This Mom Thinks Being On A Travel Team Should Guarantee Playing Time

A mom on TikTok asked her followers if there should be some sort of unwritten rule about playing time in youth sports, especially when parents are paying a hefty sum for their kid to be on a team.

Casey Kelley wonders if kids should automatically be guaranteed playing time just for being on the team, especially in traveling sports where parents are paying out of pocket for gas and hotel fees, not to mention sacrificing their weekends to attending games.

“Do you feel that every child on the team should have time to play? Especially if you are traveling and paying money to go spend the night for the weekend,” she asked.

“I’ll tell you what I think. I think, if you’re paying to be there ... I think everyone should have the opportunity to play because this is a developmental league ... and they’re there to develop and to learn,” she explained.

“Especially if these parents are paying thousands of dollars for them to be in the league and then traveling, spending money on hotels for their kid to sit there and maybe play a minute or two the whole weekend. I think it’s unfair.”

She posed the questions to fellow sports parents, wondering if her thinking was in the wrong, recognizing that travel sports are different than a high school sport where, in her words, “you earn your spot.”

“I just think there’s a difference between paying for your kid to play something wanting to get your money’s worth for them to be able to practice and learn and develop. It’s different than, like, a high school competitive sport, like college high school. There you earn your spot based on your ability, and I think that’s fine. But with club ball, I think that everyone should get to play. What do you [think]?”

Kelley’s question made the rounds on TikTok with several fellow sports parents chiming in with their own takes on the youth sports and playing time. As comments rolled in, there was a clear distinction, according to travel ball parents, that developmental/rec leagues are not the same as travel leagues.

“Development league is NOT travel ball,” one user wrote.

“Travel ball is competitive and playing time is not guaranteed. If you want guaranteed playing time you need to sign up for rec ball,” one user wrote.

“You pay for practice. Playing time is earned,” another noted.

Another user pointed out that maybe this is a bigger issue with travel sports altogether, including parental expectations.

They said, “The real problem is these teams taking kids they should not for the $$, but parents need to be realistic on their kid’s abilities.”

“Club soccer here & no BUT, I feel like teams are taking kids for the money and not the talent & that isn’t right either,” another echoed.

The OP replied, “I think so too! If they have tryouts, they make the team and they accept their money to join the developmental league, I think they should get playing time.”

“Absolutely not. If you want fair playing time you play rec ball. Travel ball playing time is performance-based,” another wrote.

One travel coach chimed in and said, “Club coach here. Regional teams yes, national teams no. You pay for the training not to play.”

In a follow-up video, Kelley responded to all the backlash from parents who accused her of not knowing the distinction between rec and travel leagues. She swears she does, and she’s doubling down on her unpopular opinion after getting roasted in the comments.

“I feel like if you try out for a travel ball team, and you make the team and you pay two grand, or $1,800, plus travel expenses, which is like $600 a week and plus food,” she said.

“So I’m talking about thousands of dollars invested for your kids who never get to play. I don’t think that that’s right, but that’s just me.”