Please advise if I am not aware of some facts...... I must write about what I do know and what I think if terribly wrong.
The boys basketball program, well not the program but all the young men who aspire to be on the basketball team, are now magazine salesmen. They have been given a mandate to sell magazines if "they are serious about playing basketball for Greenfield Central."
It costs $250.00 for one young man to play basketball and they can earn credit toward that amount if they sell magazines. Sounds good, huh? Well, they are "strongly encouraged" to sell 20 subscriptions at $40.00 each!!! You do the math!!!! My, the athletic department must be making some money here, huh? I wanted to help a boy out but really didn't want a magazine subscription so I offered to pay some of his "pay to play" expense. The boy has the impression that the coach would not look as favorably on him as someone who sold subscriptions!!! Maybe, this is why GC sports don't have the best kids participating in sports. They would rather have salesmen than athletes...... I know participating in sports is a privilege not a right but perhaps more kids should be afforded the privilege especially in such a tough economy. Buying a $40.00 magazine subscription is a luxury not many can afford now.
Just another thought..... the kids must pay to play, then the school makes money off the games by charging outrageous admission to watch them.
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Sports funding
Just a quick "other side of the coin" response to your concern. Athletics at any school (Mt. Vernon, Greenfield, Eastern, etc...) are not cheap. Most all of the funding for these activities comes from ticket sales, transportation fees, and concessions. These particular funding sources often go toward paying officials, bus drivers, fuel, facility upkeep (not usually expansion), and BASIC practice / game equipment... just to name a few. I am involved with the GCHS athletic department currently and have been involved with other schools in the area as well. These fundraisers are how teams fund the extra things they need to compete... shoes, practice equipment, extra facility upkeep, etc... These are items that our kids need but the athletic department just cannot fund.
No matter if it is a $10 Cougar Card, or a $40 Magazine, these monies are needed to keep our kids on a competitive level in today's world. What you ultimately need to know is that none of our schools are "making some money here..." Especially off of these fund raisers.
The bottom line is, if we are going to have an athletic program at any of our schools, someone is going to have to "pay to play". I have seen the bank accounts after these fund raisers are through and the necessary equipment is purchased... again, your school isn't "making some money here..."
Basically the money can be raised one of three ways... a player can earn the money through a job OR through a fundraiser; mommy and daddy could just fork over the dough; we could raise taxes.
To be honest option three is my favorite... problem is, I'm sure I'm the only one out there who thinks that; option two doesn't teach our kids anything; option one is the option most coaches take... through fund raisers.
So who's with me...? Raise taxes for athletics!!!
Correction
Excuse me, I am a athlete at MVHS and I think that it is very wrong for you to write this. You obvioulsy don't know your information so your basically making yourself look foolish. And for the people that do believe you-here is the truth.
Fund raising, admission funds, and concession stands are all very good ways to raise money for a sport. The money raised is not for the use of the school. In fact, the schools bacisally make no profit on these things because the money pays for some trasportation fees, uniforms, ect. The things students do to raise money is not a rip off. It is the only option because participating in a sport is very expensive. Coaches do fund raisers so that paretns won't have to pay 1,000+ dollars for their child to participate in a sport. As an athlete, I appreciate that you wanted to buy a magazine for the basketball player, but before you go and talk about a school again keep in mind that they don't chose the prices on those things. Also, you should know it's not a paise worthy things to WANT to help so don't try to sound like a good citizen by putting others down and giving excuses. I understand that they were requesting a large amount but you could have said "no, thank you" and moved on. This was a purposeless lie.
I ask that you please not run your mouth unless you know the facts. Like you stated at the beginning of your artical you don't know all the facts, you obviously don't know much.
Thanks,
Kelsey
$1,000?
Does it really cost $1,000 for a kid to play a sport? Can you help me understand those costs?
correction
Please list the expenses that is not payed for by the parents, federal and state funding, property taxes and so on You cannot tell me someone does not have their hand in the jar
hand in the jar?
I cannot speak for 100% of the teams but I'm telling you... the team I've been involved with is absolutely not taking money "from the jar". As a matter of fact, its just about the opposite... our coaches put more personal money into the jar.
As a side note... the expenses payed for "by the parents" is what the fund raisers are intended to offset.
Most coaches, when all is said and done, make at the most $1 per hour... not including any jackets, shirts, etc... Most coaches make WAY less than that.
Correction
The person that started this blog stated it was about Greenfield not MVHS which you stated you were from. Until you attend that school and have first hand knowledge of what goes on your talking out of yuor ass.
School coorperations are the
School coorperations are the same. The funding goes to the same things. I checked with teachers in my school. A lot of people got mad about this false information.