'Travel ball' fills the summer for a student-athlete and her parents

By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

They call competitive sports for student-athletes "travel ball" for a reason, as reported in Wednesday's Family section.

It's an all-consuming sport unto itself; one that starts in May and lasts until late July or August for thousands of families who are serious about their softball - or baseball, volleyball, basketball or any other ball, not to mention swimming, boxing, fencing, golf, competitive dance, chess, cheerleading and any other event in which someone can charge competitors to compete.

When writer Stephen Caldwell was growing up, Marianna-to-Hazen was a long road trip for a ballgame. This summer, his daughter's softball team travels took the family from Fayetteville to Kansas City, Mo., Conway, Kansas City, Kan., Baton Rouge, Denver and Plano, Texas.

There are tournaments all over the country, all in the name of "exposing" student-athletes to top college coaches so that, in theory, one or more of them will offer an athletic scholarship, thereby making the thousands of dollars spent on travel ball somehow worth it.