By Will Slater

Travel sports is a rapidly growing business around the United States and around Collegiate. Often this is a way for high school athletes to showcase their skills in front of college coaches. It is also a way to still play a preferred sport out of season. Travel baseball specifically is often seen as an essential way to get an athlete’s name out to colleges, but many high school baseball players use it as an outlet and a way to strengthen their talents and stay sharp before the next high school season.

Image credit: Playin School Recruiting.

Despite the benefits, it’s very time-consuming. Long weekends at the ballpark can cause poorly done school work if you don’t manage time wisely. However, with consistent work habits and strong time management skills, one can avoid such an issue. Hartley Rahman (‘24), is year-round travel baseball player for a major organization called the Dirtbags, and he tries to manage his time wisely so he can continue to attend out-of-state tournaments. Rahman says that “Travel takes a good chunk of my time, but I proactively let my teachers know when I am going to be behind with work, or when I know I am going to be missing class, to avoid falling into academic slumps.” On a recent weekend in September, Rahman had to miss both a Friday and a Monday because of a tournament in Florida. This required planning ahead of time and collecting work early so he could accomplish the work while enduring a long plane ride.

Grand Park Athletic Complex in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Photo credit: Youth Baseball Nationals.

Despite the desire to play travel sports during COVID-19, it became difficult for teams to remain in tournaments. Often, too many teams would drop out of a tournament, resulting in tournaments being cancelled. This was frustrating, especially in the height of COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, when everyone was looking for a reason to get out of the house for some fresh air. Warner Lewis (‘24), who is a travel lacrosse player, found himself traveling farther to play: “My family and I had to travel to more rural places to play, where the restrictions were not so tight.”

Juggling academics on top of athletics, and also a part-time job in some cases, can be challenging for high schoolers. Last fall, I found myself trying to keep up with my work while playing travel baseball on the weekends and varsity football at Collegiate during the week. This year, I replaced travel baseball on the weekends with refereeing football games at Quioccasin Middle School for the Western Wildcats Flag Football League. Both years, I am very busy; however, I manage my time well and attempt to try to complete as much work as possible before I leave school grounds so I can allot time for extracurricular activities.

Another student athlete who battles similar issues is varsity baseball player, Eric McDaniel (‘22). McDaniel takes part in a travel baseball team called the Virginia Cardinals. He also works running around golf carts two to three days per week at Richmond Country Club and still tries to manage his school work. McDaniel said, “I like to use my free time in school, such as my free period, to get as much work as needed, so I can still get a good night’s rest.” McDaniel also trains for baseball over the course of the week to stay sharp for the local tournaments he participates in. 

A long time coach of travel baseball, and a man who has been around travel baseball ever since it began (and is my dad), Collegiate’s varsity baseball coach and Middle School Activities Director Andrew Slater (‘96) has coached for various organizations, including Richmond Baseball Academy West, and Rockit Sports. Even when not coaching travel baseball, he was around it for recruiting. When asked about his travel baseball experience, Slater said, “I love travel baseball because it is an opportunity for me to help kids develop and to help them in the recruiting process.” Slater has spent the last 12 years coaching travel baseball in the fall and summer and does not plan on stopping anytime soon.

Rockit Sports practice facility. Picture credit: Rockit Sports.

Despite the time-consuming aspect of travel, for me baseball has also been a way to extend my social network and become friends with kids from all over the Richmond area and beyond.

Over this past summer, I ventured down to Prep Baseball Report, a national tournament in Georgia, for a weeklong tournament. I used it not only as a baseball experience but also as a time to connect with an old friend of my dad’s. With hundreds of teams at this tournament at once and thousands of players, there was an opportunity this summer to meet some guys from Texas and spend some time hanging out with them while not playing.

Prep Baseball Report fields in Emerson, Georgia. Photo credit: Prep Baseball Report.

Not only are these tournaments opportunities to meet new people, but also opportunities to strengthen preexisting relationships. The long car rides have allowed for hours of conversation with my mom, and we’ve become closer as a result.