It is honestly kind of embarrassing to be an American athlete at the World Games. Many of the nations you just mentioned, are kitted out in style. Wearing much of the same gear that their fellow country men and women wore a year earlier in Rio. The USOPC gave us nothing. No money, no kits, no welcome, no formal gathering for American athletes. We all walked into the opening ceremony in different attire, which was to be given to you by your NGB. I can understand from a money perspective as to why the USOPC won't fund non-olympic sports, but even if you look at the Pan Am games, it doesn't seem that they care much. Also, I took some time between my event and the closing ceremony and visited Germany. During my stay, the country was pretty buzzing about the World Games. Newspapers, 24/7 coverage on Eurosport, you get the idea. My friends back here have no idea what the World Games are. Maybe this perspective will change in 2022 with it in Birmingham, but a lot of that has to do with the lack of backing from the USOPC. For an event that was created in the United States, it doesn't get much love here, which is a shame.
I do feel a little poorly about beating Poland on their home soil, after they gave us such a hard fought game. If anyone deserved a medal it was them. Those guys spent years prepping for this event, and it was the highlight of their career as an American Football player. Many were in tears after the game. Unfortunately, the Polish NGB for American Football went to shit also after the World Games, which is a shame, because Poland is THE place to play if you want to play in Europe.
I made friends with some players from the French team and they got a ton of swag and awards from the FFFA. So I'm sure that 46th player was compensated and they got him a medal.
As for getting on to the US National American Football Team. It was interesting. You couldn't have signed a pro contract in the last year. So no ex-NFL, CFL, Arena League guys. You had to have graduated/ used up college eligibility. So basically you had to be a free agent within the last two years, or be playing "professionally" in Europe. I graduated college in 2011 and went to the NFL combine for kickers/punters in 2012, nothing came of that. I was then on and off rosters in the Arena League from 2013-2015. I then tried to go to Canada was in camp with the Hamilton Tiger Cats in 2015 and Montreal Allouettes in 2016. I never signed a contract with them. In March of 2017, an old coach told me that the US National Team was recruiting a team of free agents to head to Europe in the summer of 2017. He sent me a link, and I filled out a questionnaire. They got back to me saying I was one of 450 that made it the next round. We had to fill out more questions and send in film. Then on May 1, 2017, I was told I had made it to the 100 man roster. We had to send more film and meet and talk with coaches. We did this for a month until the final 45 man roster was announced on May 31, 2017. It was a long and exhausting process and only got more tiring as we kept getting the work around from the NGB. First we were gonna leave from Newark on July 9th and have training camp in Germany. Then we were supposed to have training camp in Pennsylvania. It became apparent by June that the Federation had no money and we would have to fund our own way to Poland. IFAF was going to be in hot water, and potentially sued by the WLOC if they couldn't produce an American team for the American Football tournament. So we couldn't just pull out.
I know that's a book, and maybe this isn't the appropriate space to write all of this. But I would love to answer all of your questions!