What's if you just can't get by the politics and the kid is not given a chance ..
Real easy answer. It's a game. Kids should be having fun. If they are not having fun, move on. Their enjoyment of the game and passion to play will drive them to be better.
Life isn't fun sometimes, so the earlier you are honest, the better off they will be. If they love the game, they will understand they have about a year until high school, so they better play against the hardest, and seemingly not fun, competition as much as possible. You know what is not fun, not making the team in high school, then all those lower bracket games you played in MS don't seem so fun anymore.
