West Point Track Coach Matt Heaton makes a donation request to the West Point Town Council during a February 2023 council meeting.

WEST POINT — Two of West Point High School’s coaches paid a visit to the Town of West Point’s council meeting on Monday, Feb. 20, to request donations to help cover the costs of their team’s upcoming state and national competitions.

Lee Henry — who coaches the school’s varsity Scholar’s Bowl Team — told the council that this year was already off to a promising start after a remarkable season last year.

“Last year was great and this year things are starting off even better,” Henry said.

Henry said that this year’s team has been invited to an exclusive invitational in Kentucky where they previously competed against the top 12 teams in the country. The Warriors enter this year’s statewide tournament with a No. 1 ranking. The team is also preparing for the upcoming national tournament to be held at the end of April in Chicago.

“We compete with the best teams in the state and the country and we hang with them 100%. The only disadvantage we have is money,” Henry said.

Henry said that he tries to cut corners where he can by renting a van to provide transportation to events rather than flying, and he uses his personal hotel discounts when the team is required to stay overnight. Even with these discounts, the projected costs for the duration of this season is roughly $14,000 according to Henry’s estimates.

“Every cent we can get helps us greatly. These kids deserve it, they deserve to be on that stage with the best in the country and they represent the state and the community very well,” Henry said.

West Point Boys and Girls Track Coach Matt Heaton made a similar plea to the council saying that like Scholar’s Bowl, track is a non-revenue producing sport. Heaton said that this year his expenses are up to “anywhere from $5,500 to $6,000” according to his estimates.

Heaton said that he has encouraged his athletes to participate in various fundraisers to help cover some of those costs and wanted to lead by example with his request.

“I’ve asked all the kids to do different fundraisers. I tell them the worst someone can say to them is ‘no’ and then they’re no better off than when they walked through the door,” Heaton said.

The council agreed that due to the Scholar’s Bowl budget being significantly higher, the council would contribute $1,500 to them and a separate donation of $600 to the Boys and Girls Track Team. Town attorney, Dan Willingham encouraged the council to present these donations directly to the school with instructions that the money is to be donated to the individual teams, rather than donating to teams directly, to avoid any confusion during financial audits.

The council also reviewed the bids to provide the service of printing hats for the upcoming youth baseball season. Due to one of the bids being submitted by councilmember Ashlee Phillips, both her and her grandfather — councilmember Frankie Jones — abstained from discussing the matter and the vote. Of the three bids, Phillips was the lowest at the cost of $10 per hat for orders more than 250 items and was approved by the remaining council members.

In other business the council:

• Approved for Mayor Gerald Schafer to submit an application for a $12,000 grant to Representative Tim Wadsworth for the purpose of purchasing temporary fencing to enclose the batting cages at the town’s baseball fields.
• Held the first public reading of an annexation request from Ryan Sullins.
• Received an update from Phillips regarding two upcoming events — a concert featuring the band The Raging Bones (made up of West Point High School students) scheduled for Saturday, April 1 and this year’s Day in The Park event, scheduled for Saturday, April 29 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.