You say club soccer but not travel. In my region (757), we view it as you either play rec league through your city's parks and rec or you pay to play "travel". Rec league is the norm until a kid is say 8-10. After that rec league pretty much becomes a joke. There is no instruction or development. Its just kickball with a pizza party at the end of the season. The only way a player will improve is by getting real coaching and the actual training that occurs in a travel or club setting. By high school you can see kids are are good athletes but not good soccer players. Then you can see kids who have been well trained. Its obvious.
Travel soccer has its drawbacks. Cost and time commitment etc. However if your kid loves playing and wants to be good, put him/her in it as soon as possible. Yes you will hate me when you have a tournament 4 hrs away with one game at 8 am and the next at 4 pm. Ha. Good times