In this day and age with so many teams, leagues and organizations offering sports it can become very difficult finding the perfect fit for your child and family.

Things to consider are the philosophy of the team; the level of competition; locations of practices, games and tournaments; and financial commitment. There are others, but these are the primary ones.

The reality is you might not find the perfect fit. But it is important you find a good fit. Sometimes that means leaving friends to do so.

I have a friend whose son is playing on his third different travel team in three years. The player has left behind friends each time … and so have the parents.

The move was made to put the player on a team that took the sport seriously, but not to an extreme. The first team didn’t provide enough competitive opportunities and the second, far too many. In both cases, the players and families involved were not the issues, it was the time spent, or not, training for and playing the sport.

The latest move is with a team that also has great families and kids, but has a practice and game schedule that my friend was looking for to best fit their schedule and still provide the opportunities they know their son needs in order to reach his potential, whatever that might be.

The moves were just one of those “hey, no hard feelings, but …” decisions that we often have to make in life. As we all know about youth sports, it often provides us with life-changing decisions. Some for the better and easy to make, others not so much.

For this family, the third team in three years seems to have been the right move. And the best news is that they still keep in touch and even socialize with the families from the previous two teams.

They simply made a decision based on what was best for their child and themselves.

Jon Buzby has been involved in and writing about youth sports for the past 30 years with perspectives as a parent, coach and board member. Jon is an award-winning writer and his latest book, “Coaching Kids Made Easier,” is available on Amazon. Send comments or future blog topics you'd like to see to JonBuzby@hotmail.com and follow him @YouthSportsBuzz on Twitter.