retiredref wrote:

DCunited wrote:Travel teams for A and even B teams is political. In the rare instance your kid is Elite everyone can ID that. However coming from a outside team and just practicing with A team will generally not get the desired effects a parent would hope. You have to remember those coaches have to deal with A and B kids parent who has been on club for many cases years. So my advice if kids not elite set expectations and have the kid earn there way up. Target B team and not A team. Tryouts are a farce, they are used to fill in some players on the lower teams. Most slots are locked prior to tryouts.

This idea of moving to a club's B teams with plans to move up comes with risks. Most of the local clubs think of B team players as existing revenue and outside players as new revenue and prefer bringing in new revenue over moving existing revenue. It is also easier for a club to attract players to their A team than to their B team which gives them another reason not to fill up that A team slot with a B team player who will be hard to replace. Unless your child is a real game-changer compared to others their age it can be much harder to move up once already in a club.