You are better off being a significant contributor playing against a top-ranked team then being an end of the bench player on the top ranked team if you are trying to get recruited. All the people who are hung up on their kids teams ranking are apparently not paying attention to the fact that their kid is just sitting on the end of the bench and not actually developing progressing or being seen by a recruiter. If this was 1988 you could get recruited by being part of a team that was successful. Nowadays there is too much film footage access to video and social networking to get recruited without actually performing on the field. So if you are that hung up on whether your team is ranked 4th or 7th in the elite division instead why don't you ask how well your own son is playing against the team that is ranked number two or three when somebody comes out to watch and recruit a kid on the top ranked teams. My guess is that if you are that hung up on those rankings, then you are missing the point of all of it. In a couple of years when we no longer have the opportunity to watch our kids play, I will have just as many positive memories of them playing badminton in the backyard as I will of them running by your kid who was on the bench and getting a ground ball and a game that maybe his team ultimately lost but that he flat out balled in. Candidly I could care less if any of the secret posters are mm or king crab or rage or whoever the heck else. For the people who are trying to decide whether or not fall scrimmages matter, try to decide whether or not eighth grade games actually matter. If the best accomplishment or most memorable feat your son has occurs when he's 13 or 14 years old (or 16 if you play for the Crabs and are in the 8th grade) then you're probably screwed up as a parent.
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