What is the co$t to play at your HS?

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Originally posted by sportsdad&fan:

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Originally posted by YesReally:
$260 equipment/uni fee
$100+/- booster club fee (not mandatory but it is)
$120 for team meal

That was the cost to play varsity baseball lest year. I will say that each player gets turfs and cleats as a part of the $260 fee. $480 and we still have to purchase a ticket for every game (oh -we do get 4 "free" tickets for joining the booster club. So it costs another $210 in tickets.

Total $690 per year with no spring trip.

What is $120 for the team meal? Are the players eating "surf and turf"?

For road games, my son's coach asks the parents sign up to provide sandwiches/drinks for the ride home. Since most of the games start late (5 pm - 6 pm with a few at 4:30) coach doesn't want to stop on the way home (easily adds an hour to the ride). A 6 pm start time translates to arriving back at the school around 10-11 pm. Most of the games are on a school night so they have class the next day or if a Friday game, the coach has practice scheduled on Saturday. In VA we have a state wide curfew for those under 18 (midnight) to deal with as well. Though there is an allowance if coming home from a school event or work.

No charge by the school to play. Boosters charge $ 150 per player.
That covers socks, hat, belt, end of year banquet, banquet gift, and usually a team jacket, the article of clothing changes every year. Last year for some reason the boosters bought a 3rd jersey. The jersey was worn for one game and the players got to keep it. They also after the season give all of the Srs. their home jersey with their name sewed on the back..

Two years ago we started getting lunches catered for away games. The cost was 3.50 per meal. It turned into a nightmare last year, team moms are to collect the money, pick up the meals and put them on the bus. It cost the boosters an additional $1,300 over what was collected. Some one was eating pretty well.

Boosters also sell clothing articles as part of fundraising. Booster participation is way down this year. Fundraising is down. There are 14 returning Srs. I think the parents have a bad case of senioritus, I know I do.

My son hit up the president of the boosters last week to get him and the AD to furnish a bat or two for the team because of the new requirements. What’s the chance of that happening?

I am still shaking my head over the decision to build a baseball field on the campus. Original intent was good, this will be the 3rd year of full use, maybe. Last year varsity played 3 games at home. The maintenance has to be done by the janitorial staff. The boosters would love to get involved to at least do some work but the union prevails. I argued at the time to scrap the lights and put in a turf infield but the then HC coach wanted lights. Night games in W. PA in April can be brutal. The infield needs a lot of work. The boosters foot the bill to rent a nearby local field with a turf infield to play some games at. Last season there were some Saturday games canceled because the school would not pay the overtime for a janitor to prep the field. This season the 1st 7 games are scheduled for off campus at the local field.

Our team moms come up with a budget and then allocate it between the freshmen, JV, and varsity players. Last years varsity fee was $250. It included a decent warmup pullover that the kids kept, and probably was 55-60 of the total cost. Most of the rest of the fee covered the "away game food" which was deli sandwiches for the varsity and JV players. A separate, additional fee was charged per attendee at the banquet in the cafeteria...I think it was $15 per person. JV and freshmen fee was lower, mostly because they didn't get the varsity pullover.

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Originally posted by biggerpapi:
$3600 property taxes

I forgot how high the taxes were back home. Reminds me why I left the Land of Lincoln.

Illinois Nazi's, I hate Illinois Nazis.


In all honesty, it looks to be around 125 bucks roughly plus the boys are selling baseball tickets for a local Tacoma Rainiers (AAA team) game. There are a lot more things that you can buy but we are trying to keep this on the cheap this year.

Plus, the kid is a Freshman, honestly how much **** does a Freshman need to buy?

quote:

Originally posted by mmm1531:
I am still shaking my head over the decision to build a baseball field on the campus. Original intent was good, this will be the 3rd year of full use, maybe. Last year varsity played 3 games at home. The maintenance has to be done by the janitorial staff. The boosters would love to get involved to at least do some work but the union prevails. I argued at the time to scrap the lights and put in a turf infield but the then HC coach wanted lights. Night games in W. PA in April can be brutal. The infield needs a lot of work. The boosters foot the bill to rent a nearby local field with a turf infield to play some games at. Last season there were some Saturday games canceled because the school would not pay the overtime for a janitor to prep the field. This season the 1st 7 games are scheduled for off campus at the local field.

I would stop having the booster pay for another field off campus - especially if you have a field that is 3 years old. It should be pristine! As for the field prep - that should be done by the coaching staff and the players. It is their field, not the janitors. Sounds to me like a poor use of booster funds.

One thing the parents did here was 'Bowling Night'. Not so much a fundraiser, more of a parents' meet and greet. All the coaches came, too. The idea was to have a parent from each grade on a team. I thought it worked well. It was byob and something to eat. We had the whole lanes to ourselves. Lots of fun. $20 to bowl and whatever you brought.

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Originally posted by Wklink:

quote:

Originally posted by biggerpapi:
$3600 property taxes

I forgot how high the taxes were back home. Reminds me why I left the Land of Lincoln.

Illinois Nazi's, I hate Illinois Nazis.

I'd die for a tax bill of $3600. The average property tax bill in our state is $7,800 with many pay well beyond $10,000 in property taxes and we're not talking mansions and large property either.

$1300.00 that includes $375 pay to participate......Spring break Myrtle trip and uniforms. In relation to our summer fees which is the same amount for a heck of a lot more games and competition it seems like a lot of money, coupled with having two boys in this program !!! Oh well it is what it is.

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Originally posted by bballdad2016:

quote:

Originally posted by mmm1531:
I am still shaking my head over the decision to build a baseball field on the campus. Original intent was good, this will be the 3rd year of full use, maybe. Last year varsity played 3 games at home. The maintenance has to be done by the janitorial staff. The boosters would love to get involved to at least do some work but the union prevails. I argued at the time to scrap the lights and put in a turf infield but the then HC coach wanted lights. Night games in W. PA in April can be brutal. The infield needs a lot of work. The boosters foot the bill to rent a nearby local field with a turf infield to play some games at. Last season there were some Saturday games canceled because the school would not pay the overtime for a janitor to prep the field. This season the 1st 7 games are scheduled for off campus at the local field.

I would stop having the booster pay for another field off campus - especially if you have a field that is 3 years old. It should be pristine! As for the field prep - that should be done by the coaching staff and the players. It is their field, not the janitors. Sounds to me like a poor use of booster funds.

Agreed! Our coaches and kids maintain the clay and the school board cuts the grass. Coaches prep the bases and the field for game time. The boys work on the field after every practice to keep it nice.

“I would stop having the booster pay for another field off campus - especially if you have a field that is 3 years old. It should be pristine! As for the field prep - that should be done by the coaching staff and the players. It is their field, not the janitors. Sounds to me like a poor use of booster funds. “


I agree, on both counts the field should be pristine and booster funds would be better spent elsewhere. If it was putting the lines on and putting the bases out I am sure the kids could do that. The players do rake, put some tarps on and do the clean up after games. But the routine maintenance and upkeep of the field should not be their responsibility. I wonder how many football teams have to line the fields before games ?

There are some knowledgeable and capable people involved in the boosters club who would gladly donate time and material to perform the needed work. It would not take much, a bunch of loads of infield mix, would be the 1st place to start. After the initial season nothing else has been done, the infield has settled at least 3-4 inches and any rain makes the field a sloppy mess.

It has the potential to be a beautiful field, it should be and would if they had someone who had a clue about baseball field care. The AD is frustrated over it. The coaches aren’t happy. A new field like that should be able to be played on hours after it rains not 2-3 days later.

$150 school activity fee (this is for all sports played in HS)

$250 program fee

$150-$300 on uniform / cleats

Varsity - add $750 for trip to Phoenix for Spring break (does not include meals)

Winter Workouts - $120 for 3 months of warehouse use (Dec-Feb)

quote:

Originally posted by mmm1531:
“I would stop having the booster pay for another field off campus - especially if you have a field that is 3 years old. It should be pristine! As for the field prep - that should be done by the coaching staff and the players. It is their field, not the janitors. Sounds to me like a poor use of booster funds. “


I agree, on both counts the field should be pristine and booster funds would be better spent elsewhere. If it was putting the lines on and putting the bases out I am sure the kids could do that. The players do rake, put some tarps on and do the clean up after games. But the routine maintenance and upkeep of the field should not be their responsibility. I wonder how many football teams have to line the fields before games ?

There are some knowledgeable and capable people involved in the boosters club who would gladly donate time and material to perform the needed work. It would not take much, a bunch of loads of infield mix, would be the 1st place to start. After the initial season nothing else has been done, the infield has settled at least 3-4 inches and any rain makes the field a sloppy mess.

It has the potential to be a beautiful field, it should be and would if they had someone who had a clue about baseball field care. The AD is frustrated over it. The coaches aren’t happy. A new field like that should be able to be played on hours after it rains not 2-3 days later.

Your field sounds worse off than I thought. If the booster club is knowledgeable and willing, the AD is frustrated, and Coaches aren’t happy. Why haven’t all three entities come together to put the (3YO) field back in proper order? I am sure the players would rather their home games actually be at home. Best of luck.

$75 pay for play school fee for busing
$150 booster dues
$50 for one jersey with name and hat that they keep, school provides two others and two pants that are returned, getting new uniforms this year thanks to boosters.

Work two shifts at hog dog/gatorade stand during games.

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Your field sounds worse off than I thought. If the booster club is knowledgeable and willing, the AD is frustrated, and Coaches aren’t happy. Why haven’t all three entities come together to put the (3YO) field back in proper order? I am sure the players would rather their home games actually be at home. Best of luck.

The three entities mentioned aren't the problem. Its the janitors union that is the problem. I guess right after the field opened a group went on it on a Saturday morning to do some work and a grievance was filed by the janitors. Add to that with budget cuts the last couple years and I don't think there is any extra money around to do much extra. Its a frustrating situation. The school board spent 400 thousand plus to build a nice field and the actual use has been limited due to poor maintenance. But hey we got lights!

I haven't seen the field yet myself this spring, actual tryouts started monday inside the gym. but talking to JV coach over the weekend it doesn't sound promising again for this season. Its almost 70 degrees here today with no real rain for the last week. I know with the help of a few good men and the right equipment, tryouts could have been held on the field.

Fortunately the team has access to a recently renovated field in our town. You can almost see the field from the school parking lot so its not a big inconvience, just an added cost. Actually this year the AD anticipated field problems so instead of paying for the freshman team to play at an outside field, they used that money for the varsity to play the 1st 7 home games at the rented field and the freshman can worry about trying to get games in on the school field. I don't think many of their games get rescheduled if rained out.( nice solution to having a ****** maintenance crew) Also doesn't help getting field times for practices.

CA is beyond broke, so costs are pushed on the kids playing sports. For my son's baseball team, Coach can't force anybody to pay, so he says it is "voluntary". Fees this year were $85 for spirit pack, including game day polo shirt (instead of wearing shirt and tie on game day), practice jersey, pants, hat. Fundraisers defray some of this. They are also supposed to pay a $50 "transportation fee" for bus transportation. So total was $135 to play baseball.

Cross Country and Wrestling fees were only $50 for transportation. Football has to buy a spirit pack that includes their game jersey. I think total was $125 plus the $50 transportation fee.

$235 user fee per sport; $450 maximum. Also players sell discount cards for area businesses to pay for warm up jerseys, jackets, new uniforms, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by mmm1531:

quote:

Your field sounds worse off than I thought. If the booster club is knowledgeable and willing, the AD is frustrated, and Coaches aren’t happy. Why haven’t all three entities come together to put the (3YO) field back in proper order? I am sure the players would rather their home games actually be at home. Best of luck.

The three entities mentioned aren't the problem. Its the janitors union that is the problem. I guess right after the field opened a group went on it on a Saturday morning to do some work and a grievance was filed by the janitors. Add to that with budget cuts the last couple years and I don't think there is any extra money around to do much extra. Its a frustrating situation. The school board spent 400 thousand plus to build a nice field and the actual use has been limited due to poor maintenance. But hey we got lights!

I haven't seen the field yet myself this spring, actual tryouts started monday inside the gym. but talking to JV coach over the weekend it doesn't sound promising again for this season. Its almost 70 degrees here today with no real rain for the last week. I know with the help of a few good men and the right equipment, tryouts could have been held on the field.

Fortunately the team has access to a recently renovated field in our town. You can almost see the field from the school parking lot so its not a big inconvience, just an added cost. Actually this year the AD anticipated field problems so instead of paying for the freshman team to play at an outside field, they used that money for the varsity to play the 1st 7 home games at the rented field and the freshman can worry about trying to get games in on the school field. I don't think many of their games get rescheduled if rained out.( nice solution to having a ****** maintenance crew) Also doesn't help getting field times for practices.

I'm not sure if I'm reading you correctly so please correct me if I have this wrong - you have this brand new field but its in terrible shape because nobody maintains it. The people who are supposed to maintain it are the janitorial staff but they are not doing their job. The janitorial staff filed a grievance in order to get the work from the coaching staff / parents / players because their union says it was their job to do that work.

Is this correct in how I'm reading your situation?

Why doesn't the administration put some pressure on the janitors to do their job or on the union to give up this aspect of their job? Someone has to be held accountable to this mismanagement of funds.

1st I want to apologize I didn’t intend to hijack this thread to rant on our schools fields woes.

I think the janitors probably do the best they can with what they have to work with. As most of you probably know it takes some one with a certain amount of experience to properly maintain a baseball field. From years of volunteering with a couple different local organizations I really appreciate the art of the craft. The manhours dedicated to pruning and properly maintaining a field can be many.

I know the one janitor responsible for most of the maintenance; they have him on a revolving schedule. He may be at a couple different schools in one day. I don’t even think there is any extra infield mix dirt on site, we used to always keep a pile around to fill in different areas. Sometimes just a lawnmower, a drag and a rake aren’t enough to keep up.

When it is dry enough the field can look decent to the untrained eye. The problem is in W.Pa in the spring is getting enough dry days in a row to get on the field. The problems should have been addressed and fixed in the fall. Then the field could better handle some water and keeping it playable would be more feasible.

Thanks to all for the replies and I know everyone involved here will do the best they can to keep the boys playing ball, whether on the home field or at one of the off school fields.

Many Massachusetts towns have large fees for playing sports. I guess this is what happens when a person can retire from a government position, win elected office, collect 80% on their pension while collecting full pay for (sarcasm) serving the people. They can retire from one elected position, run for another and double dip. They can hold two offices and double dip. One city mayor is also a state representative.

The town I live in charges $500 per kid per sport. Football and hockey cost more. Imagine having three kids playing two sports. That's $3,000. Booster clubs are very important to these kinds of towns. The economy is making it tough for some businesses to help. Since I'm not paying for kids to play travel baseball or softball anymore I donate for a baseball and softball player.

$100 sports fee (covers entire year)
80 bucks for uniform fee
Fund raisers planned to cover some of the other expenses, plan on footing probably another 50 bucks or so out of pocket.

The cost is in the details. Son is a freshman so he wants some one time things that cost $$ like a team equipment bag, team sweater, team warm up jacket, extra hat (he wants a white one, the one the team uses is black but the white one is 'cool at school').

He is working a lot of these things off. There is a lot of fence that will need to be watersealed this year.

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Originally posted by zombywoof:

quote:

Originally posted by Wklink:

quote:

Originally posted by biggerpapi:
$3600 property taxes

I forgot how high the taxes were back home. Reminds me why I left the Land of Lincoln.

Illinois Nazi's, I hate Illinois Nazis.

.
I'd die for a tax bill of $3600. The average property tax bill in our state is $7,800 with many pay well beyond $10,000 in property taxes and we're not talking mansions and large property either.

You have to remember the relative house values compared to different areas. My house in the PNW is valued at roughtly 250 grand. Back home in Illinois I can buy the exact same house for 110K. My total tax rate is about the same. I've looked at houses online from time to time just when I get nostalgic for the old home but come to earth when I realize that I wouldn't get paid squat there.

But yeah, I've heard from other that the east coast is worse than anyplace else. Another reason I wouldn't move there

$130

$100 activity fee per kid, per sport played.

Strongly encouraged to attend camps for another $100 each for two camps (baseball) and $25 each for two camps (softball).

Strongly encouraged to participate in fund raising. This has taken different forms over the years. From selling cards (minimum of 10 @ $20 each) to providing something for a golf tournament (hole sponsor $150, item for silent auction, or foursome at I think $50/golfer - not sure). For softball, minimum donations of $200 from hit-a-thon (five swings, measure the longest ball distance and people pay / foot).

In baseball, (JV & freshman) are expected to work our spring break tournament for two days fixing fields, chasing foul balls and generally 'being gophers'. Varsity plays in the tournament.

Softball will probably start a spring break tournament next season.

Baseball has a nice snackbar, which is manned by parent volunteers during varsity, JV & freshman home games. Proceeds go to the booster club.

Cleats, gloves, bats, helmets and catcher's gear are provided by parents except sofbtall boosters provide helmets.

Everyting else is provided by school \ district (fields, lights, umpires, winter overseeding, field prep, bus rides), the baseball club (extra coaches, field mx, costs for a tournament in Tucson, training tools, balls, fungos other coach's equipment) and the booster club (everyting else including, clay, golf shirts for all boys, upgrades to the JV & freshman fields, banquet cost for boys, gifts for seniors & coach's, senior day decorations, other general purpose items and expendables).

Our booster club uses several fundraisers throughout the year to fund our varsity and 2 JV teams.
Cookie dough and pie sale avg = $1,500
Fall Carnival, we sell space to local vendors, supply the advertising, location. avg = $6,500
Longball during tryouts avg = $500-800
Golf tourney avg = $8,500 to 10,000 this is an easy one if done properly. Selling raffle tickets for door prizes, extra mulligans,(this is the easiest to sell), hole sponsors etc.
The golf tourney has been our biggest success over the past 3 years.

Our booster club fee is $10.00 per family per year.

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Originally posted by Out in LF:
The golf tourney has been our biggest success over the past 3 years.

Out of curiosity, how much per golfer does it cost to play? Or per foursome? Does it include lunch or dinner (or both?) Thanks!

JMoff, your sons HS program sounds very similar to my sons. Takes a lot of fundraising to fuel a big warm weather program.

keewart, sons HS baseball booster program runs a scramble as well. Attendance is usually between 112 & 140 golfers. Entry fee has varied from $80-100 a golfer or (varies) $325 a team. Clubhouse includes lunch. Have to line up a bunch of door prizes. Usually net 6-9K. Our HS football scramble usually nets more, so timely scheduling & networking is crucial to make the baseball scramble a success.

Journey - 2: I think the take away is, if you're willing to work hard, you don't have to squeeze it all out of just the parents or short the program.

Baseball and softball are two different animals at our school. Baseball works hard, softball sits back and complains about how much the baseball team gets. The school provides the same to each, the difference is how hard the partents are willing to work for the extras. We'll fix those softball people, I've got two more years with them...

This was our first year doing the golf tournament and it will certainly not be the last. I think we cleared $12K after expenses.

We sold mulligans for $10, we had a 50/50 split on a "closest to the hole" putting green at $10 for two puts, we sold tickets ($25) to the dinner where we raffled off lots of pizes (must be present to win), we also had the silent auction there. We had a live auction where we auctioned some interesting prizes including a reserved parking space for all varsity home games and another for all JV/Freshman home games.

The varsity space went for $170 because some kid's grandfather wouldn't stop bidding against me.

I wonder how many programs actually deny a kid a chance to play if he cannot afford to pay.

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Originally posted by jemaz:
I wonder how many programs actually deny a kid a chance to play if he cannot afford to pay.

I think schools can cover the costs if they can confirm they need some sort of hardship assistance. I know private schools do it, but not 100% about public.