Diannepolo posed the following question on the “18U 2026 World Championship” thread. To keep the focus of that thread on the 18U World Championships, we’re starting a new thread to discuss Diannepolo’s question:
“I’m very proud of our team and staff! Quick question though… I heard the families had to pay for Worlds this year. Can we talk about that? They paid for ODP, academy, NTSC, June Camp…Worlds is the top team! They made it! USA polo should cover this. It used to be covered in the past. Can this become a topic? Thanks”
I’m thinking the same was a you. USAWP needs to somehow find a way to cover the cost of sending their age group, top teams to these World Championships. I assume they already cover a portion of the actual cost?
I think that you’re correct that a big portion of the trip gets covered. Safe to say that the amount the athletes pay are to help offset the pre-training, pre-travel, gear and eventually the event it’s self. I’ve heard that other countries, Australia included, the athletes pay the full amount for the trip.
As far as I know, this has never been covered completely by USAWP but I may be wrong.
When I look at the amounts being asked I doubt much is covered by USAWP.
I don’t know about every single participating country but most Euro countries pay for their athletes starting at U16. They also give out the gear etc… And, they reimburse players to attend the equivalent of NTSC.
From a budget standpoint, most of these groups depend on their national swim federations (again there are exceptions) but their “own” budgets are not that much different from USAWP though their cost structures likely are.
Having said all this, yes I believe USAWP should be paying for these trips. Ability to pay should not impact ability to play at this level.
Start by asking “what does it cost to send a player to multiple locations in Europe for two to three weeks?” Multiply this by 20 and divide by 15 to cover the cost of the staff.
If it’s $5k raised per player, can you cover all these costs for 20 people for $75K? Maybe, maybe not.