Is this nonsense…?

[Lord Ash]

Need some parent input.

So my son is in fourth grade, and he joined the local basketball travel team (although that is a little misleading, we have two local travel teams, an A team and a B team. This is very much the B team.)

We just got his schedule, and he has practice from 7-8 PM on Friday nights.

This strikes my wife and I as a ridiculous time to have practice.

Are we wrong?

[bundabergdevil]

Kids sports has gone a little mad in general. You’re not wrong.

[Book_Face]

I'd bet the 4th grade B team is "low man on the totem pole" when it comes to having access to practice times. You get whatever's left over.

My kids played traveling soccer, and sometimes we had Saturday night games which also struck me as strange. Maybe stranger that I grew to like them as they became a social event for the parents!

[Bostondevil]

Need some parent input.

So my son is in fourth grade, and he joined the local basketball travel team (although that is a little misleading, we have two local travel teams, an A team and a B team. This is very much the B team.)

We just got his schedule, and he has practice from 7-8 PM on Friday nights.

This strikes my wife and I as a ridiculous time to have practice.

Are we wrong?

When is the gym available? How many teams are practicing in that gym? If it's a school gym and this is a travel team, they have to defer to the school using the gym. If it's a school gym and that school has after school programs, the gym wouldn't even be available until 6pm (which is probably when the A team gets it.) So, no, not necessarily ridiculous.

[summerwind03]

We have had some weird practice times over the years. Also sometimes depends on the availability of the coach.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Need some parent input.

So my son is in fourth grade, and he joined the local basketball travel team (although that is a little misleading, we have two local travel teams, an A team and a B team. This is very much the B team.)

We just got his schedule, and he has practice from 7-8 PM on Friday nights.

This strikes my wife and I as a ridiculous time to have practice.

Are we wrong?

Ugh. Horrible time

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Need some parent input.

So my son is in fourth grade, and he joined the local basketball travel team (although that is a little misleading, we have two local travel teams, an A team and a B team. This is very much the B team.)

We just got his schedule, and he has practice from 7-8 PM on Friday nights.

This strikes my wife and I as a ridiculous time to have practice.

Are we wrong?

Not ideal but I have heard of plenty worse. Hockey is notorious for bad times since ice time is so limited.

An evening practice isn’t great but most 4th graders are up that late and it isn’t a school night. Personally, I would take that over the 8am weekend events my kids have had.

[Lord Ash]

Not ideal but I have heard of plenty worse. Hockey is notorious for bad times since ice time is so limited.

An evening practice isn’t great but most 4th graders are up that late and it isn’t a school night. Personally, I would take that over the 8am weekend events my kids have had.

Yeah, I played hockey, I kept my son away from it on purpose.

And I just feel like Friday night… that is family/social time? To have a practice then… ugh.

[Skydog]

Yeah, I played hockey, I kept my son away from it on purpose.

And I just feel like Friday night… that is family/social time? To have a practice then… ugh.

I’m with you. Midday Saturday practices/games are fine - they tend to actually increase social life and are more fun (for all) than household chores, yard work, etc. But spending Friday evenings at indoor gym practices? Sacrilege I say!!

[weezie]

...And I just feel like Friday night… that is family/social time?

It's certainly time to drink beer.

[Nrrrrvous]

It's certainly time to drink beer.

I know we're not supposed to just post an agreement with someone, but...

I'm with weezie on this one.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Very simple. Hope that the other parents are cool. Bring beer/cocktails/whatever else and have fun while the kids are practicing.

I’ve made some good friends as well as business connections hanging out at my kids sporting events.

[lotusland]

I tell my nieces and nephews with new babies and to toddlers to avoid travel ball at all costs. Play rec Leaugue or church league and buy a second home or a boat or some 4 wheelers for weekends. Hopefully some of their friends will want join them. To me, carting the whole family around and staying hotels every weekend is extremely hectic, boring and expensive. Fortunately we didn’t do it for long. I’ve had friends with / kids in different sports splitting up the family to attend different out of town travel events. It’s ridiculous.

[wilson]

I tell my nieces and nephews with new babies and to toddlers to avoid travel ball at all costs. Play rec Leaugue or church league and buy a second home or a boat or some 4 wheelers for weekends. Hopefully some of their friends will want join them. To me, carting the whole family around and staying hotels every weekend is extremely hectic, boring and expensive. Fortunately we didn’t do it for long. I’ve had friends with / kids in different sports splitting up the family to attend different out of town travel events. It’s ridiculous.

I’ve seen this with quite a lot of students over the last ~decade. Often tends to coincide with academic underperformance owing to high numbers of absences, and with kids and parents wondering why they let are having a hard time making friends because they a) aren’t ever around on weekends to do anything fun, and b) “aren’t allowed” to join school sports teams and this miss out on another opportunity to build connections with classmates.

And it’s happening to ever-younger cohorts. Yet another way in which my teacher's eyes see a country that has its collective head up its fanny.

[JasonEvans]

Befriend a few other parents on the team and form a carpool, that ay your Friday night is only ruined once out of every three or four weeks (depending on how many folks are in the carpool).

[Lord Ash]

Befriend a few other parents on the team and form a carpool, that ay your Friday night is only ruined once out of every three or four weeks (depending on how many folks are in the carpool).

Unfortunately, I am coaching

[Neals384]

Unfortunately, I am coaching

Aha! The truth comes out!

[elvis14]

I've coached both of my daughters in soccer for years. My youngest is a senior in HS and her last tournament is this weekend. This will likely be the end of my coaching career (I'll spend more time with our charity, From Your Neighbor). When my oldest was playing we had Friday night practices for years. There were good and bad things with that. The good is that when they have weekend games, they tend to be more ready. We would keep the Friday practice lighter and focus on technique. The bad is the social issue and the fact that for travel weekends you might need to miss practice to travel. When the kids were younger (4th, 5th grade) it was less of an issue than when they got older. By the time they got to high school Friday night practices were not a good idea.

I tell my nieces and nephews with new babies and to toddlers to avoid travel ball at all costs. Play rec Leaugue or church league and buy a second home or a boat or some 4 wheelers for weekends. Hopefully some of their friends will want join them. To me, carting the whole family around and staying hotels every weekend is extremely hectic, boring and expensive. Fortunately we didn’t do it for long. I’ve had friends with / kids in different sports splitting up the family to attend different out of town travel events. It’s ridiculous.

I'll tell all my people to play travel ball if it matches the level at which they want to play. I wouldn't trade the weekends traveling with my kids for tournaments for anything. Sometimes it was the whole family, sometimes it was just 2 of us. Since I was coaching, it was always me. Sometimes we did have to divide and conquer but it was ridiculously rewarding. Our last tournament is this weekend in Winston-Salem. I've raised a great young woman who happens to be a decent soccer player and I couldn't be prouder. I'll miss travel weekends with my girls greatly.

Unfortunately, I am coaching

Hmmmm, sounds like your team may have deeper seeded issues than just the night on which you practice :-)

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Unfortunately, I am coaching

Does that make you more or less enthusiastic about my suggestion to drink during practice?

[wilson]

Unfortunately, I am coaching

Does that make you more or less enthusiastic about my suggestion to drink during practice?

Related: How do you feel about your team's execution?