Look, unless your idea for EVERYTHING is that once you start "it", you can never leave "it" because if you do you can never ever go back, well, if that is what you think, then your thoughts on this are correct.
But if you think, ever, that you can leave something and still come back, then your thoughts on this are wrong. But it can't be both ways.
If you want to explain the difference you feel is there, I would love to read it!
I totally get the feeling of "Oh well, he quit and turned his back on the team" I 100% get that but I just don't think that most, if any, of the players would actually feel like a 13 year old girl that just got dumped. If anything, I bet that the guys on the team that he was friends with are still his friends.