I'm a big believer in not giving up and in fighting for your dream. There had to be a better a way in this case though.
If soccer is this kid's dream perhaps his parents should have focused their time, energy, and money on helping him find another place to play instead of on fighting in the courts.
Rhetoric about fairness of rules and procedures aside, this lawsuit was about this one kid at this one moment in time, period.
I know high school sports can feel like the center of a kid's universe, but HS seasons are actually really short.
They're not worth this kind of drama, and certainly not worth Texas cheerleader mama drama.
It's too bad all adults can't maintain enough distance and maturity to realize that.
Why not teach your kid to find ways to move on after rejection that don't involve filing a lawsuit?
The right club or travel team can be more immersive and beneficial for young athletes than a high school team anyway.
It's been interesting to read different rules and norms from around the country when it comes to who can play on what team though.
Of course there are age related rules about who is eligible to compete in HS sports in general, but whether an athlete plays on Freshman, JV, or Varsity is left up to each individual coaching staff in our area.
A bit OT, but somewhat related to the cutting juniors who aren't good enough for varsity thing...
One HS coaching staff in our area adopted a program philosophy of playing with an eye toward molding a future championship team. Every 4-5 years (depending on where talent fell) they'd not only pull freshmen up to varsity, they'd make them starters. Of course the first couple of years they'd suck, but after playing 4 years of varsity ball as a unit, they'd often be quite good by senior year. This tactic also put the team in a less competitive league at just the right time because placements were re-evaluated every 2 years and were largely determined by W/L records. Note: that rule changed and league placement is mainly based on school size now. Good move IMO.
Those coaches have groomed a couple of championship teams that way, but this year's team was supposed to be the next big thing, and they flopped big time. It will be interesting to see if they keep up the same approach, or if they adopt a more traditional play the best talent you currently have philosophy.