#1, coming from a not so flush background I'm relating to the kid in this post. I would have been grateful for the chance to play for free, even just being a mostly bench player I would have been grateful....BUT....I would have been very sad and felt like a charity case when I didn't get to go to the big tourneys because I wasn't good enough and I was easily replaced. There were probably other kids on the team that sat some too and I would have resented that they got to go and I didn't because I was poor and they weren't. You said he would have sat the bench due to skill issues, I would have said going on a trip with a hotel and maybe a pool would have been so exciting, even if I didn't get to play much.
Being the kid who shared an old beater car when she was 16 with my mom and my grandmother because we could barely pay the insurance for three but not buy another car, I have to say that charity with caveats or with strings that highlighted it was charity was charity I tried not to take.
Having a charity spot on the team was a GREAT idea, but if he was easily left behind he wasn't really part of the team, and I'm sure he remembered that.