Is the state financial crunch affecting your program?

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We were hurting before the financial crunch. I have 47 names of kids who are coming out, and only 17 have been able to raise the $32 school insurance money so far. It is sad to watch.

We are going to sell Krispy Kremes (they give them to you for $3 I believe, and you sell them for $6). Plan on raising $500 (I'll probably eat $300 worth).

Boys had a car wash last year at a Chic Fil A and raised $400. You have to being hoses, etc. but they furnish the water. And they give coupons out for people who support you.

We are also going to sell team t-shirts (at cost to team members) which will probably bring us about $10 per shirt and could be a big assist.

Any other ideas, bring them on.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett don't live at Blue Ridge.

We do a program and ask each girl to raise XX amount of money. Something like $10 for a name in the back, $25 for a business card, $50 for 1/2 page and $75 for whole. Get a roster, schedule, last season stats, team and indy photos and it looks nice. If you can get someone to donate or cover the the printing cost you're looking at pure profit. Give each family two and sell the rest for a $1. Nice advertising for the companies/families and the girls get some socks, new equipment, or to go to a nice tournament. Whatever it takes to treat them first class!

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Thanks to a cancellation of a certain team (cough...cough...SCARED...cough), South Aiken has an opening for a scrimmage. michaely@aiken.k12.sc.us if interested or michaelyoung247@gmail.com if the server returns your email.
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I guess most of you know that I was the one that had to cancel my road trip to Aiken because we have cancelled all non-essential matches on the road and we are looking at more cuts this year. Heck, if the state legislature doesn't change the current funding structure we will have even deeper cuts next year.

So, are some of you facing the same problems? How are you dealing with money issues. I know of one coach that had a wine and cheese party to raise money, what do the rest of you do? I know some states have gone to pay-for-play and I REALLY hope we aren't moving in that direction!

We were able to get Aquinas high school in Georgia to cover for your slack butt. Their coach worked with a lot of our girls during club so it'll be a good game for them to play. A scrimmage for us, but a game for them according to their HSL schedule. By the way, it's nice playing Georgia teams for scrimmages. They're allowed one scrimmage only while we have four. I use them for one of my later scrimmages (an early match for them) so I know they're coming at us full speed while I can try my 1's and 2's to evaluate properly.

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We have a chicken dinner every year...we sell tickets for $7. Includes leg quarter, cole slaw, roll, dessert. We get chicken at cost (13 boxes for $234). Last year we made about $4000. It seems to work good on Sunday afternoons because the churches seem to buy a lot of plates.

Sweet!

where do you get your chicken? do you get everything from the people that give you the chicken (slaw, etc.) or do you buy that elsewhere? that is a great fundraiser and am trying to think of things to do...

We get the chicken from a poultry factory that delivers to Barnwell instead of the grocery store...we pay 18/box instead of 26/box and we dont pay tax. We have a guy that cooks for the chicken for us...one team cleans the chicken on saturday and makes the slaw and the other team comes in and packs the plates on Sunday. It is a great fundraiser and works well....the key is selling the tickets!!

No....the key is to be able to buy direct from the poultry factory!

That too does help!!

However, we did buy the chicken from the grocery store last year and still made over $4000....so we look to make even more this year because of the discount!

The Aiken County School District has not been funding our athletics programs for years and when they did it was only "matching funds" with a maximum limit. Our football and basketball programs raise the lionshare of money for us all.

Our "Operations" are covered (officials/transportation) but the rest pretty much falls on our shoulders. Or, if you're Aiken High, you can just ask Random Parent for a couple K's and be fine for the season

"operations" comes from the Athletic Department though not from county taxes is the point that some may miss there.

Shut up!

Now now boys, lets not get hostile! Barnwell is the same way in terms of funding. We get none from the district..same format as Aiken County

Last night the Fort Mill School District conditionally approved lacrosse as a high school sport, for the 2010 season, for one year, provided the sport is self-funded. Parents of the Fort Mill Lacrosse Club, where the vast majority of the players cut their teeth, are responsible for footing the bill.

Bad deal. You are probably big enough to have enough kids for lacrosse and soccer, but it is really hard to have varsity/jv socccer and then add lacrosse. And remember they are teenagers, so one of your premier, world class soccer players will find it "thrilling" to go play lacrosse because her Dad did or run track because her Mom did.

Good luck with the lacrosse thing.

I'm more disappointed that lacrosse has to foot their own bill (and what that means in the future) than concerned about losing soccer players.

FM is OK in the short term, we haven't really lost any players. But in the long term? Lax is looking more "sexy"!

I am curious and admit that I know little to nothing about Lacrosse...but what type of world recognition is there for the sport? In soccer the arguement is that the US is lagging behind the rest of the world in soccer. Where do we stand interms of Lacrosse? Didn't the indians start the sport up in Michigan sometime ago? It may look more sexy but it leads nowhere in terms of future prospects besides college. Don't get me wrong a scholarship in money in the bank but do we need to fund a whole new sport that will wind up way behind soccer as a national sport?

How many young ladies become "financially comfortable" from playing professional soccer.

A sport is a sport, a scholarship is a scholarship. Field hockey is still probably the easiest ticket for a young lady to get athletic aid for college. A handful of states in the Northeast providing all of the talent for the entire country.

I've seen increasing presence in the lowcountry for a number of years and even lost training space last year to Lacrosse which royally pissed me off. Having said that, not bitter and I encourage any sport or activity that girls enjoy and provides a healthy, competitive arena for our youth. Interesting data here that confirms this growth Lacrosse Participation

As a youth girls soccer coach for number of years (today U12) I have seen several talented soccer players move to the sport and expect to lose one of mine in the spring as more programs are emerging in MP and Daniel Island. Again not bitter, just the way it is.

More reason to look for new talent elsewhere to fill the void (and I don't mean agressive recruiting) and continue to grow our sport.

Good luck to all your programs with funding and this includes soccer and Lacrosse

The biggest problem this will cause is the lack of practice space. God knows they will not build soccer a new facility so that they have their own space. High schools will add any new program they can as long as it doens't interfere with football or football practice space. I think they should play lacrosse here in the fall to avoid all the other outdoor spring sports.

Although similiar games were played by Native Americans all over North America, I believe the modern form of Lacrosse has grown out of the version which was played by the Iroquois in what is now Ontario and New York. The game was first documented by Europeans in the 1600s.

It is the national sport of Canada.

BTW, 2009-2010 is the first year that Lacrosse will be played as a sanctioned SCHSL sport.

Irony here is that when we first announced that we are building new athletic fields in the lowcountry, I received inquiries about field sharing and rental within days from, yes you guessed it, a Lacrosse group. Guess they don't get much love either.

Having played Lacrosse in High School (in NJ), I can say without a doubt what an awesome sport it is and that it is only going to be getting bigger and bigger. It's a great sport and a lot of fun. I think the HSL needs to look into making soccer a fall sport like it is in most states, so kids can have the choice of playing Baseball or Lax in the spring. I know people will complain about soccer in the fall because of Football, but if most states do it, why can't we?

Excellent point.

I heard the SCHSL was looking at making Lax a winter sport, and having the kids play Nov-Feb, same time as basketball and wrestling.

Cold!

Anyone else remember when SOCCER was a winter sport? Back in the days before Under Armor and the such?

tk

Lacrosse needs to be a winter sport along with basketball and wrestling.

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...I think the HSL needs to look into making soccer a fall sport like it is in most states, so kids can have the choice of playing Baseball or Lax in the spring. I know people will complain about soccer in the fall because of Football, but if most states do it, why can't we?

This has been discussed and discussed ad nauseum in the past on this message board and it has always been concluded that this will never happen in SC where most ADs are football coaches and will oppose any move to put another sport on their football fields in the fall. With the economy as it is and the school budget crunch, the idea of creating separate facilities for soccer is also pretty much out of the question for most schools. However, I know of several schools that have either already converted their football fields to multi-sport artificial turf or have plans to do so. This could possibly relieve AD concerns about field abuse by other sports, but scheduling games and practices for football JV and varsity, boys soccer JV and varsity and girls soccer JV and varsity could be a real issue. I know this is done in some other states like West Virginia where soccer is played in the fall on the same fields as football, but how do they manage the scheduling? If football is on Thursdays and Fridays, boys and girls soccer would, at best, have to schedule games on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays unless Saturdays and Sundays were an option. Either way, this would greatly stretch the already limited referee force.

I agree Coach P that it would definitely be difficult and will not happen in the near future. I think eventually we'll see soccer become a fall sport though. There's a reason its played in the fall throughout the rest of the country, and in college. With the economy the way it is it will not happen soon, but I think if Lax continues to grow soccer could be moved to the fall. A seperate field could be built for soccer use in the fall, and Lax use in the spring. That way both sports are staying off the Football field and the AD's are happy.

There's a reason its played in the fall throughout the rest of the country

TV -- I don't think soccer will move to the fall at all due to King Football. As far as I can find, these are the states that play spring boys soccer: AK, AL, AR, GA, IA, NE, OK, SC, TN, UT, VA, WA, WY (and there are even more girls states, i.e. NC). I, too, think soccer will stay in the spring and perhaps more facilities devoted to soccer-specific play.

BamBam,
That list is short. Any state north of the Mason-Dixon line plays in the fall. They can't play any other time or it would be played in snow for 2 months. So add Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, NY, Mass, Vermont, Maine, New Hamphshire, RI, Con., etc.

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...A seperate field could be built for soccer use in the fall, and Lax use in the spring. That way both sports are staying off the Football field and the AD's are happy.

I don't foresee, at least in my lifetime, soccer or lacrosse becoming a revenue generating sport like football or basketball that would get the funding priority required to build separate facilities for most schools in SC. There are some exceptions like Spring Valley, but most schools cannot afford to build separate facilities for soccer or lacrosse. Even at Spring Valley, I believe the separate soccer fields were funded by the Taco Bell Viking Cup. Only a few schools can have a revenue generating tournament like that.

Another problem with moving soccer to the fall is that you would limit the opportunity for those boys (and a few girls) who also play football.

PeterRamos,

What high school did you go to in NJ?

Hurst.. That's funny. Voorhees HS in Hunterdon County. Are you from NJ?

Yep, South Jersey.

Peter Vermes is a little younger than I am but I used to play in his father's indoor facility.

As an admission's counselor for the University of Scranton, I had to recruit students from New Jersey high schools. I'll never for get the 15 minutes I got to spend with Tab Ramos, one on one, in the St. Benedict's guidance office. I couldn't pull him away from NC State.

(Closest I ever got to your area was Kris Peat - Vernon HS).

That must've been cool to talk to him one on one. He did a lot for soccer in this country. That whole 1990 team did.

That must've been cool to talk to him one on one. He did a lot for soccer in this country. That whole 1990 team did.

Yes, including a "kick save by Vanole" ... R.I.P.

Before Howard.....
Before Friedel.....
Before Keller......
Before Meola......

He was the Man!

http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/article.php?article_id=8461

I am clueless when it comes to the relationship between SCHSL and the various school districts, but it seems to me that the governing body should be involved. Would it be possible for the SCHSL(read: coaches and/or players) to seek out a state-wide corporate sponsor for soccer? It could be a grocery store chain, sporting goods stores, or maybe one of the many insurance companies that are based in the state; Any company that would have an interest across SC. Then take those monies and divide them equally among the schools. Maybe its only $500-$1,000 per school initially, but I have to believe your programs could make good use of it.

Every club, college, and professional team has a clothing sponsor(Nike, Rebok, Adidas) and other local sponsors.

I understand that advertising is designed to create a ROI, but surely there are companies out there who want to reach your students and their families.

Maybe the SCHSSCA would be more appropriate so the funds could be specifically for soccer.

Just a thought,

Sorry Pitchparent, but that wouldn't work. The individual school districts have corporate sponsors (i.e. Pepsi). Almost all corporate sponsorships are for football purposes. Alot of schools do get sponsors for their soccer programs, but do this on there own. I don't think the school systems would go for this when they can make way more money working at the individual level. Why would a school like Byrnes do this? They already get their football team taken all over the country by Nike. There is probably clauses in some of the school districts contracts with those companies preventing it.

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Sorry Pitchparent, but that wouldn't work. The individual school districts have corporate sponsors (i.e. Pepsi). Almost all corporate sponsorships are for football purposes. Alot of schools do get sponsors for their soccer programs, but do this on there own. I don't think the school systems would go for this when they can make way more money working at the individual level. Why would a school like Byrnes do this? They already get their football team taken all over the country by Nike. There is probably clauses in some of the school districts contracts with those companies preventing it.

I would agree to part of this. Most corporate sponsorships athletic in nature are for football. Baseball and basketball from time to time. However, I don't think the sponsorships in general are football dominated. South Aiken had Adidas sponsor the basketball team for two years when Tony Kitchings was here. Pepsi is now the school sponsor and provided the athletic department as a whole with equipment as part of the deal.