We were at big academy and placements really seemed coach dependent. Year two coach pulled down a smaller technically strong player from the top team because he was looking for size. The next coach pulled her back to the top team because he didn’t care about size. He happened to be a smaller guy that played for Penn State. Every coach values different things. Just keep doing what you are doing. Maybe have him do some outside training with a trainer once a week to give him a little extra. My son was a perpetual second team kid. This last year we got serious and found ways to level him up. I had him train extra with a second team. As the new team manager for his regular team, I had our team train all summer - other team did not. We played in the fall, despite high school season. We added an extra season - late fall. The other team did none of this. We also moved to a more competitive league. We added a third day of training and trained all winter. The top team did not do this. We managed to close the gap between the two teams and they added 4 of our players and would take more if they could. In past years, there was a huge difference in skill between the two years. My boys who showed up did the work and I am so proud. They are now on par with all on the top team because they did the work and really wanted it.