I doubt that if Team91 MD, Looneys or Madlax qualified for WSYL that they would choose not to spend $3K+. Evidence is the fact that Madlax goes to Vail for a tournament that is not age based. But I also understand that not all families have the disposable income for it. For us who are fortunate to have the means, it was worth the experience. Another thing about this whole holdback debate, it's moot unless it changes the future direction of the sport in the youth level, since it's within the current rules. The way I look at it is that whenever our team plays them, we set expectations and get something out of it.. which is to hopefully get better by playing up. We would rather lose in competitive games than roll teams. I will admit that it's nice to get the trophy and t-shirts.
Trust me, all of the MD families have PLENTY of dough. Almost all of the kids in that area, and certainly 100% of the kids that live in DC, go to very expensive private schools, so they can obviously afford a trip to Denver for 3K. The fact is, many of the teams wouldn't even qualify, even with all of their holdbacks. The Hawks have no shot, and the Hawks are competitive with all of the HOCO teams, so just qualifying for the event is in doubt for every one of those teams, to include Madlax. Of course, if the holdbacks are removed, they wouldn't make it since no teams would have enough players. Not even close.
