My 7th grader is the oldest, so this is the first school ball experience. He loves playing, but likes travel better. The weird thind is that 7th and 8th are combined and play in the same game. The better kids play 1st and 3rd and the less experienced kids pay 2nd and 4th. There are no cuts, so there are close to 50 kids on the team.
Unfortunately some middle school programs have synchronized teams for the those two grades while other schools have a separate team for each grade. It's tough to get a lot of playing time and this is one of the reasons club ball got so big. Does your son play on a travel team?
Yes, he does. He likes travel ball better. I don’t see any benefit to a combined team. Reduced playing time for everyone. Some kids don’t even play until the end of 4th quarter. As a parent with no interest in the team other than my son, it’s baseball painful waiting until it’s his time to get back on the field. Having an A and B team seems so much more logical for everyone involved.
In a perfect world, they would not combine the teams but due to schools budgets, I think they cannot afford having 2 teams. It is not only paying the coaches but providing the players with equipment and the travel to the away games. Just have your son use the time on the middle school team to work on his off hand and weaknesses in his game and look at it as a way to prepare for Travel Ball.
