New to TB ....cost????$$$

[ontheblack]

I leave the deer hunting to my wife. She's more mad at them than I am.

I don't think most urban or suburban folks understand how much damage deer can do to a garden, or backyard crops. Bambi isn't the first thought that comes to mind when surveying the devastation.

Revenge of Bambi

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?secti ... id=3557640

[DonnieS]

I leave the deer hunting to my wife. She's more mad at them than I am.

I don't think most urban or suburban folks understand how much damage deer can do to a garden, or backyard crops. Bambi isn't the first thought that comes to mind when surveying the devastation.

They taste so good - I now prefer wild hog (feral) to venison - but my favorite is a 50 50 mix of both. And there is no better meat on this earth than venison back strap. My favorite recipe for it was fixed for me at Windows on the World at the World Trade Center. I wrote down everything I could detect in that delicious serving and have gotten close.

[Sam]

My wife goes "dear" hunting every Sunday during football season. The dear, fortunately, are extremely hard to find when in season.

[DonnieS]

My wife goes "dear" hunting every Sunday during football season. The dear, fortunately, are extremely hard to find when in season.

My wife gave that up 29 years ago. Her mother moved down here from Santa Rosa some years back and had decided she wanted to have thanksgiving at her house. Two big games on that day, we all know who was playing. That 86 year old woman had the gall to ask us to eat dinner without football on. From then on , we told her where we would be for turkey day and if she wanted to go , we picked her up and she watched football like all good Texicans do on thanksgiving.

[Skarp]

Hey there...new to Hey Bucket and to travel ball .....could someone please give me an idea of the cost for travel ball? My DD is 2nd year 12u and in southern california. I know there are many travel ball organizations in this area and she has been approached by a few. But I can never see what the cost of the team is from their websites. Any info would be great and I realize they will and do vary

Cost = Arm + Leg. Unless you also value your time, in which case it starts getting fairly expensive.

[joaquinjunior]

hey br9467, next time you go fishing... put on some batting gloves. lol

[Pale Rider]

Yep, its expensive. But be aware, some teams charge ridiculous fees. Some coaches charge ridiculous amounts to be your kids coach. Know of one who gets $500 a weekend plus expenses. Some have a plethora of expensive uniforms, know of one that has probably 10 different combinations, their coach takes them to a cleaner, has each kids sets hanging in a trailer when they get to a tourney. They may change 3X a day, and uniforms aren't cheap. Some Coaches make motel reservations for you, which can get quite expensive if the Coach has a 'champagne' appetite, and makes the TEAM stay in same motel (which of course the Coach gets the upgrade rooms.)
So be cautious, look at the fine print
Talk to other folks

[jksdad]

This is one place you need to make a plan. You can play on cheap if you don't buy all new everything every year. You will have lessons you will have gas you will have training stuff around the house. You may want to have a batting cage and pitching machine. As you can see you can dump a lot of money into this (Lord help you if you have more then one in softball or any travel sport).
What you want is to think about what you want out of the sport. The assume answer is a college scholarship. First off unless you are a stud Pitcher or supper stud catcher shortstop you will not get a full ride. So if you are in 2 year of 12U. If it costs you $5,000 this year and $12,000 for 2 years of 14U and $16,000 for 2 years of 16U and $20,000 for 2 years of 18U. You have spent $53,000 dollars and most likely the best you are going to get from a collage is a half ride.

You want to make sure you don't let your emotions start writing checks. I have talked to parents that DD played B ball and are playing in collage. They are not playing D1 or D2, but they are playing and getting an education. Last year was my DD first year of 16U and we spent about $6,000 for the year. We were on a very cost sensitive team.

[fasterpitch92701]

Ok, the thread finally drifted to a sore subject: costs under the ASSumption of some future scholarship. Opinion: it's the wrong idea, the wrong perspective and a road to failure. Costs for TB... oh... $12K/yr at least, maybe $20+K/yr. Maybe more. "It all depends" is absolutely correct. How much are the fees, do you travel every weekend, lessons weekly, twice weekly, monthly, hotels, flights, tournaments or ??? There are 91 variables. TB is NOT cheap. Having noted that, thinking that there is a "payback" at the end is wishful thinking. It may happen to some degree, and you will hear plenty about those very few that get funded but many/most don't, and if they do it may be a small partial, it may not be to a school that is a fit. Or, they are a stud and decide to go to a phenominal school that offers no athletic scholarships. Ooooops.... If.... if you took ALL that travel money for the 8 years you played before college and DIDN'T spend it, saved it for college... that's a chunk of change. My point? Don't do it for the end payoff. Do it because your DD is REALLY into the sport, it's something you can do together and something neither of you will ever forget. Focus on grades, grades and grades, not the payoff. Grades will get you into a lot of schools on an academic. TB is expensive. Time with your daughter is priceless. Do it for the "correct" reasons... Doing it for a payoff ??? You will have better luck at a roulette table no matter how much you "hope". And "hope" is not a strategy.
Enjoy in good health.

[DonnieS]

FP, I agree with your thought but here is my 2cents. If we werent doing softball, all being probably pretty active people, wouldnt we still be out there doing things, going places, spending money. Ok, maybe not star-struck locations like Midland, Tx, the little towns in southern Illinois, places like that, but still we would be 'out there' . I was a very active surf fisherman, and we spent a ton of time on the beach, which required (in our case) a motor home that ate money, kayaks, surfboards, intense fishing gear, and etc. My opinion, is that maybe we were a little smarter than the average bear with our time and money - spending time with softball folk, a notch above others I am sure of that, out in the open air, our kids are learning that their bodies need to be taken care of and not just for the hairy legged types, but because its smart to be healthy. I know more than a few kids that I highly doubt would have attended college - that got that extra kick - to do it because of this beautiful sport of softball.