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All right, parents, so you're actually being recruited, too. Not just your son, and you may not know that, but every email that you get, every text message, every DM from a travel ball coach, it's with the intention of ultimately getting your son to come play for their organization, right? I mean, on some level, it feels like a sales pitch. And a lot of times, all of them can kind of sound the same, right? They're going to use words like elite, come join our elite team, right? Maybe they. They talk about exposure. We're going to get you more exposure than anybody else. Or maybe they even mention their national team, right? We've got a team ranked nationally, and we're one of the best in the country. But behind all that noise, the question that I want you to think about, the question ultimately becomes, what actually serves my son's future, right? What actually protects our family's time? What protects our budget? And what protects and gives us peace of mind? So today, what we're going to do is we're going to dive into the question that every baseball parent eventually asks, which is, how do I choose the right travel team? Because that one decision, believe it or not, it can actually set the tone for everything else. All right, guys, welcome back to another episode of the Most Valuable Agent Podcast. Now, this is a place where we help families navigate the business of baseball with clarity, with strategy, and with truth. So I'm your host, Matt Hannaford, and if you are new here, I've been an agent for MLB players for the past 25 years. I've also played college baseball, and I'm someone who's seen just about everything that you're going to go through and will go through hundreds of times over. And to be honest, probably more than I even want to admit, today's episode is all about choosing the right travel team, right? Finding the right fit, understanding that organization's philosophy, and really how your son is going to fit into it. So if you've been a parent and you've ever wondered, should we stick with our current team or should we move? Right? If you've ever thought about, you know, are these tournaments that we're going to every single weekend, are they really necessary? They actually helping my son? Maybe you're somebody who's thought, you know, what should we actually be looking for in a travel program? Then I just want you to know you're in the right place. So let's jump into it. All right? So, mom and dad, the first thing that we need to do is we need to get clear, and we need to do that by asking, why are we looking for a travel team right now in the first place? Now, that may sound obvious, but believe it or not, it's actually not obvious. It's because your son ultimately had an experience before, I would assume. And if he did have a bad experience, then shouldn't you understand what went wrong? Right? Was it that he didn't develop like he was hoping? Was he not getting enough playing time? Or maybe for you, this is actually your family's first entry into travel baseball, and you aren't currently playing for a team, and you really don't even know where to start. But whatever it is the goal is, you want to get clear that context, it matters. So if you're not clear, I think what you need to understand is while you're looking for the right travel team, if you're not clear, you won't even know what to look for. So too often, unfortunately, when I talk to families, they're reactive, right? They're jumping from this team to that team because, you know, a teammate or a friend or somebody said, you know, the grass was going to be greener. But they never really, unfortunately, paused to ask what didn't work for us last time, Right? What are we looking for that's going to be different? What should we expect to be different? Right? Was the communication last time the problem? Who was the blame for that? Was it us? The parent? Was it the coach? Was it my son? Right. Was my son not doing enough? Was there a problem with the coaching? Was it not good enough for you? Was the team too focused on winning tournaments and not on developing players? Right. Was the schedule too much for you? Was it too expensive? Right. Ultimately, if you don't name the issue, you can't really fix it. So start your search by writing down really two things I'll mention, right? So number one is what went wrong? Or what? What are you concerned about with your current situation? Right. And then number two, what does your son actually need more of? Does he need more confidence? Does he need better development? Does he need better communication? Does he need to be surrounded by better players? Right. Does he need a better team culture? The clarity that you're going to get by asking these questions, in a sense, it kind of becomes your compass, right? It keeps you from getting distracted by the noise and by all the hype. And it helps, ultimately you find the right fit. So once you're clear on why you're looking for a team, then the next logical thing is to understand, well, who is your son? Right? What is his Development at. Where is it at? What's his talent like? Okay? So this is the place where most families unfortunately kind of jump the gun and take it to a. A level that it's. It's premature, okay? And what I mean by that is families start with thinking about exposure, right? And exposure is what showcases should we be going to, right? They're thinking about what scouts or colleges are present, right? What national events should they be attending, what events are going to get us ranked higher. And they worry about all this stuff long before their son not only is not ready for it, but before he even needs to be ready for it. And so what I want to do is I want to help you understand. Let's set the standard, so to speak. So in my professional experience, right, if your son is a freshman in high school, right, or younger, so freshman in High School, 15 years old or younger, his priority should first be on his development, not exposure, okay? So I want to say that again because it matters as a freshman in high school, so 15 or younger, focus on development. Now, you're probably wondering why. Because exposure without being ready adds absolutely no value, okay? The point of exposure is to what to be seen, right? By who? By college coaches, by pro scouts will ask the question, when does that even start to matter? So for colleges, it doesn't even matter until August 1st of your junior season for your son. And then for the pro scouts, it's actually even later than that. So if you have a son who's 12, 13, 14 years old and you are completely absorbed with being seen, you're missing the point. When players get seen too early, before their body, before their skill set, before their mindset is ready, it does not do them any good. Actually, it hurts them, and it creates pressure that more than likely they. They're not built to handle yet. Okay? So ask yourself, is my son still figuring out his position? Is he still growing into his body? Does he lack the maturity to process failure constructively? And if the answer to any one of those three things was yes, then he needs to be in a development first program, okay? So to gauge, though, where your son is at developmentally, oftentimes what you can do is you can lean on a training facility who begins with an assessment, right? So what they'll do is they'll give you a baseline of where your son is at and how they think he needs to improve, right? And so to give you guys an idea, when I say development, what exactly does development look like? So I'm talking about physical development, right? Improving your son's Physical capabilities through strength training. Okay? That's one component. Skill development. This is the one that most people think about. This is like building the skills of a baseball player, right? Pitching, hitting, fielding, running, etc. All those things that ultimately are driven to make your son more reliable, more polished as a baseball player. There's also a component to this that we've talked about a lot. It's the mental game right now that consists of your son's kind of baseball iq, right? How well does he understand the game of baseball and how the game is played, but also how he handles failure. Okay, so exposure, though, when he's ready for exposure, that actually should begin when your son has a clear identity on the field. So his identity on the field is already determined. Right. He's again, 16, 17, 18 years old. He now has developed quite a bit, and now it's time to expose himself, to showcase what he's made of. Right. He has the tools that translate at the higher levels. Right. He's competing consistently and he needs the platform right now that age is often his sophomore season or even his junior season. Right. Going into that time when the college interest starts to ramp up. So again, think 16, not 12 or 13. Okay? So so far you've clarified your. Why you've defined your son's needs. Right. And now comes a logistical filter, so to speak, that a lot of families actually choose to ignore intentionally, but also unintentionally, which is your budget. Right. So I want to talk to you for a minute about money. And the money that I'm referring to, it's not just the fees for the events, but it's. It's the full cost of travel, baseball. Okay, so this includes what. This includes, obviously, coaches. This includes, yes, it does include the fees. It includes the equipment. It includes the travel to and from events. So the flights, the hotel, the rental car, the gas, food. Right. And oftentimes for multiple people. Because it's probably not just your son that's going. It's maybe you. It's your spouse, right. It's other children that you may have. It's maybe grandma and grandpa. Like, there's various costs well beyond just the player himself. Okay, then you also have. We talked about the cost of the organization, but like, that may include the uniforms. Right? So all of these things, it's going to add up pretty fast. And too many families, unfortunately, they join a team before they've ever really looked at that full picture and been honest about it. So the strategy that I want you to employ here with this is I Want you to get clear and be honest about what is your family's travel baseball budget before you commit to a team. Okay? So the reason for that is when you talk to a team, then you can be honest with them, right? You can actually speak from a place of understanding clearly how much you're able to spend and how much you're not able to spend. Right? Let them know what you can commit to, but also make sure that they understand what you can't commit to and make that very, very clear. Don't be afraid to make this known, okay? And I know you may feel a little reluctant because you feel like, is this going to ruin the chance that my son can go play for this team? If the reality of this is is this organization only wants you because you're going to go to 15, 20 different events and you have to play at every single one of them, it may not be the right travel organization for you and your family, okay? So I don't want you to be afraid to make that information known, okay? You just need to be transparent. I think that is the goal. Okay? And that conversation that I'm referring to, this one that we have to talk to the coach about and let him know what you have to spend and what you don't have to spend, it doesn't make you look difficult. It actually, believe it or not, makes you look smart, makes you look proactive. Because if your son, ultimately, if he's still in that developmental mode, he doesn't need to be at every single out of state tournament anyways, right? That's not where the value is going to be for him. So his value, as you probably know now at this point, it's going to be built on various things, right? Physical development, skill development, the mental development with intentional reps, and the right training environment. So don't let the team schedule drive your family into the ground. That's the key, okay? You're only going to, unfortunately, create a ton of resentment, and this is ultimately going to lead you and your family in the wrong direction. So instead, build a schedule that matches not only where your son is, but what your family can realistically sustain. Okay? So now I want to kind of get into the final piece here, and maybe the most important piece, and that is to understand who your son's actual coach or coaches are going to be. So you're communicating with these various travel organizations, and there's a lot of different coaches, right? Oftentimes, let's just say an organization is known for this one particular coach. Well, it goes without saying, that if you're going to go play for a travel organization because of this one particular coach, doesn't it make sense that that one particular coach is your son's coach? If the answer to that is no, then maybe that's not the right time to join that travel organization. And unfortunately, the trap that I oftentimes see with parents is they join an organization because they love that one particular coach and then only find out later because they never asked the question, oh, he's actually not the one coaching my son. Right. And the only reason that's an issue is because you didn't ask. So at this stage, your son's coach, the one he interacts with the most, he's going to have the most impact on his development, more so than anybody. That's why it's so important. So before you commit, here's what I want you to ask. Who's going to be my son's coach? On a consistent basis? Right. And you should understand a lot about that coach. What's his background? What's his background as a player? What's his background as a teacher of the game and also as a person. Right. How does that coach communicate with players, but also with parents? What's his track record for helping athletes? Not just the best athletes or not just the worst athletes. An athlete that's kind of in your same shoes, right? How is. How has he dealt with another player and another family who have been in your same shoes before? Right? And so look at it like this. If your son, if he's going to be investing hours and emotion into this one particular person's leadership, then that coach should know how to coach your son's age, he should know how to coach your son's skill level, he should know how to coach his personality. Right? And I know that there is no perfect coach, but these are all the things that you just need to understand so that when you go into this experience, it's clear you understand you asked the questions. Right? And so, more than anything, this is all about getting clarity. Because at the end of the day, your son's future, it isn't going to be shaped by the association of the travel organization or the logo. It's going to be shaped by the one individual who he works with consistently. Okay? So in closing, what I want to give you guys is again, the four key questions that every single travel baseball parent must ask when evaluating what the right travel organization is for them. Number one, why are we looking for a new team? Okay. Is it our first time in travel ball? Did we have a bad fit from a prior organization. You have to understand what you need. Okay, number two, where is my son at developmentally? Right? And what does he do next? Should we be prioritizing development because we're 15 and younger, or are we 16 or 17 or 18 and we actually do need to start thinking about exposure? Number three, what is our actual budget and what schedule can we commit to? Right? So again, be honest, protect your time, and protect your finances. Number four, who's the coach? Right? Are they equipped to help my son achieve his goals? Don't commit until you know who's guiding him week to week, okay? There are a ton of programs out there. That's the reality. And a lot of them do a great job. Lot of these organizations, funny enough, that do a great job have been on this exact podcast. So the thing that I want you guys to do for me now is if this information that I'm giving you, if it's valuable, I want to hear from you guys, right? DM me. Send me a message. Let me know if you've had a great experience with the particular travel organization. Tell me about it. I am all ears. But on the flip side, if you've had a. An experience and it wasn't positive, if it was a frustrating experience and you, you know, maybe you're searching for guidance, maybe you just want to make sure that other people don't go through the same experience, I would love to hear from you, too. Because ultimately, guys, at the end of the day, what I am trying to do is I want to help parents. I want to help players, you know, maximize their travel ball experience. I want to help you guys increase the value that your son has as a player. And then lastly, I want to help you guys reduce the cost that you incur as a family. And so the more insight that I can provide, that's ultimately going to help, you know, me and other families kind of manage these things into the future. So the last thing I'll say before I let you guys go is I don't want you guys to miss the next episode. On Wednesday, we talked to a cpa, a guy by the name of Steven Caceres, in regards to athlete taxes. Steven's interesting because he not only is a CPA currently who works for professional athletes and amateur athletes, but he also played professional baseball. So in this episode, what we're going to do is we're going to talk about, you know, how he's taken all the things that he's learned as a player and how he now works to improve the lives of his clients, their financial picture, right? Whether that's nil deductions and really everything that you as a family may need to know before tax season hits. So until then, keep asking great questions, guys. Stay curious, stay strategic, intentional. And more than anything, thank you for watching Sam.