My son is 11 and plays in one of the most competitive baseball programs in the country. He loves every minute of it, and still jumps at every chance to simply play catch with me (which is a good thing since I don't know how to play any video games).

I will say the coaches involved in this travel ball stuff seem a little over the top at times. My son's coach will pull a pitcher (at 11-yr old) if he misses the sign for a pitch.

I was at a tournament a few weeks ago and saw an 11-yr old from Miami clocked at 72 mph. I was looking around to see if he had a wife and kids! Scary!!