Budget Woes: A Simple Solution

[jiveturkey]

Someone alluded to this on a previous post. Schools have a problem supporting sports because of costs. Most sports don't make money. Football used tobe a cash cow for most schools. In todays world, especially at smaller schools, Football does well to break even. This is due to rising equipment costs. Other sports have to do lots if fundraising to get close to being solvent.

The answer is simple. Take sports out of schools entirely. In europe, everything is a club sport. Do that here. If schools want to help, let the clubs use facilities to practice and play games. Otherwise, let the schools focus on education. Put teams back in small communities. Eliminate playoffs and go back to regional tournaments that each club would choose to pareticipate in. This would aslo solve that age old debate of whether or not teachers should have first dibs on coaching jobs.

Club teams in small towns would bring back a lot of community pride currently missing. I would love to see teams playing again at Chauncey and Rutland. Getting teachers out of coaching would better the schools because we wouldnt have some of these deadbeats that only become teachers so they can coach.

Petition the AAU to add football so that the clubteams had a governing body to answer to.....thoughts?

[Bleeding Red]

So who is paying the tab, and how many good football coaches are going to do this for the current rate they are getting (lets say $9000 a year) to oversee off season weightlifting and coach.....not to mention they are going to have to work another job because the $9000 cant be lived on. So then they have to get a job that they can leave early enough to get to a 3pm or 4pm practice.

And it sounds like the parents are ultimately going to be paying the tab. Put 2-3, or even 3-4 schools combined on 1 team and lets see how many parents can afford to watch their kids sit the bench (more competition for playing time if combining schools).

Just my 2 cents.

I agree that education comes first. But for alot of kids, they are going to take with them in life just as much from playing sports as they are in the classroom.

[jiveturkey]

Who says you have to pay them anything? Let them volunteer. If I was gonna coach a football team I wouldnt have to be paid to coach it. That saves the club team a significant amount of money. Plus if you localize the teams and let parents transport players, the club doesnt have any travel costs.

[Winchell]

When people volunteer to coach, by in large, they are those with a personal interest(kid or relative playing). This seems to be a bad situation most times. Look at problems at the elementary level. Most, not all, stem from this type of situation. Also, $9000 to coach is very, VERY generous. Most in our area get half or less than.

[superblue]

Sounds like a little league approach to football.... And we all know what that is like.... And if we get rid of football the other sports will ultimately fail also.... So I say just leave it alone and the strong will survive....

[coal miner's son]

Someone alluded to this on a previous post. Schools have a problem supporting sports because of costs. Most sports don't make money. Football used tobe a cash cow for most schools. In todays world, especially at smaller schools, Football does well to break even. This is due to rising equipment costs. Other sports have to do lots if fundraising to get close to being solvent.

The answer is simple. Take sports out of schools entirely. In europe, everything is a club sport. Do that here. If schools want to help, let the clubs use facilities to practice and play games. Otherwise, let the schools focus on education. Put teams back in small communities. Eliminate playoffs and go back to regional tournaments that each club would choose to pareticipate in. This would aslo solve that age old debate of whether or not teachers should have first dibs on coaching jobs.

Club teams in small towns would bring back a lot of community pride currently missing. I would love to see teams playing again at Chauncey and Rutland. Getting teachers out of coaching would better the schools because we wouldnt have some of these deadbeats that only become teachers so they can coach.

Petition the AAU to add football so that the clubteams had a governing body to answer to.....thoughts?

This isn't Europe.

[Bleeding Red]

Who says you have to pay them anything? Let them volunteer. If I was gonna coach a football team I wouldnt have to be paid to coach it. That saves the club team a significant amount of money. Plus if you localize the teams and let parents transport players, the club doesnt have any travel costs.

When gas hits $5 a gallon, try to get people to volunteer for ANYTHING.

[hsfbfan]

No I think he's just from Europe LOL!

[hsfbfan]

I'm hardly a Bigot. Please don't assume such things. It was a joke lighten up. All I meant was you want to do things like in Europe. And, that's not going to work. Geesh!!

[kahn]

I think the American system give a lot more kids an opportunity to play but we should be open to change to help offset cost.

People rail against pay to play policies, then vote down school levies. Parent volunteering at fund raisers is a great start, but we might just have to pay more to keep these athletic programs alive in the future.

[Mr. Wing-T]

So who is paying the tab, and how many good football coaches are going to do this for the current rate they are getting (lets say $9000 a year) to oversee off season weightlifting and coach.....not to mention they are going to have to work another job because the $9000 cant be lived on. So then they have to get a job that they can leave early enough to get to a 3pm or 4pm practice.

And it sounds like the parents are ultimately going to be paying the tab. Put 2-3, or even 3-4 schools combined on 1 team and lets see how many parents can afford to watch their kids sit the bench (more competition for playing time if combining schools).

Just my 2 cents.

I agree that education comes first. But for alot of kids, they are going to take with them in life just as much from playing sports as they are in the classroom.

I completely agree. When I was in school, we learned about the health pyramid which consisted of MENTAL, PHYSICAL, & SOCIAL. Each one is as important as the other and each equally important to overall individual health. Having played football taught me life lessons: perseverance, teamwork, the value of never quitting and the rewards that follow. I have carried those over into my adult life and has helped me greatly in my work with kids. "A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall" --Vince Lombardi

[tl895]

sounds communist to me

[ON THE ROCKS]

AAU...joke!!!talk about money pit..

[55buckeyes98]

You get what you pay for in some cases... there aren't too many guys who have the time or money to spend away from their families to coach for "free" and really put in the time needed to do it right. There is no "offseason" in football anymore. Are volunteers going to go to coaching clinics and shell out money? Who is going to get kids to the games and pay for busses? A lot of kids parents work and struggle to get kids to games, especially when you think about how many kids would not play sports after a certain age. I like the idea of breaking up some leagues and play 9 games against the 9 (or 7) closest schools by division in your region and then allow 1-3 out of conference games. It would be fun to see how we could tweak things, but OHSAA football is not able to be used as a guinea pig.