Anyone do travel sports with their kids? Tips to make it more affordable?

We really love the juco school, team & coach & the fact that she has a starting offer so she would actually get to play but I just worry its a bit too soon to verbally commit (she’s still a junior) & that it would stifle other more lucratiyear cove offers.
Commit when she is ready. Son waited till start of senior year. We had friends committing soph and fresh year. They changed their minds or staffs changed mind or were no longer there. Nothing wrong with waiting. If it is the right fit it will be there.
 
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Commit when she is ready. Son waited till start of senior year. We had friends committing soph and fresh year. They changed their minds or staffs changed mind or were no longer there. Nothing wrong with waiting. If it is the right fit it will be there.
This makes me feel better!
I totally understand the coaches position- she needs to fill her roster- its her job.
I do however feel a little guilty about waiting considering I see her on a regular basis. Her kid is on this travel team & she is also a coach of another age group in the same club. Its a little awkward 😬
I am sure my kiddo feels the same way. She of course is also worried that the offer will go away. I have tried to reassure her.
I personally think the coach was just trying to get her offer in/make a connection early before my daughter started going to all these national tournaments where there’s lots of coaches looking. I don’t fault her at all (its her job) but it is what it is & I feel like we need to keep our options open for now. Surely she understands that $ doesn’t grow on trees. I explained our situation to her when we were on official visit. I also want to avoid my girl having to “de- commit” if something better comes along as she’s a do what she says kinda person.
 
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This makes me feel better!
I totally understand the coaches position- she needs to fill her roster- its her job.
I do however feel a little guilty about waiting considering I see her on a regular basis. Her kid is on this travel team & she is also a coach of another age group in the same club. Its a little awkward 😬
I am sure my kiddo feels the same way. She of course is also worried that the offer will go away. I have tried to reassure her.
I personally think the coach was just trying to get her offer in/make a connection early before my daughter started going to all these national tournaments where there’s lots of coaches looking. I don’t fault her at all (its her job) but it is what it is & I feel like we need to keep our options open for now. Surely she understands that $ doesn’t grow on trees. I explained our situation to her when we were on official visit. I also want to avoid my girl having to “de- commit” if something better comes along as she’s a do what she says kinda person.
My son would now say dad its a business and coaches job is to bring in tuition. Teams bring in 60 kids in fall cut 50%. Most kids would stay at said school paying tuition. Not trying to be a downer but if she plays lights out this spring/summer what is the harm of signing in Aug or Sept? Go visit campuses in between tourney games. Could I see myself a this school of athletics dont pan out etc... We had lots of fun doing campus tours at camps and tourneys. Best of times.
 
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Just wanted to update ya’ll - we are in fact still alive after the Big South 🏐 tourney in Atlanta.
Broke, but breathing! 😂
I don’t see how people do this year after year! It was so fun to watch my girl kick butt - but wow - we is tired! It’s the biggest one on our schedule aside from nationals in Las Vegas (if we get a bid at our next qualifier). It was Estimated to be 60k people there! Its insane. I cannot even fathom what nationals is like nor how we may can hitchhike 👍🏻 our way there lol. We’re just winging it. 🥴
I may look into door dashing a little at these events in the off times (since you either play am or pm wave)
- apparently everyone orders to their hotels these days. Maybe it will at least pay for my parking!
My hubby has never been to one of these before- just school games/tournaments & state championships.
When he got to the bottom of the escalator & saw literally a million balls 🏐flying around he just started laughing in disbelief! There were 196 courts full of girls all warming up at once. I just told him to get ready cuz the whistles hadn’t even started yet! He’s currently recovering from his harrowing experience with a cold beverage 🤣
 
While it may be tiring, enjoy this time in their lives. It goes by so fast.
You ain’t kidding! It feels faster every day! My son is few years younger so hopefully once she’s off at college I can get some dedicated time like this with him too with whatever he ends up pursuing in his high school career. It all just makes me wanna cry thinking about it! Why must they grow?? This letting go is the pits!
 
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Fortunately, they only live 7 houses up the street from us.
That would be my dream. I couldn't see them looking out the window, but I could roll my table or miter saw over for any projects.

I'm going to end up traveling pretty far only to not have tools when I visit. Lol.
 
That would be my dream. I couldn't see them looking out the window, but I could roll my table or miter saw over for any projects.

I'm going to end up traveling pretty far only to not have tools when I visit. Lol.

You do end up doing a lot of projects when you live close. Just last week, I redid all the landscaping in the front of their house.
 

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Interesting glimpse into the future as our kids are just 7 and 5. They have a fair # of activities already - soccer, baseball, tennis, tumbling, ballet, and piano lessons - thankfully all are very local (within a few miles of our house) and not too expensive. They're in public school, which helps as well. The private schools near us cost more than college and still have waiting lists to get in!

About the only advice I can give w/r/t to travel is to pick a favorite hotel loyalty program, get a good rewards credit card, and make use of the discount airlines (assuming that you are responsible for making travel arrangements to away games/competitions...not sure if this is the case for your particular activity). All of these tips have really saved us on our family vacations, now that these involve travel for 4 people. Just booked our summer vacation - RT airfare to Orlando for ~$360 total for all four of us on Frontier Airlines, and hundreds of dollars of value redeemed for our hotel stay via a no-annual-fee rewards credit card.