I saw organized "competitive" teams playing in 8U/10U Rec leagues. Most were lower level at that point, but I remember a couple of teams that were well on their way. What irritated me was that the "competitive" teams were, of course, hand-picked from top to bottom and didn't allow the league to add anyone to their roster. The regular Rec teams were the coach's kids plus luck of the draw. It was definitely a money thing. There weren't many who could out-work me in terms of developing a "random roster", but getting lit up by a hand-picked team that played weekends and had been practicing far longer caused me some resentment at the time. On a couple of occasions, there was a late-season planetary alignment where my kids played over their heads while the "competitive" team floundered. Despite the broader inequity, those were some memorable games for everyone involved.