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Bake sales, hot dinners, dances, business and organization
donations. What do all of these have in common? These are just
a few of the many activities that school sport teams must organize
in order to raise money.
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Every student cherishes the chance to earn their way to a provincial
showdown. But there is one huge obstacle that these teams seem
to be facing which would hinder their attendance. Finances!!
For every chance there is to attend a provincial tournament comes
the expenses of travel, meals, and accommodations for both the
athletes and coaches alike. |
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In the first three years of the current school year, three
teams from Roncalli High have made it to provincial tournaments.
The teams have had to come up with $4000 and most of this money
coming from the fund raising efforts of the students themselves.
Aurel Beaupr , a coach at the school says, "When school
teams finally make it to the provincial scene, raising sufficient
funds in a one-week period, does place tremendous strain on not
only the team, but the school and community as well. It takes
away from practice time and even affects the focus of players."
He went on to say that asking the community to keep donating
time after time sometimes gets out of hand and that it would
be much more beneficial if such funds were available without
having to raise it.
Another posing problem is the pressure it places on the parents
of the athletes in smaller much more rural schools. This is due
to the same students being involved in most all activities.
"I find there is a lot of strain put on our parents.
Most of the time when we have fund-raisers, our parents are the
ones donating the supplies, and then they end up giving us other
money besides," says Danette Payne, a student of Roncalli
High who has already attended two provincial tournaments this
year.
With the school sports life being encouraged more and more
each year, it is positively certain that there must be a more
sufficient and accessible way to meet the financial requirements
that arise. By this, students can focus on their school work
and practices, parents will not be up all night baking cookies
and preparing for hot dinners, and the community will not be
hassled for extra donations. |
