In my opinion, Middle school (youth) rankings aren’t that important. I feel it’s more important for the parents (guilty as charged) than the kids. Especially as it pertains to clout. When my kid was ranked as a 4th grader he literally could have cared less. He didn’t brag to his friends at recess about being ranked. He played football at recess like he was playing in the Super Bowl LOL. But me, I told everyone about the ranking. Did it end up mattering in the long run? No. Was there any outcome of middle school rankings that helped performance? No. My then 4th grader went 0-2 at middle school state and 15 minutes after his last match, he was playing bottle flip with kids from a different team.
My point is this…let the kids be kids. Looking back, I see my mistake in putting the slightest attention to middle school rankings. Rankings do not matter until High School.
Just my two Pennies.