Nationals doesn’t appear to be sustainable.
The model is taxing travel wise. It’s insanely expensive. And the output is about a AAAA HoCo team.
The elite kids who used to play have just about all left it alone so what you have is a national team that is about as good as BLC.
It’s probably still a really good option for non hot bed kids though. Definitely fulfills a niche of getting those kids east to play in top tournaments.
Very good analysis, honestly. Whether it's (and the other "National" teams) sustainable (remember, nationally, the sport is exploding) is largely based on how they treat their customers (parents and players). If the squad's overall quality goes down to the HoCo AAAA level, that can be spun to recruit newly identified elite players "hey there's tons of opportunity for you here." If it becomes more elite for awhile, the AAAA stable of parents and kids still needs to be tended to because you need their money and you need their ability to show up last-minute to back up your elite players, when you realize you only have 13, two days before a tournament.
That the national team model is so transactional is just reflective of club lax in general, and could definitely be the downfall of any of the teams including Nationals. Parents are bombarded with fees and extra "opportunities" to play and work out with these teams and they cut the check, and hopefully there is some value added (far from a guarantee). By the same token, families that can afford this $2K+ expenditure on top of the $3K+ they are spending per kid on lax per year, have absolutely no loyalty to the national teams either. They can go to the next team and pay $2K+ again.
Communications from the lax program and customer service are key. More than just emails about "team store just opened, new helmet drop!" Or "Come train on a cold wet field on saturday for $175/hour." Or "Come get evaluated for $350 by some coaches who don't even carry clipboards, let alone know the kids' names."
