The 2024-2025 Encino Little League president and father of a son in travel baseball, John Pollak ’95, has seen this economic shift firsthand in recent years. He recalls knowing about one or two teams in 2020. Now he’s seen dozens.
“At first, only the top-tier kids played travel, but when parents saw the skill gap, mid-tier and even lower-tier kids joined to keep up,” Pollak said. “[My wife and I] feel the pressure ourselves-to keep our son at the level we want, we have to stay in the program. We love it, but the price keeps rising. At some point, we’ll have to ask if it’s worth it.”
That pressure can be felt more acutely by par-ents with fewer resources. According to a 2021 survey by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 24 percent of kids ages six to twelve from families with household incomes of 25,000 dol-lars or less played sports regularly, compared to 40 percent of kids from homes with household incomes of 100,000 dollars or more. Parents with financial barriers often resort to the more affordable recreational leagues for their children, sacrificing what Pollak describes as higher quality time-intensive training in club sports. He believes parents pay for travel baseball, hoping their child will earn a scholarship to an elite high school baseball program.
“Travel programs help get kids into the right high schools, which is where they really start to get noticed [by colleges or the MLB],” Pollak said. “I’ve seen very good players miss out be-cause they didn’t have the same visibility. In af-fluent areas like Sherman Oaks or Encino, many families can afford both rec and travel, and those kids often end up at top schools. But in less afflu-ent districts, players don’t get the same exposure. If you’re only in rec ball there, schools like Harvard-Westlake or Sierra Canyon probably aren’t scouting you.”
Varsity tennis player Kai Beeler ’26 echoes Pol-lack. He believes his access to private coaching and specialized training has given him an edge in development. Beeler finds that athletes with greater financial resources experience greater exposure and a greater opportunity to play at the next level.
“The biggest difference is access,” Beeler said.
