Kids sports

[samhain7]

I am just curious about this.
Does anyone else have their kids in summer rep sports?
My 10 year old plays AAA ball and he has been pretty sought after around our area from different teams.
It really cuts into camping as much as we'd like to.
Some may say it is a waste for us to have a trailer.

It's is tough because he loves ball and his talent level makes me think I would be robbing him if we ever pulled him out.
But with our schedule we get about 4-5 trips a year only....
Again, just curious on what others do...

[mike_mck]

Halmfamily wrote:

Mr. Camper wrote:
Our kids would rather be camping than anywhere else.

X2. Our kids dropped Marching band so they could go camping. I told them I'm going regardless of their schedule, that's when they changed their mind. My son loves to mountain bike so it works great for him.

Are you sure they made the decision?
"I told them I'm going regardless of their schedule, that's when they changed their mind."

Sounds like you made the decision for them.

[seaeagle2]

I told my wife and her son (my stepson) that he would have to wait to middle school to play football or baseball for a couple reasons, 1. Their bodies can't take the abuse at a younger age. 2. It gave us a few years of vacations without scheduling conflicts. 3. Honestly, in my opinion, if they start young often they get burned out or injured by the time they get to high school, and often it seems that for the average kids, all the extra time they put in doesn't result in more playing time in high school. (My stepson did jazz band in middle school, then quit that for football. He went to junior college in California for 3 years and just graduated from a small college in Ohio that gave him a football scholarship for his last 2 years.

[ams1130]

Our kids are in their twenties now, but we probably got out LESS than 4-5 times a year, anyway.

A waste of an RV??? I hardly think so. They remember many, many things about those trips.

[cbshoestring]

As a kid, my dad had a rule. Play baseball to the end of the spring season...then camping starts. There would be NO All-star travelling team, all summer long. When I was around 15 yrs old, my parents got tired of camping around, set up a permanent site in a CG (my brother has that same site some 35 yrs later). That is what WE did EVERY weekend in the summer.

My kid played All-Star baseball. Coach would get mad if you told him you were going to do something else, instead of going to yet another weekend tournament. Most of the coaches live and breath BASEBALL, that is all they do, that is how the entire family spends EVERY weekend, all summer.

My kid works a real job today. Chances are your kid will as well. I would bet that coaches kid does too.


My advice, for what it is worth. DO NOT spend every weekend doing one thing, thinking the kids future is at stake. The kid will be better off having MANY things to do. GO CAMPING-----my dad had it right. Sports until school ends---then it is family time. If family times involves camping, then go camping.

Spend the weekends, biking, swimming, canoeing, etc,,,,, Your kid can LOVE baseball during the regular season---let him learn to love something else as well.

EDIT: Camp for us was BASE. From there we went to the amusement park, the lake, met life-long friends (and one ex-wife), and did other family things.

[pira114]

Take the trailer to the games!! Make a party out of it. Ha.

Sorry, that's all I got. Life is balance. If your worrying about sports vs RVing, you're doing just fine

[atreis]

Our kids would rather camp, and our sports of choice tend to be winter sports which works out nicely (hockey, ice skating, downhill skiing).

[Chock_Full_o__N]

Our kids were never into sports, but they were very involved in musical theater. Starting in middle school, they were tied up at least 2 weekends a month, and more when they were in the final production weeks. We couldn't get very far away from home during those years, but we did manage to carve out about 4-5 camping trips each year.

In 2007, I put my foot down for one summer season. DS(21) was already up and gone. DD (14) was finishing 8th grade and DS(12) was getting to the age where it was harder to manage him away from home*he is severely mentally handicapped and autistic* I knew it was now or never--once DD started high school, I knew we would have very few family vacations or campouts. So I insisted that for ONE summer, we would camp. We took the kids and headed west for a 2 month cross-country trip--no friends, no cell phones, no whining. And it was GREAT! So glad we did it then, because we will never get that time back again.

OP, you have to make your own decision. This is but a short season of your life. If your son wants to play sports, well, that's fine. I wouldn't interfere with that too much. Perhaps you can carve out a few weekend campouts that are non-negotiable, even if you have to do it in the off-seasons.

[ridingfamily4]

my boys were into football (youngest) and running cross country and track (oldest). We camped when they were off season. Luckily in So Cal, we can pretty much camp year round. Both were done with sports by Thanksgiving, usually through end of the year. The oldest had track in the spring. They usually have track meets (high school) during the week so we could camp on weekends.

It was worth it! My oldest got a full ride college scholarship for his running.

[Monster9903]

My Daughter was big into soccer. Spring soccer rolled into summer soccer into call soccer into basket ball. We found a way to make it work. Travel to where the games are and camp nearby. Tourneys were fun when a bunch of us all camped together. Daughter now into drama which opens our summers a bit more. My done is into Tae Kwon Do which can be year round but we do part time in the summer so we can go wherever.

[samhain7]

Just letting everyone know. We are heading camping for the first time this weekend.
TOTALLY EXCITED

The best news is that my son is in a ball tournament about 40 min away from my house and we found that a good opportunity to get out.

Best of both worlds.

[sato4000]

samhain7 wrote:
Oh and congrats on the recruitment Sato4000

Thanks, you can't worry about what other people say. Things come and go last year we had a ton of time to camp and I'm sure we'll either find the time or make the time in the future even with the kids sports. If one day you wake up and say you know it really doesn't make sense to have the RV than maybe its time to get rid of it but if its other people telling you that I would not pay it any attention.

[abc40kids]

We were there with our daughter, she played volleyball for school and then for a club team when school vb was over. Lucky for us they only played one tournament a month and practiced during the week. We used the camper a few times in place of those expensive hotels but for the most part it was either too far, no cg around or just didn't make sense to take the camper. Volleyball was fun and did land my daughter a scholarship to a small school so no complaints here.

Now my 14 year old is big time into basketball and plays school ball and does b-ball training 3 nights a week. No AAU yet and would hope that school ball will be enough.... I guess we'll find out. Travel ball is not only time consuming but expensive !! Even if your child is college bound depending on the sport some of these travel teams are a waste of time!

I would agree, try to find the balance and hope for the best. Some parents love it and that's their life, like already said you only get one shot with your kids and they grow up fast! To the op, use that camper when you can and enjoy it.

[Halmfamily]

Mr. Camper wrote:
Our kids would rather be camping than anywhere else.

X2. Our kids dropped Marching band so they could go camping. I told them I'm going regardless of their schedule, that's when they changed their mind. My son loves to mountain bike so it works great for him.

[wecamp04]

We were in the same place when ours were smaller,when they got older they got kinda burn out playing year round so we now take summers off and do other things like go camping