On commitment, I thought about it last night.

I went back to last year. I made him go to the travel tryouts last year on the basis that competing and trying out is part of life, this year he bugged me to do to tryouts. Last year, he went to the first tryout but he said he didn't want to go the other 3 tryouts for travel because his friends weren't there. Totally fine with me and we moved on. This is another huge issue with rec is by grade but travel and development is by age year and because he is a 2010 birthday (12/31/2019) while the rest of is rec team is 2011 birthday, he is always going to be off.

Anyway, not surprising only going to 1 tryout, when the tryout made email list comes out he doesn't make it. We tell him and he's fine with it. 2 weeks later an email comes out saying he's now made the travel team. Seeing this as the cash grab it is (travel coaches get stipends but the soccer association employees 12 or so full time employees). We say no. I suspect it is the two times we say "no" to travel that impacted his ADP.

And, yes, there is certainly politics going on. On my sons rec team 4 out of the 8 made some level of travel - all at the 2011 age group. 1 was the coaches son and another was the assistant's son. The coaches son is good, the assistants is okay, so I think politics played a role in his selection to the lowest travel team (there are 6), which I understand.

Of those kids and my son: one kid has great footwork, skill and the best pure soccer player on the team (his parents are from Germany and moved to the US 2 years ago) and is playing on the 2011 A travel team next year, the coaches son and my son are the next best players but my son is the best athlete on the team and certainly the best on-ball defender and workest the hardest on defense. He is also extremely coachable and only needs to be told once to do something.

I've cooled off from last night but I know he will be disappointed. But, it is a life lesson that sometime life isn't fair and decisions have consequences. Sort of stinks he is learning this at 8.

It wasn't by any means a comment about your son. It was really directed at the folks making the selection needing an excuse to "explain" their decision.

To a certain extent, I've been down your path. Playing in a very good and large "house" baseball league over many years, my son was always a very good player at a key position and probably should have made their travel squads a number of times but didn't because we were never a part of the in-crowd that ran the league. The sons and pals of the big shots in the league always made the travel teams. Funny thing is I became part of the league apparatchik group when I was the #2 guy in our college age league and saw what a bunch of ass clowns some of these guys really were.

But it worked out well in the long run because my son did other things with his time (i.e., becoming a well-regarded umpire in the league) that he had fun at. I fully believe that the skills he learned in being an umpire in a youth league were far more valuable that being a catcher on a travel squad.

I probably felt the way you did at the time when my son was disregarded but he had a great fun and made lifelong friends playing house baseball.

Listen to some other folks on this board that have been through this with kids at much older ages. He's 8!!! With 2 girls of my own in travel soccer for years, no one really cares about your kid until you hit u12/u13 anyway. Let your son enjoy playing with friends if he can and develop as a soccer player if he likes the sport. It doesn't matter what level team he is on at 8, believe me.

I also have a 2010 boy, 2 2008 girls, and a 2004 boy. All play travel soccer with the oldest in the highest level in our area. We see the 2010 parents traveling 1.5 hrs one way during the summer so their 8-9 year old can play on an area all-star summer team.

so they spend the summer months traveling to Charlotte, NC 2 times a week for practice and have been in summer tournaments. We watched their championship game this past weekend because our oldest was in the tourney. The all-star boys soccer is no better than what we saw this past year - they played a team that traveled from Boston to Charlotte for a U9 soccer tournament. That is another level of crazy. Our youngest son and girls are taking the summer off from playing in tournaments. They are doing several camps (1 soccer camp) and spending time at the pool. I'm an guessing they will be in better spot than the kids that played all summer long come fall season.