The US riders are usually independantly funded. Our TDN is usually funded by Tshirt sales, collection bucket passed around at local events and then usually one or two importers that help arrange for bikes to ride. Parents, friends, and a few sponsors help make the dreams of our riders come true. Unless you are one of the main distributors here in the states its really tough just to keep your family housed and fed on trials as a sport.
Its a happy/sad story. Very few of our up and comming riders see trials as a limitless future of fame and fortune which is sad. Most of our riders are just in the sport because it is fun which is the happy story. Its hard enough to send your child 2000 miles away across this country so that they can ride and learn with the best we have but it still happens. Its also unusual to find a trials community here in the states that won't welcome a stranger with open arms. In europe i know that its strange for a new rider to just show up at a club to ride and feel instantly welcome. When you compound that at the world level where your competitors have a lively hood to lose it makes it a foreign enviroment for a US rider.
If you want to make a living at Trials enough to be come world competitive here you have to fund it riding demo's which requires you to travel 10's of thousands of miles a year. There is very little opprotunity to just ride trials to win trials as a job here.
--Biff