In reply to: probably "lacks the appropriate level of commitment" posted by Doggie
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.