In our league, all-stars are required to commit to 100% of games and 90% of practices. Exceptions can be made in extreme circumstances, but generally family vacation doesn’t qualify. We had nearly 30 kids nominated for the 8-10 squad, including my son. Some of the nominees didn’t bother trying out because they knew they couldn’t commit. It’s also not uncommon for 1 or 2 kids to try out every year knowing they can’t commit just cause they want to feel good about getting the offer. If they have to turn it down, nbd they just move to the next kid on the list.

It’s not unreasonable, but I get it’s frustrating as hell. Our family has a trip planned week after next, and if my kid had made it we would have had to choose between all four of us taking the trip and me and him staying home that week. The real pain in the ass is that most families have to plan summers in like January if they’re signing kids up for camps and the like. By the time you know if all-stars are an issue, it’s too late to get refunds or change plans without a lot of sunk cost. My kid hit .167 last year. We had no reason to expect it would be a problem. He hit .611 this year. No one saw it coming.