Cross country and track equipment that are used by students. Training balls are seen in the background. Photo by Steve Phan.by Steve Phan & Yasir Khaleq, Staff Writers
For most athletes, giving a required money contribution to their respective sport is an annual tradition. These contributions cover the athlete’s uniforms, training equipment, bus fees, coaches, and other items depending upon the sport. However, requiring students to donate to keep the sport program running leads to critical problems for students who cannot make the necessary contributions.
“Fair cannot describe [sport contributions] because not everyone who wants to be in a sport can afford it with their financial standards,” said Johnson Luu (‘17).
Required contributions are one of the main factors why students opt out of joining a sport. Many sport teams miss talented but financially challenged students who could have improved the team. On the other side of the spectrum, some ex-athletes believe that the rising contributions of playing in a sport edges them out of the team. They believe that there are other ways of supplying money for the team like fundraisers.
“For basketball, I don’t see the reason why the cost is so high,” said ex-athlete Chris Meyer (‘16). “There has been a dramatic increase in the amount of money the students have had to pay since the coaching change.”
On the flip side, athletes need a lot of quality equipment and thus money to keep the programs running.
“[Buying quality sport equipment] costs more and it hurts more on the front end, but on the back end, it allows [the athletes] to keep their contribution low for a long time.” says track coach Brian Bivens.
Both athletes and non-athletes realize this sacrifice comes along with being part of a sports team.
“You have to pay for the four coaches, new balls, and new ball baskets every season. Then there are two different sets of uniforms and money is required to maintain the courts.” said Vivian Ly (‘16), captain of the girls varsity tennis team.
