If you know, you know.
The duffle bag lives half-packed. There’s always a cooler in the garage. Your calendar looks like a mess, and you’ve Googled “hotel with team rate + free breakfast” more times than you can count.
Travel sports and military life are two full-time commitments in their own right. Together? They can feel like a second deployment -- just with more laundry and snack wrappers.
But they can also become some of the sweetest, most formative years for our kids (and, honestly, for us, too).
Here are a few things I’ve learned about navigating travel sports as a military family, with three kids, two working parents and a tight budget.
Stability Doesn’t Always Look Like Staying Put
Military life is defined by movement. Permanent change of station (PCS) orders, new schools, new friends, new routines. For our kids, that can mean constantly rebuilding their world.
Travel sports can quietly become an anchor.
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It’s the language of the game that stays the same, even when the zip code doesn’t. A field, a court, a rink: It feels familiar when everything else feels new. The structure of practices, tournaments and team rhythms can create stability in a lifestyle that rarely offers it.
When we moved to Georgia eight years ago, my oldest son decided it was time to play baseball. The county league welcomed him with open arms, coaches and players alike. He had a wonderful time learning the sport and making friends, and we found a community that now, even as he switched sports, still supports him. The stability we found helped us through TDYs and those very busy weeks when we had more places to be than parents to be there.
Sometimes stability isn’t about geography. It’s about identity.
The Financial Reality Is Real (and Worth Talking About)
Let’s be honest: Travel sports are expensive.
Registration fees. Uniforms. Private lessons. Gas. Flights. Hotels. Team dinners. Fundraisers. More gas.
For military families living on structured pay scales, especially junior enlisted households, this can feel overwhelming.
The key isn’t pretending it’s affordable. It’s planning for it intentionally.
Some practical considerations:
- Build sports into your annual budget early.
- Use PCS and tax return timing strategically.
- Ask about military discounts (they exist more often than you think).
- Be honest about what level of play fits your season of life.
This isn’t about keeping up. It’s about making values-based decisions.
We didn’t even consider travel sports until we were financially able to afford it. For a while, we basically said it was not “no,” it was “not right now.” Our son’s first travel season was after his sophomore year. It may seem late, but it was the perfect time for our family. It was the focus of our family that summer. We built weekend vacations around tournaments, used our vacation days to attend games, and saved accordingly.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. And there shouldn’t be.
Read More: The Community You Carry With You as a Military Spouse
Community on the Sidelines Hits Differently
There’s something uniquely powerful about sideline friendships when you’re military.
We’re used to starting over. We know how to introduce ourselves. We know how to pack up. But that doesn’t mean we don’t crave connection.
Travel teams often create intense, fast friendships -- early mornings, shared hotel lobbies, long tournament weekends. And when you’re the “new military family,” it can be a built-in entry point into the local community.
It won’t always be perfect. Not every team will feel like family. But many will surprise you.
In the last two travel lacrosse seasons, we discovered a new kind of family. Our military family wasn’t active in the sport, but our newfound lacrosse family stepped up. We sent our kid with another family for a weekend tournament when we couldn’t make it work. We carpooled for the two-hour round trip to practice twice a week. And this last season, I found such joy in taking my son’s friend with us on a few tournament road trips. Having a front-row seat to your kids as they chase their sports dreams and build lifelong friendships is worth it.
Sometimes, a folding chair on the sidelines starts the village we didn’t know we needed.
Remembering What Actually Matters
This one is for us as parents.
It’s easy to get caught up in rankings, starting positions, stats and scholarship dreams. The culture around travel sports can be intense.
But military life has a way of clarifying perspective.
We know what sacrifice looks like. We know what service costs. We know that character matters more than trophies.
Travel sports are temporary. The habits formed are not.
- Are they learning discipline?
- Are they learning how to lose well?
- Are they learning how to show up when it’s hard?
Those lessons will outlast any season.
One of the best lessons we learned while playing travel baseball was that baseball was not my son’s future. It hurt when that dream faded, but it paved the way for him to experience a new sport. Now, three seasons later, he’s going to play college lacrosse. Without the disappointment, without the push to a new sport and without the friendships he maintained through the journey, he wouldn’t be the young man he is today. And I wouldn’t be the mom I am, either.
Travel sports and military life both demand flexibility. They stretch the family calendar. They create incredible memories -- and occasionally test everyone’s patience.
But when approached with intention and perspective, they can also build strong, adaptable, grounded kids.
And maybe -- just maybe -- they’re building us, too.
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