3 finger almost every team I referred to has teams starting at as early as 13U. They develop players through great coaching and exposing them to great competition.
There are hundreds of others that have superior organizations. Way too many to mention. There are organizations here that had 5000 kids registered in their hay day. They all had teams starting at early ages and funneled the kids to their travel teams. They even had 2-3 travel teams by the time they reached HS senior age.
One team my son played for had teams starting at 15U. They had 15U,16U,17U and 19U. Hundreds of kids tried out for each team. 15 tryouts all over Ontario until the final selection day. You had to attend 5 tryouts to be considered. I can tell you the coaches were top quality and included several pro coaches who worked with the kids all winter until they returned to their teams. One of my favorite guys was at the time , the longest serving D1 coaches in NCAA. They had 100s of US college players and several guys who went on to play pro ball.
So I think my comments are on the money. He hasn't seen very good travel organizations. Top coaching, competition and instruction are what great travel teams are all about. Or are all parents fools spending 1000s of dollars to play for these teams?
The Ontario Blue Jays can cost 9-10 grand a year. Almost all are in top colleges or the pros.