Pay to play?

In rural counties like Orange, sports are a way of life. Friday nights are spent under the lights cheering on the local team-that's as much about community pride as it is athletic acumen. However, with local school board members facing a possible $6 million shortfall in a $46 million budget, that may change.
Previously, Orange County Public School Superintendent Dr. Bob Grimesey crafted a budget consisting of four levels of reductions aimed at covering the shortfall. The reductions have been arranged in a way that will cover a variety of funding scenarios. Group one consists of reductions that will cover the $4 million shortfall in funding from the state. Reductions in group one are almost guaranteed to be enacted. It does not cover any further revenue reductions from the state and is based on receiving the same amount of funding from the county as last year. Should a further reduction come at the state level and/or local level, groups two through four would be enacted in addition to group one, depending on the severity of the funding shortfall. Together the groups include the elimination of 81 full-time and one part-time position plus the elimination of the school board's contribution to athletics.
In an effort to save the high school's athletics program, Orange County High School Principal Eugene Kotulka and athletic director Marc Cole presented possible pay-to-play scenarios to school board members. According to them, the athletic program could become self-sustaining through fundraising, ticket sales and payments from student athletes (from $75 to $125) for participation in sports. School board members were convinced the plan could work and voted unanimously to move the elimination of the school board's contribution to athletics to the group one reductions. Now, Kotulka and Cole are researching all of the possibilities for keeping their programs alive.
"Right now we are in the process of researching what we can do and what we can't do," Cole said. "Gate sales have always gone back and [we're] looking at pay-to-play [options]. Plus, there will be some type of fundraising to supplement the gate sales and pay-to-play."
Cole said some options for fundraising include the creation of an athletic boosters club and bingo.
"Bingo has been mentioned but there's lots to do to get that [started]," he said. "We're also looking at trying to start a boosters club that would fundraise for the program. We are trying to come up with guidelines for that organization."
Cole said the school board has not yet decided what they will allow and will not allow in terms of the program. Monday night, board members decided that they would like to make some sort of contribution to extra curricular programs as a whole, including athletics. The exact amount has not been determined but it will most likely go to the personnel side of the operation, paying for the athletic director, trainer and possibly coaching stipends.
"Stipends [need] to come out of our budget so all fundraising will go directly to athletics," District 2 board member Judy Carter said.
Stipends have been a topic of conversation over the past few months. Last year, stipends were cut for all non-athletic programs as part of the budget process. This year, the adopted budget calls for the elimination of all athletic stipends which is making some coaches unhappy.
Jay Allen helps coach football and is the girls tennis head coach for Orange County High School. He said coaching takes up a good portion of his time, eliminating other opportunities.
"Football can take anywhere between 24 to 30 hours a week," he said. It usually takes me about 24-26 hours but some coaches work on the weekends copying film and working on recruiting materials for [students applying to college]. Tennis takes less than 24 hours, unless there are three matches in one week. The county pays extra for having a masters degree but with coaching two sports, it doesn't allow me to take the classes."
With coaching football, Allen said summers are also shorter, allowing less time for spending with family. He said football starts in August, allowing just six weeks between the end of school and the start of practice.
For Allen, the stipend has become a way to justify the time spent away from his family.
"It's a way of giving back to my family since I haven't been around Monday through Saturday," he said. "I set the money aside for my children's college tuition."
Allen has used the money to put two students through college, one of whom is currently at James Madison University. He also has a daughter in sixth grade at Prospect Heights Middle School.
"In my mind, the stipend justifies me not being around," he said. "I don't think I could coach both events for free. The stipend would certainly be missed in the Allen household with the hours I've put in."
Also, Allen's wife is a school teacher too and with the possibility of salary decreases to teachers, the Allen family may be triple cut. They would lose the stipend and see a decrease in both of their salaries.
Orange County High School Field Hockey coach Tricia Grabeel also coaches two sports and is employed by the school system. She said she spends an average of six months coaching the sports.
"Believe me, it is not for the money," she said. "Coaches do not spend countless hours away from their families for the money so let's get that straight now! However, in the end the money does help pay the bills and support the extras for my family."
Cole said he hopes some sort of stipend will be included in the final plan.
"There will be some coaches that continue and some that can't afford to," he said. "Everybody's taking cuts, but it matters who you are looking at. In an ideal world, I'm hoping we'll come through with something for coaches. Most are in it because they love sports and working with the kids but the money helps to pay for gas and putting kids through school. It's tough all around."
Stipends aren't the only thing on the minds of coaches though; there are also looming questions about the impacts of switching to a self-sustainable athletic program. Implementing a pay-to-play program may deter students from participating in athletics.
"Research says when students have to pay more than $100 to play, participation declines," Cole said.
Allen said he's concerned about what will happen to the students who cannot afford to pay to play. Those students may miss out on opportunities for college.
"In the past eight years, we've put more student athletes into colleges [than in years past]," he said.
Plus, what happens to the students who pay to play, but don't actually get to play? In non-high school sports where children pay a fee in order to play on the team, there are rules about how much time each player is in the game. Cole said there's nothing like that for high school sports. He said in high school sports, teams are playing to become state champions and athletes are trying to receive college scholarships.
"I think we have to go about business as usual," he said. "We have to put the best kids on the field. It's a tough situation. There are some [students that will pay to play] and sit the bench. Is there a good answer for how it will work? No."
Cole said he understands some parents and students may be upset if they pay and don't actually get to play. He said he doesn't know exactly how it will work out.
"This is uncharted territory," he said. "We have to do the best we can. I think as a coach, you have to put the best on the field. This will be a learning process for us. We have to do the best with the situation."
Grabeel believes the changes in the athletic program could also affect teams' abilities to stay competitive.
"If we must go to a pay-to-play situation, I believe that many of our athletic programs at Orange [County High School] could go through transition and see a decline in the number of student-athletes trying out," she said. "If athletes do not show up to try out, then yes, this would greatly impact our ability to stay competitive with other school divisions who may not require their athletes to do the same."
Grabeel said while the field hockey program is highly successful, having traveled five times to the state tournament since 2000, pay-to-play could still affect it.
"Obviously, the economy is affecting many people in our community as well as the local businesses and of course our schools," she said. "Thus, morale is at an all-time low as our leaders work diligently to try and make sense of a budget that will ultimately affect our community and therefore, our children. It only stands to reason that the morale of our team will be different next year and getting the girls ready and excited to play will take more mental preparation than physical."
She said her team faces adversity every year in an effort to make it to the state championship, a trip they hope to make again next season. To get there, they fundraise, selling everything from Halloween Candy Grams to rib eye steak sandwiches at football games.
"[Our fundraisers] have been very successful because we do rely on our parents and the local businesses for help in making them successful," she said. "Without their help, we would not be able to send our athletes to camps, to take the burden off of the athletic department when we do make it to states, to buy the extra needs and essentials."
Grabeel said a considerable amount of time and planning goes into organizing the fundraisers.
"Our parents, players and coaching staff have worked very hard over the years to earn what we have been able to achieve," she said.
According to Grabeel, the athletic department has also held fundraisers to benefit the entire athletic program. However, she said, participation from some teams is limited placing the burden on the remaining teams to make a profit to benefit the program as a whole. Grabeel said she supports the idea to create a boosters club.
"Schools in surrounding counties have solved many of their athletic budget issues by organizing an athletic boosters club that oversees all fundraising events and then decides how to use the money to support all teams," she said. "In my opinion, a boosters club is the only equitable way to efficiently run an athletic department."
Grabeel said regardless, teams will make it through the budget crisis.
"When people ask me how many children I have, I tell them I have 52 this year and two of my own," she said. "We are a hockey family. Your pain becomes my pain and together we can overcome. This is why we have tents pitched in our front yard during the month of May as we spend one last time together as a family before the seniors graduate. This is why we have a surprise pizza party instead of going to practice. This is why both teams and their families are invited to attend our annual spaghetti dinner at my in-laws. This is why the girls want to get together for an alumni game. This is why we are successful, because we care enough for one another to give 110 percent and not to let each other down on the field of play."
Grabeel said her passion for coaching runs deep, deeper than she can even begin to explain.
"Let's face the facts-the impending budget cuts will directly impact our ability to fund athletics, but more importantly many other educational programs will also be affected," she said. "Ultimately, the community at large will be forced to make a decision, raise taxes so the children of Orange can continue to compete in their sport, but more importantly, for all children to be able to be more competitive in something other than sports."
Cole said he believes the athletic program will survive.
"Kids are kids and talent is talent," he said. "I think we'll be right there [competitively]. It depends on how much time is put in. We're not the only system making cuts. Albemarle County is talking $75 to pay-to-play, Fluvanna is talking no middle school sports. Everyone's taking a hit; it's not just us. Everybody's dealing with it. Some are hit more than others [but] everyone is looking at cutting something."
The school board has yet to decide exactly what it wants to do concerning athletics and all extracurricular activities, a conversation it hopes to continue at its worksession March 30.
By then, Grimesey said school officials hope to come back to the board with a proposal concerning the programs. Nothing will be concrete until the final funding numbers come back from the state and local governments in April.
"All you hear is the county is broke, the school board is broke and the state is broke," Allen said. "I just want people to be aware of the time put into coaching and that it's more than teaching someone to hit, kick or catch a ball. There's lots of guidance going on."