Sports are the ultimate equalizer, for those who lack money and an academic affinity to go to college. It allows students to earn scholarships for school while creating close knit communities and great friendships. The only issue is that because of hidden costs that might cause even a who could be a star athlete to quit before even beginning.
Understanding the costs can be helpful for students to know what sports would be within their financial needs, and what avenues can be used to lessen the burden that a certain sport has.
The FC Activities and Athletics office works to help students join sports teams by making the funds required to participate as low as possible.
“We try our best to eliminate the costs as much as possible, [because] we don’t want cost to be a barrier to participation in sports, but the actuality is that there has to be a cost per student,” said Bobby Kraus, Director of Student Activities.
Although on the surface the school has a large sports budget of around a combined $75,000 from ticket sales and another $75,000 from booster club donations, the money is not able to accommodate every individual student, because of the size of the sports teams and the large number of participants.
“Our entire budget for one year is about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars which sounds like a lot of money but when you have 25 programs, 42 teams, it goes really quick,” Kraus said.
Each sport has an individual cost for all the beginner equipment that the school covers for all players who make the teams. Beyond the basic requirements like uniforms and safety equipment that the school provides, it can be difficult to cover hidden costs like special shoes and other equipment students have to have to participate. For example, lacrosse players need to have their own lacrosse sticks or softball player’s cleats.
However, because our school does have a significant budget it should be said that there are avenues for students to get the equipment they need if they cannot afford it but want to try out. One way is that seniors often donate equipment that they used which can help beginners out.
The main way for students with financial difficulties to obtain the equipment is to approach coaches. This is difficult because students may feel ashamed about their needs and don’t want to ask in front of their peers. They may not know how to get in touch with the coach, and decide not to even try out.
The sports coaches do want to help, in any way they can, but it shouldn’t be that aid is only given to students that are assertive enough to ask. FCPS should step in and create an avenue for student athletes to have need-based aid, so that there is equity and so that talented athletes aren’t stunted by cost. The county could create a website or a paper form that is easily accessible to students. All this should be done for the sake of promoting equity and opportunity to everyone.
