What about considering the parents? Seems unfair to the kid but who wants a known PITA on their sideline either behavioral issues or a constant thorn when it comes to their kid's playing time, position, training. I'm not talking run of the mill annoyance, above and beyond a-holery. Or maybe even ones that we know are not committed.

Y parents and their cronies will say it's because X was already in the club and you favor those over outsiders. Conversely, if A is selected, Xs people will say that despite their loyalty that they got screwed by something they had no control over (injury). 

I've got a similar situation. Player S injured her ACL in game 2 and should be back for next season. I need to cut two players and she's not one of them. People will certainly say that I was playing favorites since she's been out and won't make it to tryouts but she was playing well and showing a lot of potential and commitment. Players T and U have shown less commitment and marginal improvement over two years. 

I would take player X. I don't think either choice is political.

IMO, a choice is political when a coach selects a player or keeps a player on the team because of non-soccer reasons. 

BTW, can you reveal what the soccer mom said?

I coach a B team U11 girls. At the tryouts on Firday, me and the A team coach evaluated the players (don't ask me why it was just the two of us - I personally think there should've been a third coach observing and evaluating). The A team coach decided to promote 4 of my players to the A team. I only gave that coach information about all my players from the B team in regards to their strengths, weaknesses, commitment and overall progress through this past year. I didn't tell the other coach who to take, who to drop, etc.

Before we post the results from the tryouts, I get a call this morning from a soccer mom, whose daughter is not getting promoted to the A team (but the mom doesn't know that yet). The mom starts asking me questions who was selected to the A team, is her daughter selected for the A team. She wants to know all that because she is sick of all the "politics" and if her daughter is not on the A team, she would move to another club. I tell her that all decisions are made for soccer reasons and there are no politics on the coaches' part. I also tell her that her kid was selected to stay on the B team. The mom flips out, calls it unfair and political. According to her, her daughter has worked extremely hard all year, is one of the best players on the B team and she is better than at least 2 girls from the A team. But we are too political to have the guts to drop anyone from the A team. She was convinced that one other B team player made it to the A team, because her mother is a board member. Interestingly, that other player didn't make the A team a year ago, despite deserving so (the A team coach didn't like her) and despite her mother being on the board. Now she did make A team, indeed, but I do not tell any of that to this soccer mom.

Instead, my response to this mom is to question the basis of her opinion. How many games have you seen your daughter play? Answer: most of them (I've seen her only at half of the games). How many practices have you see of your daughter? Answer: none, but she asked if we promote only players whose parents attend practices. I said no and that doesn't make a difference in our decisions because most parents in our club do not watch their kids' practices. Yet, strangely they know who has worked hard.....hmmmm. I ask, how many games or practices have you seen of the A team to know who should be on that team and who shouldn't? Answer: I've talked to other parents from that team and they've told me, plus I've heard some of their girls say that they hope to make the A team again. So, your opinion is based on heresy and second-hand parents' opinion? What is your or these parents' expertise in identifying talent? Answer: none, but I just know that my daughter should be on the A team. Anyway, on and on, this goes back and forth, round and round in circles. Bottom line: I tell this mom that her daughter has potential (she is tall, fast, has good shooting ability), but she hasn't worked hard, she is lazy, she is not that competitive and doesn't usually listen to my instructions during games on how to play better. Still, she has scored a decent amount of goals for my team, but that is because she plays as a forward (in 9v9) 90% of the time, plays almost the whole game and our division level is very low. She can get away with it at our level, but not on the level where the A team plays. I've shared this info with the A team coach during tryouts, as I've shared info about all other players. The initial decision is ultimately with the A team coach, while I take the remaining players on the B team.

Needless to say, the mom tells me that she has already talked with the DOC and told him the same: if her daughter is on the B team, they are leaving the club for another club. 20 minutes after my phone conversation, I see the A team coach on the field where I have a game with another team of mine. I start to tell her about my phone conversation with this mom, just as FYI. To my huge shock, the A team coach tells me that the decision has already been made (by the DOC, who in turn told the A team coach, but not me) for that player to be moved to the A team! Thanks for telling me and giving me the "heads up". And after all the complaining about politics, the upset soccer mom did indeed use her own political way to make sure her daughter is on the A team after all. 

The moral of the story is that it's not the coaches who make it political, it is the parents. This mom trashed other parents and their kids, threw another set of parents under the bus and threatened to leave if her daughter wasn't placed on the second, in order to get what she wanted.

This kind of shit doesn't surprise me, but even after 12 years of coaching, it still makes me sick of youth soccer. I'm even more upset of the fact that my DOC made the decision, didn't consult with me and didn't even tell me about it, but told the A team coach!