The Game Plan by Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



Whether it be car washes, bake sales, drink sales, raffles or other funding raising activities, the norm for prep sports today is the need for high school booster clubs to raise money.

The cost of high school sports in general has risen to the point, where any school that wants to field a team has to raise money just to give their players a chance to get on the field in the first place.

I know many of you, who have children playing prep sports are already active members of your school’s booster club, but in these hard economic times, each school’s club needs every person they can get, whether or not their child currently plays sports at the school.

According to some of the folks, I’ve talked with this spring, these are especially tough times in the fund-raising business.

Not only does the money raised by booster clubs help keep school sports going, but the money also funds award dinners and year-end banquets, which are a nice reward for all the hard work the athletes have put in.

Sometimes, the money is used for postseason awards, such as to cover the cost of plaques, such as those for players who were given the honor of being named All-State.

Sadly, some local players in our area may miss out on receiving All-State plaques, because of the shape of some booster club’s finances.

For example, on the eve of the ASWA’s announcement of this year’s All-State baseball and softball teams, I contacted our area coaches, whose players were named to the All-Star squads.

Some of the coaches informed me, that funds aren’t available at this time to cover the cost of presenting their players with their awards.

Corner head softball coach Aaron James informed me over the weekend, that the Yellow Jacket’s booster club is, “flat broke, completely tapped out.”

He wasn’t sure if any funds could be found so that the four players from his team could receive their All-State awards.

I was also informed that another school had dissolved the portion of their booster club that helped out girls sports. Because of that development, other girls from our area who were named All-State, might not receive a lasting symbol to commemorate their achievement.

If you can help out the booster club’s that don’t have the funds to supply their players with awards, contact me at the paper and I’ll let you know how to make sure our local players can have a lasting token of the great seasons they had in 2008.