Heh. Your last line was exactly what happened for us.

My now 13 yo son was the leading scorer and inarguably a top 3 player in our town soccer program in 3rd grade. Tryouts for 4th grade travel (which was the first year of travel) were only a couple of weeks after the 3rd grade spring season ended but we didn't find out until August that our son didn't make the "A" travel team (there were three levels). Of the 8 kids who made the A team, 5 were sons of coaches or board members in the soccer program. None of those 5 were as good as my son. Three of them weren't even particularly athletic.

I have never liked soccer and always wanted him to play football. My wife was against him playing football right up until the moment we found out he didn't make the A team. She was actually the one who placed the call to the football player development director as football registration had ended. Our son switched to football and never looked back. I still think (and my wife agrees) that the switch may be the best thing that has happened for his development (in simplest terms, better posture/gait/self-confidence/etc.).

I still have fond memories of the exchange I had with the grade director of the soccer program (who had twin sons who made the 4th grade A team) to let him know my son wasn't playing. I shot him a two sentence e-mail that said our son would be playing football but thanking the coaches and wishing the travel teams well. No complaining and no explanation offered. He e-mailed me back in about 2 minutes asking if we could discuss by phone. After pleasantries he said something like "We'd be really sorry to lose him. Is it because he didn't make the A team?" I said "Yup." Silence [I think he wanted me to let them off the hook by saying "No"] He started to hem and haw about "lots of stuff going into the eval" and I politely cut him off and said "I'm sure you had your reasons. Nothing either of us says from this point is going to make things any better." He said "Yeah. You're right." And we cordially hung up. If I knew then what I know, I would have added "Thank you for doing me and my son an enormous favor."

The A team did not win a game that first season. All three of the kids who were not coaches/directors sons (who unsurprisingly were the 3 best players) quit after that year. Two gave up soccer entirely; the other just played club. You reap what you sow.

I hope it works out for you guys as well as it did for us.