Travel Baseball

Pony Baseball, and specifically La Jolla Youth Baseball, is a recreational league. What this means is that there is a spot for every kid who wants to play. One goal is certainly to develop the individual as a player. But, just as important is to make sure the individual has fun and hope that the team experience develops the individual as a person as well.

In contrast, a travel baseball team will hand-pick the best players they can find to field a team. In San Diego, the best travel teams are essentially made up of the all-stars of the recreational league all-star teams. Their goal is simply to field the best team possible and win.

The three most popular travel ball leagues are probably:

* USSSA (http://www.usssa.com/sports/home.asp?Sport=11 or http://www.usssabaseball.org/ or http://www.baseballfirst.com/

* AAU (http://www.aaubaseball.org/)

* USTBA (http://www.ustba.org/)

Others leagues include: AABC, NABF, USABF, CABA, Super Series, and American Legion.

A travel ball team may compete in several different leagues to maximize opportunity for tournaments.

Many travel-ball teams will actually recruit you, rather than you having to find them. Some teams do offer tryouts, however. These tryouts tend to occur sometime between March and July, with the typical new season beginning shortly there after.

Travel ball can be a year-round commitment in San Diego and may require a contract be signed so that parents realize the commitment they are getting into.