If I'm a coach and my player chooses to play with his national team over my team during a tournament, he would find himself on the bench, regardless of talent/skill. Congrats to Red Hots and Nationals for playing against regular club teams and spending $500-$600 for your son to play a few games.
National teams playing in events with regular club teams will create lots of problems for clubs. How to coaches/directors handle players that don't attend all the events or play with a national team against their regular club? Anyway it's handled likely will result in some players/families being upset and having a negative impact on team culture. Coaches/directors have enough issues managing egos, playing time, and expectations that I wouldn't be surprised if event operators block out national teams from regular club events - isn't this why The Circuit was created?
The Circuit was created to make money (hence it allows age exemptions and plans to be an 'on age' event by 2026). But who cares about national teams vs. local clubs? Shouldn't local DMV clubs have enough talent and the advantage of playing together in a system? Some parents get upset that Johnny isn't winning a t-shirt at tournaments. But playing against bigger, faster, older national teams is a great test for kids and prepares them for higher level of competition. You should be thanking these kids/parents from national teams for paying extra money and flying in or driving for hours to help your son and his team get better.
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