But what is the point of explaining "reality" to 9U or 12U parents? So many things can and will happen, that even picking out which ones might make the HS team is impossible. For one of my sons, of all those all-star players, only three even played in HS. For another son, 4 of his 9U friends played through college. I think everyone knows life happens, it's just something to say, "you won't have to pay for college".
It's probably helpful to educate parents/players on what can happen in HS and college, which is why this site is so great. I started googling for advice when I had questions about my son's freshman HS year. But before that, everything is pretty local.