Hi all, I was curious the costs to play high school baseball in all of your respective programs. I was wondering if playing HS baseball is out of reach for some students at our school related to cost.
We are in Texas. 5A school.
Here are our mandatory costs:
$450.00 gear
$150.00 athletic participation fee
$200.00 game day meals
Thanks for your input!
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For my sons 4A in Virginia, each kid/family is responsible for glove, catchers equipment, cleats, pants and belt. Beyond that, athletic fee of, something like $30. The boys also do a fundraiser (usually coupon books).
Game day meal duties and cost rotates among the parents.
Northeast Ohio. We do fundraisers, but there is no "fee" per se - other school districts in our area do charge a participation fee, though. So we are fortunate in that respect.
The team typically goes on a Spring Break trip to Myrtle Beach or FLA. Parents of the invited players have to pay of course - some fundraising $s go toward the cost, but each family pays the majority of the cost for the Spring Break trip (bus, tournament fee, accommodations, lodging, etc.).
6A in Texas at an affluent school district. Our costs are same as yours plus there is pressure to fund raise. Ridiculous !
This would have been seven years ago in PA.
$75 annual activity fee, $25 each following activity of school year. Baseball was his second.
$75 sprit pack. Two practice tees, home and away tee, pullover jacket, home and away socks.
Players required to offer services (slave labor) to one of two 7-12yo “get ready for the season” evening camps. The revenue went to the program.
Request to varsity parents to place $50 to $200 ad in game program.
Illinois - $50 activity fee -
Players buy their own pants through team store website. Additional jersey that is made once a year is also purchased for $20.
AZ-4A
$150 school required participation fee
$350 for workout program (Non school supervision, personal trainer). Sept. thru April
$150 player package (Uniform, workout clothes, collard logo shirt, etc.)
$300 Meals when traveling, spring break tourney (2 hours away, lodging, meals, etc.)
The last 2 items can be covered thru fund raisers if you don't mind begging from friends and family members. Whatever you don't get covered thru fundraisers you are required to write a check for.
Game day meals? Really? That seems a bit over the top. We used to just do a donation based on where you were in the program (frosh/JV $350, Varsity $500), the boys could solicit donations or parents could write a check. Most parents wrote checks. Covered everything, boys got some perks from items donated by alum MLB guys with endorsement deals (shoes, shirts, etc).
Tennessee, private. Figure $100 - $200 for shoes and a clothing item or two. Pay for Spring Break trip/tournament. No fundraisers.
Largest classification in State....7a...Varsity $800.
California, small to mid size public
$100 transportation fee, $80 spirit pack
Any player with hardship does not have to pay
Additional summer program offered ... usually about $75 for about a 12 game schedule plus a tourney.
We do $200 for meals,
$200 in required matching shoes (turf and cleats), warm ups.
$80 Hat and 2 practice two jerseys
Booster fee is also highly encouraged.
Texas 6A
so far only had to pay $30 for a hat, and $80 for optional cleats. Parents meeting after tryouts. 6A Texas.
We have no fees, we pay for all of his equipment, although there is stuff available through the school. They do a fundraiser at the beginning of the year, raised enough last year to buy a fungoman.
They sell some kind of gift cards and son got enough baseball jackets, tshirts and sweat shirts to outfit the family as prizes. Note--strategy for selling gift cards — take coach's 7-year-old son to the Little League field where everyone knows him and thinks he's adorable, and set him loose.
NorCal: No fees. $125 for practice jersey, caps, etc. Players expected to fundraise by selling raffle tickets and Christmas trees. Fall Ball teams are $350. Meals after home games are whatever the organizing families set, $5-ish.
Suburban Chicagoland, $100 mandatory participation fee. Kids are strongly encouraged to purchase their own batting helmet. They have a specific model and color they must purchase. The school has some helmets but they are not in the greatest shape. There is a uniform pack. It contains socks and a belt. I think its $30. There is a list of optional equipment as well. Hoodies, dugout shirts, etc. No pressure to buy any of this stuff. The school has equipment, but its older. Most kids provide their own, including catchers.
For those in Texas no fees should be mandatory. Fees cannot be mandatory per UIL rules. Everything your public school asks you to pay should be voluntary. Requiring kids to pay or fundraise should only be a request or it is a UIL violation.
A Daug posted:For those in Texas no fees should be mandatory. Fees cannot be mandatory per UIL rules. Everything your public school asks you to pay should be voluntary. Requiring kids to pay or fundraise should only be a request or it is a UIL violation.
Many public schools in Texas now charge fees to participate in sports - especially football. Started years ago to offset budget cuts.
It might not be mandatory per UIL, but if you want your child to see the field you better pony up...especially if they aren't a stud! I don't know anyone who doesn't pay the requisite fees. Each sport has them.
adbono posted:A Daug posted:For those in Texas no fees should be mandatory. Fees cannot be mandatory per UIL rules. Everything your public school asks you to pay should be voluntary. Requiring kids to pay or fundraise should only be a request or it is a UIL violation.
Many public schools in Texas now charge fees to participate in sports - especially football. Started years ago to offset budget cuts.
I'm guessing it's similar to here in California. By law, fees cannot be required. But if presented/advertised as "voluntary", far too few would pay and budget issues would become prohibitive. It's a fine line. The fees are stated and if someone balks, they get a pass. Something like that, anyway.
Mid size rural public school in KY. Team fee is $325 which includes spikes, uniform use, sports fee, and laundry service. I think it also included a pair of tennis shoes for workouts. We buy workout/practice clothes, helmet, glove and bats, but school probably has some equipment if a kid needs it. They started the $150 laundry service last year and we love it! Team also does fundraising and any shortfalls will be made up by players. I think the team has to raise $43,000 this year.
of interest have to use school batting helmets and catchers gear, some sort of liability issue so don't have to pay for those.
It was like $500 bucks for Ryan, and that included socks, work out shorts, etc. But they also had a $100 participation fee that doesn't even go to his school, it goes to the district to pay for coaches. Then they had a box of oranges fund raiser that they each had to sell 10 boxes of.
Football at his high school was about the same. Technically the fund raisers were optional, but if a kid wasn't doing his part, they had "reminders". (Extra Running)
His program is one of the top schools in pretty much everything in Idaho, and Idaho doesn't really provide a lot of money for coaches, so they have to have some fees in order to have decent assistant coaches.
The only problem I have with these voluntary, mandatory, waive if you have a hardship costs is what the money is being spent on.
I have no problem supporting a set standard for HS baseball. When these fees start covering wants and not needs it starts to rub me wrong. 4 uniforms, 3 hats, matching cleats, new artificial turf, a batters eye, multi thousand dollar signage, and on and on and on. Absolutely, these things are nice. It should come out of a different bucket.
We need X from every player to have a baseball program.
We need Y for luxuries. Here is how you can help fund raise for the wants.
Two years ago we paid $100 or $150. That was for a sweatshirt, long sleeve T, short sleeve T and shorts with school logo and 3 hats. They did one fundraiser each year that required minimum effort\input. Parents worked in concession stand. Can't complain about that.
and then of course you have the coach walks off with $35,000 in booster money and varous equipment and booster club is too embarrassed to go after him to get it back. happened at a nearby high school to us.
mamabb0304 posted:Hi all, I was curious the costs to play high school baseball in all of your respective programs. I was wondering if playing HS baseball is out of reach for some students at our school related to cost.
We are in Texas. 5A school.
Here are our mandatory costs:
$450.00 gear
$150.00 athletic participation fee
$200.00 game day meals
Just who do you think should pay for YOUR KID's clothes and meals? Sheesh people.
If you think the cost is too much, quit the team, or start a fundraiser.
SultanofSwat posted:mamabb0304 posted:Hi all, I was curious the costs to play high school baseball in all of your respective programs. I was wondering if playing HS baseball is out of reach for some students at our school related to cost.
We are in Texas. 5A school.
Here are our mandatory costs:
$450.00 gear
$150.00 athletic participation fee
$200.00 game day meals
Just who do you think should pay for YOUR KID's clothes and meals? Sheesh people.
If you think the cost is too much, quit the team, or start a fundraiser.
$1200 here, so you better fundraise. :-(
SultanofSwat posted:mamabb0304 posted:Hi all, I was curious the costs to play high school baseball in all of your respective programs. I was wondering if playing HS baseball is out of reach for some students at our school related to cost.
We are in Texas. 5A school.
Here are our mandatory costs:
$450.00 gear
$150.00 athletic participation fee
$200.00 game day meals
Just who do you think should pay for YOUR KID's clothes and meals? Sheesh people.
If you think the cost is too much, quit the team, or start a fundraiser.
SultanofSwat, that's a surprising response to a reasonable question. Especially since I was asking if the costs were a deterrent for some players, implying that something should be done to support kids that could not afford them. Thank you for the unsolicited and unwarranted rude advice.
Baseball is just a expensive sport. Thank you all!
$1,250 in GA. $250 to the school, $250 for player gear & $750 to the baseball booster club. But we have crazy, crazy nice facilities, so it doesn't even really bother me.
I posted $800 above for varsity....should add this includes everything....and it’s a lot. Meals, motel rooms for long distance away games, cleats, turf shoes, several jerseys and pants, hats, cold weather gear, professional strength/ workout coach, etc....
4A school in Virginia - no fees (AKA "Pay to Play"). School provides the uniforms and helmets (new ones usually funded by the Booster club). Each player responsible for their own gloves, bats, catcher's equipment, etc. Parents encouraged to help with the Booster club. Players encouraged to participate in fund raisers (but it's not held against them if they don't). District school board considered instituting a "Pay to Play" fee (for all sports) a few years back, but tabled it and hasn't discussed it since.
Some neighboring school counties did institute a sports fee (only payable once the child makes the team) of $100 per sport per child with a yearly max of $300 per child. The fees collected amount to a very small portion of the district's athletic budget from what I heard.
Once the season started each set of parents were assigned an away game to provide snacks for the players.
mamabb0304 posted:Baseball is just a expensive sport. Thank you all!
6A program, we never had fees, but mandatory fundraising. If people didn't want to fundraise than they had to pay required amount. Our fundraisers made lots of money to cover everything. If family had a hardship, then we made arrangements. Usually the team doctor covered their fundraising obligation. We also had the best concession stand in the county.
But that was a piece of cake, off season travel ball was a killer.
I kind of concur with Sultan. If you find costs too high come up with a plan to help raise money. All sports cost money to participate in, unless it's the local rec league. Thank goodness your son doesnt plat LX, tennis, golf.
There just isn't money budgeted these days in most counties to even pay for HS courses like music, art, etc let alone extracurricular activities.
hshuler posted:SultanofSwat posted:mamabb0304 posted:Hi all, I was curious the costs to play high school baseball in all of your respective programs. I was wondering if playing HS baseball is out of reach for some students at our school related to cost.
We are in Texas. 5A school.
Here are our mandatory costs:
$450.00 gear
$150.00 athletic participation fee
$200.00 game day meals
Just who do you think should pay for YOUR KID's clothes and meals? Sheesh people.
If you think the cost is too much, quit the team, or start a fundraiser.
$1200 here, so you better fundraise. :-(
Good night, man. Where are y'all.
SE GA here. $350 for spirit pack that includes two or three hats, couple pairs of pants, cleats, sweatshirt, practice shorts, several practice t-shirts, compression shirt, personalized jersey.
They do ask that people help fundraise, but don't demand it.
8A Chicago suburbs. Other than buying your own socks, bat, glove, and about $30 for sandwiches for away games, no official costs. Some hidden costs: our varsity team takes a trip during Spring Break so we pay about $600 to send them, plus a little spending money. That is supplemented by fundraising. Not all schools do this, but something to note. And if you want to go with them, then obviously you pay for your own travel, hotel, etc. And, this has nothing to do with travel ball which is an entirely different matter and quite frankly is in the thousands (approaching $10,000) if the team travels out of state.
5A Texas school. Top 10 program. Sell raffle tickets, each kids sells 100 @ $2 each. School covers travel meals. School provides most gear and bats (provide you own glove). Several years ago a MLB player donated shoes. That is it.
About $500. Includes player pack (long and short sleeve practice shirts, 1 or 2 hats and jerseys and maybe other swag)
Player provides cleats, pants and equipment. Families rotate one pre game meal, which I don’t factor into the cost equation because I would be feeding him any way.
To date, no fund raising but it was mentioned as a possibility because we have a game scheduled at Coolray Field (Braves AAA stadium) this season.
Somewhat similar to what Buckeye stated above our GA HS just increased our fee from $750 to $1,000 this year. Increased it due to needing some improvement/maintenance needs and is warranted. We have a really nice and well maintained field/facility so it does not bother me much. Our players get a lot of gear (only thing they are responsible for is a glove) including multiple jerseys, shorts, sweatshirts, added spikes this year, etc. If you get sponsorships (which several parents do) then your fee is reduced by a portion of each individual sponsorship you get and can really reduce your overall fee so there are opportunities to limit your cash outlay. The other 6A and 7A schools in our area are all in the $750-$1,000 range as well so most/all are in line with each other.
We had like a $100 fee, but you could do things like man the concession stand or keep score to work off the fee... We also did fundraising, and had a golf tournament... We also had advertising banners on the OF fence... Kids got shoes, Uni Tops and Pants and hats...
