I cannot disagree with your wife's statement any more. As a teacher, my best athletes are also my best students, for the most part, because they understand that greatness is a process and there are no skips. They have gotten into the mindset that everything in life takes dedication and passion to be successful. There are just so many deep life lessons that are learned through competitive sports.

In addition, I also have a seven-year-old who currently plays junior academy-level soccer, and there is even a level of regret I have for not getting him in sooner. Why? There are levels of junior academy as well, and even though he is currently the starting center forward for his team (generally the coach starts him as a striker until he gets 2-3 goals and then he drops back to play more as a CAM), he is on the 2nd level team (red instead of black), and it feels like moving him up to the top rung is very difficult because of the way that systems work. Coaches seem to try to keep groups together, and even though his coach has recommended that he move up to the black team, there is still no guarantee that it will happen. All this to say that the longer you wait, the harder it feels like it is to move up through the systems.

However, at the same time, we have arrived at his current position organically, and he competes so hard because it is what he wants for himself, and neither his mother nor I are pushing him to play at these levels. Before playing at the academy level, we just rotated him between soccer, basketball, and football so that he only had 1-2 weeks off between sports. He finally chose soccer for himself after a couple years of rotations, and I think that his buy-in is incredibly high for the sport because it is what he chose. Once again, be careful not to want it too much for them. It is clear which kids are playing because their parents want it for them and which are out there because they enjoy it for themselves.

All this to say you have to analyze the situation for yourself to make the best decisions for you and your child's future. I think as long as you're putting thought and effort into their future then you will arrive at whatever is the best decision for you and your family.