Have we lost the "Team" in Travel?
OK, time to thaw out my Winter hiatus. Here's a question for those travel softball and baseball coaches who are chomping at the bit to get back outside on the grass. Let's think about this travel-ball culture which has evolved. In the neighborhood leagues it's all fun and everyone plays, but we want our stars to compete against other stars, so we travel. We pick the best of the best from the house leagues and hit the road weekend after weekend. But what else did we leave behind, and what did we lose? While we picked up the level of competition, but we lost the "league", the "season", and the playoffs. We lost the grind, the long road which made the player next to you, playing your same position, so necessary. While baseball and softball may be 9 player games (10 with your DH), a long season with injuries, illnesses, and other obstacles makes 20 more realistic. By turning the competition into a weekly (weekend) event, each one separate and di