It’s a fact that when money is tight extra-curricular activities get cut first. However, districts haven’t had to face cuts like these since Proposition 13 passed in 1979.
While the discussion about freshman sports has been ongoing, considering the TCAL is the only league that fields freshmen sports in almost every sport, the budget woes have forced school districts to cut deeper and eliminate both the freshman and JV teams at all the district schools.
Athletic Director Hugo Mariscal doesn’t like the cuts, but he understands that they need to be made to preserve athletics. “With the league fees, transportation costs, and equipment costs- not to mention the league realignment in 2010-we had to bite the bullet in order to be able to play any sports.”
Principal Dan Burns, a former baseball coach, doesn’t like the plan either, but knows that the money just isn’t there to support three programs. “It’s frustrating to have to cut both freshmen and JV, but in these tough financial times schools just can’t fund teams that can’t pay for the fees they cost the school.”
Burns and Mariscal both said the school has to pay fees to CIF, the state federation; CCS, the section authority; TCAL, the league; and fees for the officials and transportation for each team in every sport, the total cost of which is in the tens of thousands every year for just the freshman and JV levels alone.
While freshmen and JV coaches have the best reason to by unhappy, varsity coaches know it will impact the varisty. “How can we develop our programs without those lower levels?” asked varsity girls basketball coach Mick Battaglini. “For many of our students, playing freshman or JV is their first experience playing an organized sport. Without that opportunity, many kids won’t even bother playing high school sports, they’ll either play club or they’ll be out on the street getting in trouble.”
Mariscal does have a plan to allow younger players to develop-intramurals. “I’ve already talking to the other athletic directors and they’re all for it.” Mariscal said that teachers or coaches would volunteer to coach teams at lunch and games could be arranged with other schools, providing they could get officials to donate their time. The other option would involve training students to officiate and offering them community service hours. “Not only would the students be able to officiate the intramural games, but they’d be able to work youth league games as well,” said Mariscal.
Although things look dark right now, there is some hope according to Burns. “We will look to allocate funds to winning freshman and JV programs,” he said. “Teams that finished with a winning record this year will get first consideration next year.”