Youth sports sold a national travel circuit by 7th grade, and most families don’t figure out it isn’t worth it until junior year. By then the money’s gone and/or the kid is cooked. The travel is the product. Physical wear, emotional wear, and a bill that has nothing to do with getting better. The gap between a “packed national event” and a good local game is smaller than the brochure says. You already know who can play. Flying them around doesn’t change that. End result for a lot of these kids is a pat on the back, you get to play D3 or nothing at all. Same outcome a lot of them would’ve had staying home, competing hard, and not treating 13 like a recruiting deadline.