I look back on the team that my son was invited to play on that traveled to Jupiter for the Junior Olympics. He joined a team that had been together for years made up of players from Tampa, we lived 80 miles away in Ocala, and (we found out after the fact) was brought on to jump start the middle infield that was prone to being too secure in their positions. Needless to say he was not well liked, and for the first time in his life spent a significant amount of time on the bench. When he had his chance he gave it all he had, but it was not a position he ever wanted to be in again. And it was interesting for us as parents as well. We did not anticipate spending a week in Jupiter and seeing our son play an inning here or there or get subbed in after a player had a bad attitude. We were so naive back then we went through all the hoops to get his passport.
In hindsight it was a great lesson for us all (in reality we all knew there would be limited playing time, just did not fully appreciate how limited, lol). He has not sat much since, but he did develop character from his experience, that he carries to this day. He remembers that tournament as a difficult one to deal with, but deal with it he did as an enthusiastic team player cheering and encouraging his teammates.