quote:I'll be honest I am against a $$$ fee once you make the team even if all players pay the exact same amount. It just doesn't seem right to me. Granted it's easier to do this than to have 100 bake sales and the longer I stay in head coaching the more inclined I am to start doing it but something about it just doesn't seem right to me.
We don't like it much, either!
However, baseball is definitely not a priority at this school. The #1 priority is academics, which is why we are there, the #2 priority is Performing Arts. Honestly, how many of you have to raise money to pay a bus driver to get to away games? Baseball is about 100th on the list. If we are going to have a team, we have to come up with some cash.Wow, Texan, that's really sad.
I am one of those annoying parents who volunteers a lot, and I see the dollars. I wish I didn't but there you go. Generally what happens is this: we have a few parents who have a lot of community contacts and who care about the program, and usually raise more than their fair share. Others, like me, have taken over sponsorships from players who graduated, and all it takes is a phone call or email and they're glad to pony up the sponsorship for the next season. Easy. I get just enough to cover our $300. We have other parents who can't afford the $300, or don't have any contacts, or for whatever reason can't come up with the money, and occasionally we have parents who have plenty of money but just don't pay. The last two categories are always covered by the first, and it averages out. In the end, every player who makes the team stays on the team, regardless. From what I've seen in 3 years and 2 head coaches, players are separate from their parents - the coach may dislike the parent and love the player. Or, I guess, vice versa.
The person who brought in the most money this year, yes, their son is a starter. To watch him, anyone who doesn't think he should be an everyday player is delusional. I think there are only a couple of us who know how much money they raised. I don't think even the coach knows. They don't know that they raised more than anyone else. There's no question in my mind that their son is out there out there because he earned his spot. There are those who think 2B is a starter because of the things I do for the team. But this year they need only look at the stats. He's hitting .361 after 12 games so they can all kiss my grits! I'm very happy to say that at our school, from what I can see, it's about the player, not the parent or the money.