Be Realistic about your son/daughters skill and abilities
- Find a Team where they will get to compete.
- Birthdays matter (longer post coming on this later)